A yarn as full of magic and intrigue as any fairy tale or pirate song.
Two friends team up to save their town from an ancient supernatural evil in this suspenseful middle-grade novel.
In his latest work, Smith (The Owls Have Come To Take Us Away, 2019, etc.) weaves together an eerie adventure narrative as nail-biting and mysterious as Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Set in a downtrodden seaside town appropriately named Gloom, the tale follows a single mother and her son. Desperate to help in the endless struggle to make ends meet, Rory, a young dark-skinned biracial boy who takes after his father instead of his white mother, regards a job notice advertising a valet position at the opulent Foxglove Manor as a godsend. He’s so eager he overlooks the townwide speculation that the manor contains some malevolent spirit. Before long, Rory can no longer ignore the sinister butler whose face looks inhuman, the mysterious dinner guests who aren’t served food yet leave behind a pile of bones with the marrow sucked out, and a human heart found buried in the back garden. When Lord Foxglove, his enigmatic employer, discovers Rory snooping, he is forced to flee for his life. Together with best friend Izzy, a white girl who lives next door, Rory sets out to unravel the mystery of the manor and save Gloom from whatever lurks inside. Anchoring this well-paced story is a solid cast of characters whose central relationships feel authentic and grounded.
A yarn as full of magic and intrigue as any fairy tale or pirate song. (Suspense. 10-12)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-84161-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Still showing no signs of strain, the saga of wizard-in-training Septimus Heap cruises through its fourth episode—and 2,200th page—thanks to generous wads of breezy charm, gusts of spectacular Magyk and a buoyant plot combining drama and comedy in just the right proportions. Here young Princess Jenna draws Sep and his bookish buddy Beetle along in her wake as she determinedly sets out for the remote House of Foryx to rescue time-lost brother Nicko and his companion Snorri. Unbeknownst to the others, Sep is also unwillingly engaged in a usually fatal Queste. Among the teeming cast, which is further swollen by crowds of ghosts and malicious Things, Sep’s erstwhile stand-in Merrin Meredith takes on new prominence as a hilarious touchstone for trouble, with an infuriating gift for escaping the worst consequences of his actions. Zug provides finely detailed portraits or spot art at each chapter opening, the volume comes with a “Magykal CD” (not seen) and Sage closes with several seemingly unrelated vignettes tantalizingly labeled “Endings and Beginnings . . . .” Sail on, Septimus. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-088207-5
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
An airy school story beneath a veneer of fantasy, low both on violence and actual villainy.
Master Dreadthorn's School for Wayward Villains again (Good Curses Evil, 2011) lives up to the "Wayward" as some of its more challenged students keep rescuing captives and saving the day.
Never the brightest of bulbs, headmaster's son Rune Drexler fails to notice a series of broad clues—from leading questions to a glimpse of red undies over bright blue tights—that his new roommate, "Dodge VonDoe," is really a spy from Doctor Do-Good's School for Superior Superheroes. Until, that is, his father and a certain crystal ball disappear and the school is taken over by the genuinely villainous Mistress Morgana. As it turns out, VonDoe (or to use his real name Deven Do-Good) is both working for Morgana and plotting to boot out his own superhero father. Deven is also a thoroughgoing bully on his own turf, which leads to his ultimate downfall. Sanders throws family revelations, secret passages, reconciliations, villain humor ("Ugh, monologues. It was hard to believe Morgana had become such a powerful villainess when she was always blabbing her plans to everyone") and even a horrifying (to some) prophecy about villains becoming heroes into the mix, and dishes out just deserts to all.
An airy school story beneath a veneer of fantasy, low both on violence and actual villainy. (Light fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59990-907-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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