A series that is shaping up to be quite a fun ride.
An autistic genius is in the hands of the enemy, and it's up to Michael Vey and his fellows in the Electroclan to save her.
The Electroclan is regrouping on a top-secret ranch after striking a major blow against the villainous Dr. Hatch and the Elgen. The evil empire's flagship vessel, the Ampere, has been blown out of the sky, but Hatch's plans for world domination are still strong. His next nefarious deed is the abduction of the young Jade Dragon, a girl whose special gifts can make all of Hatch's evil dreams come true. The author mixes this sci-fi nonsense with just the right amount of fun, evoking Saturday-morning-cartoon heroics. It's hard not to see the influence of GI Joe and The Transformers in the Electroclan’s adventures. Dueling factions and two-dimensional characters never get bogged down in the superserious mumbo jumbo that trips up many teen adventure series. This individual episode has a refreshingly intimate feel. The heroes' main objective isn't destroying a secret base or executing an evil potentate but instead a simple rescue mission. The relatively narrow focus allows for a more tangible, and therefore more satisfying, victory. A brisk pace and smart characterization make this an easily digestible adventure, and the requisite cliffhanger promises larger stakes for the next go-round.
A series that is shaping up to be quite a fun ride. (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2438-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2014
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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