An engaging work that should be a solid hit with young readers.
Skinner offers a steampunk middle-grade adventure novel about a bunch of scrappy urchins who battle bad guys and rescue their own.
The “streeters” live in a part of the city of Landings that seems straight out of the work of Charles Dickens: full of filth and choking smoke, and cold and wet all the time. These kids are orphans, for the most part, who do what they must to survive while dodging nasty cops—especially Constable Cutter. The book’s main hero is Gage, and his gang is the Lostuns. Gangs are the only society they have, and the only source of tenuous security. Gage, while looking for some Lostuns who have gone missing, comes across Wynd, who’s been forced out of her own gang, the Dartlings, because she insists on searching for her two missing young brothers. During the search, Gage encounters a tiny “clockwork” homunculus named Clax who proves invaluable to the mission, time after time. The plot takes off when it becomes clear that the missing boys have been abducted and sold to pirates and smugglers, who spirited them off to an island where they’re forced to extract a precious ore. With pluck and luck and amazing inventions (including flying machines), the heroes confront seemingly hopeless situations and hairbreadth escapes. Skinner is experienced at these sorts of stories, and it shows. The work of J.M Barrie also deserves credit as her inspiration, since foppish Captain Spindle is a barely disguised Captain Hook, his first mate is clearly Mr. Smee, and Clax is a Tinker Bell analogue; there’s even a crocodile (albeit a steampunk creation). Skinner is clearly having fun with this, but the moral—the importance of family, whether biological or only spiritual—is apt and a good lesson for young folks; such togetherness is to be encouraged.
An engaging work that should be a solid hit with young readers.Pub Date: April 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-938190-77-3
Page Count: 255
Publisher: Brick Cave Media
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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