A unique fantasy world worth visiting, but not without first taking in the previous volume.
In this second book of the fantasy Wood Cow Chronicles series, a group of rebels face a threat to their existence in a world populated solely by animals.
In many ways, Johnson’s series departs from derivative fantasy novels. All of the characters here, male and female, are animals; magic is absent; and the tasks the characters take on are often as ordinary as navigating a harsh landscape. There is, however, Fropperdaft, a supreme evil ruler, and in this second volume of the series, two main characters—Emil and PorNart—have escaped from his castle in a balloon. They stumble upon a group of rebels who have been secretly freeing slaves from a fortress prison and leading them to safety and freedom. However, the rebels’ existence is revealed to the tyrant Fropperdaft. He sets out to destroy them by unleashing overwhelming numbers of his armed minions. The rebels hatch a desperate plan to fight back, knowing that all they’ve worked for could be destroyed and that they could themselves be captured or killed. Johnson gets high marks for conceiving this unique world. Animals that one might expect to be good on Earth, such as cows, are good here, while those that seem nasty, like buzzards, also hold true to form, which will help readers make out the fantasy world. Unfortunately, the author provides little back story in this book, instead merely offering a few footnotes instructing readers to reference the first volume, Helga: Out of Hedgelands (2014), if they need some background. Names, references and events go whizzing by at breakneck speed, which may leave readers confused and frustrated.
A unique fantasy world worth visiting, but not without first taking in the previous volume.Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1497328686
Page Count: 284
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
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