A satisfying bridge, setting up for the next in the series
Apollo’s mortifying punishment continues as he battles a notorious historical villain while in pursuit of an Oracle.
Apollo (still trapped in the body of a teenage boy) finds his way out of a terrifying underground labyrinth with his demigod master, green-thumbed Meg McCaffrey (she’s a daughter of Demeter), only to find himself in a tense Southern California desertscape. The state has been plagued with droughts and wildfires, and climate change isn’t the only thing to blame. As in most of Riordan’s mythology novels, Apollo and his friends must fight their way through a variety of challenges, meeting gods, monsters, and spirits along the way. In this installment the main allies are dryads, a welcome spot of green in the desert. Caligula (“Little Boots”) is a mastermind of unparalleled sadism. The captive Oracle Herophile contrasts effectively with the power and determination of Medea. “Power,” Apollo muses, “makes good people uneasy rather than joyful or boastful. That’s why good people so rarely rise to power.” He continues to grow as a sympathetic narrator, his egotism and vanity slowly giving way to humility and self-sacrifice. His flashes of vulnerability, especially around the reminder of his long-departed lover Hyacinthus, are endearing—but the constant deprecating references to his “flabby” and “softly curved…in all the wrong ways” reinforce tiresome body-image assumptions. The book assumes a white default, though some secondary characters are not white.
A satisfying bridge, setting up for the next in the series . (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4847-4643-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018
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Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Not as strong as the series opener, but the space battles galore will satisfy returning fans.
Lunar Jones and Dread the dragon rally the Dread Knights to defend Mars from attack by Triton, the dragon from Neptune’s largest moon.
About a year has passed since 14-year-old Lunar Jones became a dragoon and bonded with Dread, the planetary dragon of Mars. In this second series entry, Mars is now productive and again accepting Earthers as settlers, while Lunar adjusts to being in a leadership role, despite being younger than most of those he commands and “responsible for protecting all of Mars.” Proctor (strategy), Doc (programming), Little Will (lead scout), and Mara (who’s nicknamed “Wildcard”) reprise their crucial roles, while the story is fleshed out with other familiar faces, a batch of new recruits, and dragoons and dragons from throughout the solar system. Upon the approach of unknown vessels into Mars’ atmosphere, Lunar and Dread recall uncomfortable rumors about hostility from Neptune’s dragons, and the battles begin. Lunar narrates most chapters; occasional sections are told from Proctor’s point of view. A whiff of romantic attraction doesn’t impede the nonstop action, and the epilogue points to more entries to come. The dragon backstory holds together, although several innovations that appear at just the right time and support healing or offer battle advantages feel like overly easy solutions. Most humans present white.
Not as strong as the series opener, but the space battles galore will satisfy returning fans. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781665946544
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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