A properly peculiar collection from Riggs.
In this special edition, fictive author Millard Nullings selects 10 tales from the many that have passed down through generations to instruct and inform those of the “peculiar persuasion.”
A prefatory warning that the contents are “strange, depressing, and altogether not to your liking,” not to mention “none of your business,” will surely cause wiser “normals” to steer clear. Those impetuous enough to join peculiar readers in proceeding, however, will find a number of affecting adventures. These lead off with a cautionary episode in which villagers who can regenerate body parts grow rich by selling limbs to cannibals but ultimately let greed overwhelm their better judgement. Later offerings include the origin of the first shape-changing Ymbryne, the story of an unloved lad who becomes a giant locust, and a tale of the long war between Londoners and pigeons over air rights. Clever tweaks (“we have a modest proposal for you,” says a cannibal in the opener) abound, and endings are mostly happy. The tales all feature full-page illustrations that look like finely worked wood engravings and offer glimpses of realistically depicted figures, major incidents, and eerie details. Specific descriptions of characters seldom enter in, aside from one dark-skinned seer of ghosts and a scaled princess, but names that range from Fergus and João to Héctor and Zheng hint at some diversity in the cast.
A properly peculiar collection from Riggs. (Short stories. 11-15)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-53853-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
There’s violence and gore in profusion, cool gear, hot wheels, awesome feats, inner conflicts on both sides—all that’s...
A straight-up Marvel Comics–style action drama featuring a small band of human assassins taking on costumed, superpowered supervillains with melodramatic monikers.
It’s certainly a tried-and-true formula. Twelve years ago, a mysterious Calamity began turning random ordinary humans into evil Epics gifted with various combinations of superpowers (and also, always, some Achilles heel). Now, 18-year-old David Charleston manages at last to make contact with a cell of Epic-killing Reckoners led by legendary mastermind Jon Phaedrus. Then it’s on to a nonstop thrill ride that begins with the killing of David’s father 10 years before and roars through car and motorcycle chases, secret missions, huge explosions and hails of gunfire with high-tech weaponry to a climactic battle with Epic Steelheart. He’s bulletproof, shoots energy balls, has transformed the entire Chicago area into solid steel with a wave of his hand and wears a stylish silver cape. Shockingly, the book closes with the stunning revelation than not all Epics are evil through and through. As further sign that Sanderson (Rithmatist, 2013, etc.) isn’t taking any of this too seriously, the cast of Epics includes not only the likes of Steelheart, Faultline and Deathpoint, but Pink Pinkness and El Brass Bullish Dude, and some of their powers are equally silly. Stay tuned for sequels.
There’s violence and gore in profusion, cool gear, hot wheels, awesome feats, inner conflicts on both sides—all that’s missing are the pictures. (Fantasy. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-74356-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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