Typical of middle volumes: much backing and forthing to not enough purpose.
It’s hard not to like a fantasy that is set in an argumentative magical forest, but Blackwood squanders the promise of her debut (Jinx, 2013) with a sequel that just spins its wheels.
Though he’s repeatedly assured that he doesn’t know who he is or what he’s doing, 12-year-old wizard-in-training Jinx continues to explore the nebulous extent of his burgeoning magical powers. He does this both at a school in the city of Samara, where he discovers a new style of magic, and in the Urwald, where he can draw huge amounts of raw power from the trees—but his ability to hear and speak to them is a mixed blessing. Meanwhile, his crabby mentor, Simon Magus, is recaptured by the Bonemaster, an affable archnemesis who has also taken to exterminating the Urwald’s scattered human communities, and Simon’s scholarly wife, Sophie, has been imprisoned. Further complicating matters, Reven (aka Prince Raymond) has given the whole forest fantods by promoting a profitable lumbering operation on the way to reclaiming his throne. Blackwood drops hints of a larger conflict looming and continues to throw her protagonist into dangerous situations. At odds with this are tongue-in-cheek plot elements, such as Jinx’s ability to see thoughts as pink puffy clouds or other shapes, cryptic remarks delivered at odd moments by elves and an oddly rational werewolf.
Typical of middle volumes: much backing and forthing to not enough purpose. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-212993-2
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It offers some creepy moments and critters, but it’s more often a pale imitation of one of Brian Jacques’ woodland epics....
Over 10 years after Thorn Ogres of Hagwood (2002), a middle volume appears, doing more to indulge the author’s love of grotesque magical creatures than advance his derivative plotline.
The tale zips among points of view as well as back and forth from murky Hagwood Forest to the subterranean Unseelie Court and the mazes of tunnels and caverns deeper down. It sends diminutive Gamaliel Tumpkin and his shape-changing fellow werlings on a search for the hidden casket that holds the beating heart of Rhiannon Rigantona, murderous Queen of the Hollow Hill. The story reads more like a sendup than a credible quest fantasy. Along with silly names aplenty, Jarvis trucks in armies of odd creatures. Snaggle-featured spriggans and glutinous sluglungs (“Snot monsters!” as a revolted onlooker accurately exclaims) keep characters busy between encounters with the odd barn bogle, candle sprite or troll hag. One character is described as a “human dwarf,” and most of the other females are likewise evil, ugly, or, in the case of Gamaliel’s sister Kernella, fat, loud, stupid and in need of rescuing. Following various assaults, the questers and their pursuers gather for a climactic battle that, thanks to a contrived twist, proves indecisive and so leaves the door open for the next episode.
It offers some creepy moments and critters, but it’s more often a pale imitation of one of Brian Jacques’ woodland epics. With slime. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: June 4, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4532-9921-0
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
This vacation founders in less-than-terrifying waters.
The second book in the Gravediggers series presents a family vacation with beaches, boats and a body count.
When classmates Ian, Kendra and PJ all win family vacations to Puerto Rico, it seems like the perfect escape from the memories of their last trip, which started with zombies and ended with the trio being declared the next generation of zombie fighters. Soon enough, though, a perfectly normal setting soon turns into a zombie magnet, and the trio find themselves trapped on a tropical island, fighting waves of waterlogged, reanimated corpses. But this time, the monsters have been upgraded, thanks to a mysterious millionaire and his sinister zombie agenda. The SAT practice words and the zombie kick-ass moments return along with the kids, but the zombies are no longer desiccated corpses—these are bloated, fish-eaten bodies sloughing off flesh left and right. Ian, Kendra and PJ are more defined this time around, each with a distinct personality; unfortunately, their personalities aren’t all that engaging. In fact, the various jungle creatures have more presence on the page in their brief appearances than the teens and their families. A coven of witches adds a bit of spice, but there’s an overall lack of emotion all around. Krovatin sets the stage for a third novel with a growing threat and betrayal, but it’s hard to build enthusiasm for what has already become an extremely formulaic series.
This vacation founders in less-than-terrifying waters. (Adventure. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-207743-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
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