An exhilarating nonstop adventure with delightful heroes at the helm.
Two young boys fight to save their big brother in an exceedingly dangerous, time-frozen world in Johnson and Branahl’s debut middle-grade fantasy.
Val Devereux’s family awaits sad news in Philadelphia; chances are, the rescue team searching for him on top of the Matterhorn in Italy won’t succeed. While mourning the likely death of their brother, 15-year-old Max and middle-schooler JB stumble upon a strange golden key stuck in a lock. After turning the key, the two realize they’ve “turned off time,” allowing them to roam among a silent world of frozen people. JB sees this as the perfect opportunity to cross the ocean to Europe somehow and save Val. But Max and JB learn they aren’t the only ones still mobile as they run into other “Unbound” individuals who’ve previously experienced frozen time. While some are accommodating, many are Mals (short for Malevolents) who capture and cage the Unbound, especially newbies. If the Mals discover Max and JB are the time-stopping “Turners,” they may not live long enough to reach the Alps. Johnson and Branahl’s story is a sublime mix of action and exposition. Crisp, concise prose keeps the narrative moving as the Devereux brothers use their wits to travel (cars, for example, don’t run). Along the way, they meet others, hide from Mals, and pick up the lingo (“Grifters” are unabashed thieves). The brothers are superb protagonists, especially JB. He’s a believable adolescent who’s prone to immaturity, but he’s also bright, at one point using his love of war history to great effect. He and the rest of the cast have access to snazzy tech, from “tap-jackets,” which produce electricity through body heat, to the “sky-skippers” that make Mals even more of a threat by putting them in the air. This standalone novel boasts a first-rate ending and leaves the possibility for sequels wide open.
An exhilarating nonstop adventure with delightful heroes at the helm.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2023
ISBN: 9798991945813
Page Count: 319
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short.
In the dystopian, totalitarian world of 2099, 14-year-old Tessa and her family are desperate to solve the mystery of her twin brother Theo’s disappearance.
Tessa is growing up in a time when playgrounds are historical relics, surveillance cameras are everywhere, music is outlawed, and owning books is illegal. Under the absolute rule of Zokiris, the decadeslong leader of her territory, people are heavily controlled. When Theo vanishes under mysterious circumstances and his name is erased from the Territory Statistics list, Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam, gives the family contraband books that become central to figuring out Theo’s whereabouts. Most books have long since been seized and stored away in Building 903; Tessa is intrigued by their presence in her home, while her mother is terrified. Lowry, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Giver (1993), shines in her creation of uncomfortably believable dystopian societies. Tessa’s painfully limited world is fully imagined, with its own history, laws, and norms. Her relationship with her brother reads as realistic and tender and is crucial to the mystery. Miriam is the most strongly developed character: wise and independent, unafraid and hopeful. While the climb to the book’s climax is captivating, the hurried resolution is disappointing. The powerful messaging around the importance of literature and imagination certainly resonates, however. The main characters present white.
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short. (Dystopian. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063515109
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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