This will leave fans enthralled and clamoring for more.
The second book in the Pandava Quartet begins with Aru Shah and her best friend, Mini, in an enchanted shopping center fending off zombies.
Someone has stolen the god of love’s enchanted bow and arrow, and they are using it to turn innocent humans into (literally) heartless, zombielike fighting machines. To make matters worse, Aru gets framed as the thief. The council of gods and Uloopi, the naga queen, give the two Pandavas an ultimatum: find and defeat the real thief in 10 days’ time or be exiled from the Otherworld forever. Aru and Mini unite with two other heroes—a new Pandava sister, Brynne Rao, and her best friend, Aiden Acharya—to save the world from mass destruction. On their numerous adventures in the Otherworld, from a giant-swan attack to their journey to the Ocean of Milk, Aru contemplates difficult questions about what it means to be good or evil, the role of duty, and the power of a good story. In this sequel to Aru Shah and the End of Time(2018), Chokshi seamlessly weaves Indian cosmology and pop culture into a refreshingly feminist plot laced with witty dialogue. The most compelling feature of the novel, however, is the complexity of its characters, who, despite their divinity or semidivinity, are at their core very human.
This will leave fans enthralled and clamoring for more. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-01384-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents/Disney
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
A page-turner that gives the heroic Stonekeepers plenty of chances to show their stuff and moves the main story along an...
Wraithlike attackers force a mass evacuation and a cryptic prophecy’s meaning begins to clear in this headlong continuation of Kibuishi’s deservedly popular series.
The action picks up in midflight as Navin and companions survive the destruction of their giant robot suits, then help the fleeing survivors of the city of Lucien by fighting a rear-guard action against swarms of diaphanous, cat-eyed, zombie-making Dark Scouts. Meanwhile Emily, Trellis and Vigo reluctantly join traitorous elf Max Griffin in another visit to the Voice’s realm of memories that leads to the death of a major character—along with a rescue, reunions with old friends and a lead-in to the next episode. Though the ongoing plotlines and large cast make familiarity with earlier outings a necessity, this one still features a crowd-pleasing blend of lively dialogue (“And I don’t care what the prophecies say. You’re still a slacker”), easy-to-follow, nonstop action, elves, robots and derring-do amid awesome sound effects (“D-DOOOM SHHAAAAAA,” “SZRAK!”). Most of the cleanly drawn, lushly backgrounded panels focus on faces, with occasional full-spread scenes adding dramatic visual highlights.
A page-turner that gives the heroic Stonekeepers plenty of chances to show their stuff and moves the main story along an inch or two. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-43315-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable.
Six New Jersey 12-year-olds separated by decades race to ensure the “good guys” win World War II in this middle-grade work by the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her brother, a children's author and journalist.
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to communicate across time, it doesn’t take long before they share information that changes history. Can the two sets of kids work across a 79-year divide to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming the Nazi-controlled dystopia of Westfallen? This propulsive thriller includes well-paced cuts between times that keep the pages turning. Like most people in their small New Jersey town, Alice, Artie, and Frances are white. In 1944, Lawrence, who’s Black, endures bigotry; in the U.S.A. of 2023, Henry’s biracial (white and Black) identity and Lukas’ Jewish one are unremarkable, but in Westfallen, Henry’s a “mischling” doing “work-learning,” and Lukas is a menial laborer. Alice’s and Henry’s dual first-person narration zooms in on the adventure, but readers who pull back may find themselves deeply uneasy with the summary consideration paid to the real-life fates of European Jews and disabled people. The cliffhanger ending will have them hoping for more thoughtful treatment in sequels to come.
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781665950817
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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