A lovely, eerie adventure that balances the ancient magic with its protagonist's very real character growth
In a grim season, one rural tradition seems less like a boys' romp and more like a gateway for the old powers.
This ought to be a banner year for 13-year-old Ash, finally selected as the stag boy. As the lead runner in his British town's annual Stag Chase, Ash should be preparing to race his best friend, Mark, and the other boys their age, hounds to his stag. If only the whole town weren't shattered with grief. A foot-and-mouth outbreak has devastated the area, with tragic consequences; Mark's dad hanged himself in the barn. Ash's own father, an army captain, has returned from the war—afflicted with PTSD, haunted by visions and rising alcoholism. Even the Stag Chase itself seems corrupted. Ash sees creepy crows in the woods, skulls draped in the trees, ghost stag boys, and (most uncanny) Mark living in the woods, dressed in rags and daubed with clay. The old ways are rising, Mark insists, and the stag boy's destiny will not be a happy one. In haunting, lyrical prose, Ash tries to protect himself from Bone Jack the soul-taker while learning to be a better son and friend. With a deft hand, Crowe twines the ancient folk motifs around her evocation of modern Britain—with one exception: characters’ races go unspecified, leaching it of its multicultural vigor.
A lovely, eerie adventure that balances the ancient magic with its protagonist's very real character growth . (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17651-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Rousing adventures for young tomb robbers and delvers into realms better left to the dead.
An occult portal and its spectral guardian nearly cut short the careers of three rising young ghost hunters in this madcap sequel to The Screaming Staircase (2013).
Continuing their predilection for falling into predicaments that require rapier work and fast exits, psychic detection agents Lockwood, George and Lucy are reluctantly hired by Scotland Yard to track down a mystical old “bone-glass” no sooner found in the arms of a moldering exhumed corpse than stolen. As everyone who has looked into this small but potent artifact seems to have either been driven insane or eaten by rats (or both), police and psychic black marketeers are equally eager to get their hands on it. In fine form, Stroud sends Lockwood & Co. on a trail that leads from an upper-crust social event to the mucky margins of the Thames and into dust-ups with thugs, rival agents and carloads of ectoplasmic horrors that can kill with just a touch. Lucy’s cautionary “If you’re easily icked-out, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph…” goes for more than one grisly passage. For all their internecine squabbling, the three protagonists make a redoubtable team—and their supporting cast, led by the sneering titular skull in a jar, adds color and complications aplenty.
Rousing adventures for young tomb robbers and delvers into realms better left to the dead. (Ghost adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-6492-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A confused jumble of fantasy and science-fictional elements make a notably unsteady foundation for Kirby’s newest series.
A sudden ice age has near-future humanity on the ropes, but neither glaciers nor a vast conspiracy to hide their cause stops a preteen from heading into the Arctic in search of her missing mother.
Galvanized by a set of secret files sent just before her geologist mom disappears, Eleanor sets out from frigid Phoenix for a research lab in nearly uninhabitable Alaska. She finds that both the area and the search have been taken over by climatologist Aaron Skinner, smooth-talking CEO of gigantic Global Energy Trust. Eleanor’s suspicions that G.E.T. is up to no good are confirmed after she is (wait for it) rescued by a Paleolithic hunter with weird eyes who takes her to a huge ice cavern. There, an ancient alien machine called a Concentrator is sucking “telluric current” from Earth’s ley lines and beaming it to a previously unknown rogue planet that has knocked Earth out of its orbit. Taking all of this in stride more easily than readers, particularly thinking ones, are likely to, Eleanor marshals her forces, at least temporarily deals with the current bad guys and flies off to find other Concentrators in future episodes before G.E.T. can.
A confused jumble of fantasy and science-fictional elements make a notably unsteady foundation for Kirby’s newest series. (Science fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-222487-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
