Sonny Bear fights like a zombie, throwing punches as if he’s underwater. He’s the heavyweight champion, but he feels lost, drugged, and hollow. He wins the bout that opens the story with a split decision, hardly looking like a champion, not even sure what he is doing out there. He has run from the Reservation, cynical about the Moscondaga Nation, but only feels accepted by whites because he’s a champ. Now he’s “the Tomahawk Kid, the Natural Man, the Native Son” and faces an existential crisis: “Shove that tired old Redskin crap, I’m not anything anymore. Not Indian, not white. Leave me alone. I’m not anywhere.” In a parallel narrative, Starkey, the self-appointed Warrior Angel with a Mission for the Creator, escapes his group home to save Sonny’s soul and prepare him to defend his title against Floyd (The Wall) Hall. Starkey seems mentally ill but gives Sonny what he needs: a return to Donatelli’s Gym, old friends, and a strict training regimen. In this conclusion to his boxing saga first begun with The Contender over 35 years ago and nearly 10 years since The Chief, Lipsyte demonstrates his sportswriter’s gift of muscular prose and vivid detail. Sonny looks down on the Vegas strip and thinks it looked “like all the crayons in the world melted into a dazzling river.” When Sonny goes out for a run, Starkey follows on bike, “squeaking along a slalom course of garbage and broken bottles and ruptured concrete on the fifteen blocks down to Central Park.” With a swift plot, exciting boxing scenes, the mysterious, unstable character of Starkey, and life lessons drawn from boxing, this will appeal to fans of sports novels and all enthusiasts of good writing regardless of genre. The long wait has been worth it. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-000496-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
A winning romance featuring wonderful worldbuilding in both the realistic and magical realms.
A passion for Dungeons & Dragons both brings together and tears apart two love-struck Ohio teens.
After a disastrous debacle with her former best friend and their Dungeons & Dragons group, 16-year-old Quinn finally has a chance to start over in a new town close to her beloved grandmother. On her first day of school, she meets Kashvi, who invites Quinn to join her D&D group’s latest livestreamed campaign. Quinn falls in easily with Kashvi and her friends, including Dungeon Master Sloane (who uses they/them pronouns), Kashvi’s twin brother, Sanjiv, and classmate Logan, whom Quinn instantly falls for. The only problem? The group has a hard and fast policy against its members dating each other. Making matters more complicated, Quinn’s grandmother has decided that Quinn and Logan are meant to be—and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring them together. As the D&D campaign ramps up, Quinn is faced with a conundrum: Can she suppress her feelings for Logan while battling imaginary dragons and real-life trolls by his side? Throughout, Boyce successfully melds humor with heartfelt moments, especially evidenced in the scenes involving Quinn’s grandmother. The portrayal of the D&D group’s dynamics is nuanced and realistic, peppered with sharp dialogue and snappy quips. Quinn and Logan’s relationship is a torturous slow burn with a payoff that’s worth the wait. Most major characters are coded white; Kashvi and Sanjiv are South Asian.
A winning romance featuring wonderful worldbuilding in both the realistic and magical realms. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2024
ISBN: 9780593899205
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
Marcus is black and Eddie white in a multicultural Long Island neighborhood. Known to all as “Black and White,” they have honed their athletic skills together and are in the midst of a basketball season headed to the playoffs and scholarships to good colleges. They know each other’s timing and rhythm and feel complete trust in each other. However, off the court they have decided to supplement their income by holding up strangers for money for senior activities and the latest athletic shoes. Using Grandpa’s gun from Eddie’s attic, both think their initial success means invincibility. The nightmare that ensues when Eddie inadvertently hits the trigger—and their victim—becomes the playing field for the author’s exploration of how much difference race can make in the fate of each boy and their friendship. Rather than exploring the issue of race by pretending it doesn’t exist, Volponi points directly at it, illustrating at every turn that the race of the various characters influences events as well as whether Marcus will end up in prison alone. Consequences for everyone unfold and escalate in rapid-fire fashion. Hugely discussable. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: May 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-670-06006-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2005
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