One could wish all war stories were genuine fantasies.
A living, speaking doll; magical and folkloric elements; and Nazi terror meld in this novel set in World War II Krakow, Poland.
Karolina is blown by a magical wind from the war-torn Land of the Dolls into the shop and life of Cyryl, the white Dollmaker of Krakow, a lonely, skilled craftsman with magical abilities. Astounded to encounter the enchanting wooden creature, he repairs her and learns of her travails: her homeland, like his, has been ravaged by war and taken over by dictatorial rats who’ve conquered her country and savaged the population. They become steadfast comrades and soon befriend Jewish neighbors, a violinist and his daughter who are increasingly threatened by the worsening Nazi menace. With the situation in Krakow worsening, the Dollmaker and Karolina become ever more desperate. Inspired by Karolina’s ingenious idea, Cyryl magically effects an astonishing transformation of Krakow’s children, enabling them to be smuggled out of the ghetto. It’s an odd tale. Readers expecting the fantastic and magical elements to soften the terrifying depictions of Nazi brutality will be disillusioned: horrors are described, and death pervades the narrative. While Karolina and the non-Nazi human protagonists are sympathetic, the disparate threads don’t jell. Worse, combining a very realistic war story with a fairy-tale one may, unfortunately, suggest to some readers that the nonfiction component isn’t real either.
One could wish all war stories were genuine fantasies. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1539-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
An enticing taste of a rich historical world.
A servant boy attempts to win his freedom by repeatedly saving his master as they travel the Silk Road.
At roughly age 12, Omar has led a hard life, having lost both his parents and the woman who cared for him after their deaths and now being chased away by the monks who once housed him for asking too many questions. For the price of six bolts of silk, they hand him off to Samir, a fellow Sogdian who calls himself the Seller of Dreams. Renamed Monkey, he is tasked with assisting Samir in trading. As the two head west with a large caravan across the Taklamakan Desert toward present-day Tajikistan, Monkey learns Samir’s business tricks, though he often disapproves. He also meets blacksmith’s assistant Mara, the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. Soon, though, it becomes clear that Samir faces more problems than just making the next deal: He has wronged more than one person along the road, and assassins are after him. What follows is Monkey’s account of Samir’s brushes with death—and how Monkey himself may have contributed to Samir’s eventual demise. Filled with the multicultural hustle and bustle of the Silk Road, enlivened by the unpredictable nature of unreliable storytellers, and adorned with whimsical, colorful illustrations, this is a strange, wondrous, and creative tale. Can family be found along the Silk Road, or will everyone ultimately betray you?
An enticing taste of a rich historical world. (author’s note, bibliography) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64614-303-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
Intriguing but disappointingly derivative; here’s hoping future volumes find a groove.
In this graphic-novel series opener, a girl discovers her father is a Greek god—sound familiar?
When her mother gets the opportunity of a lifetime, Karen must stay with her estranged father, Zed, who lives on Mount Olympus. Upon her arrival, she learns that her father is obviously both affluent and influential, living in a palatial home and serving as both the mayor of the town and dean of her school. At Mt. Olympus Junior High, Karen quickly befriends Dita, Athena, and siblings Apollo and Artemis. When a classmate is turned to stone in the school library and Karen falls under suspicion, she and her new friends must find the culprit. Visually, Moon’s bright and expressive art propels Cooke and Fitzpatrick’s narrative, with tidy stylization and an alluring full-color palette. Karen, however, may be a polarizing character: She can be bratty at times and infuriatingly slow at others. At one point, her friends must practically spoon-feed her the concept that they are gods and goddesses—that their names are taken directly from the pantheon and that they live on Mount Olympus don’t seem to clue her in. Despite the high-interest format, this doesn’t bring enough novelty to set it apart from Percy Jackson. Nearly all the characters present White with the exceptions of Dita, who has a slightly darker skin tone, and assorted unnamed background characters.
Intriguing but disappointingly derivative; here’s hoping future volumes find a groove. (mythology notes, bibliography) (Graphic fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-29951-6
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Etch/HMH
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
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