In a well-realized medieval world, Jordan (The Secret Sacrament, 2001, etc.) introduces one small element of fantasy: the last dragon left on earth. Jude is no accomplished hero, but has a sort of bravery in him alongside a native intelligence and genuine kindness. After his village is destroyed by the dragon, Jude is taken in by Tybalt, who runs a sort of traveling sideshow that includes a Chinese woman with bound feet who is treated like a beast. Lizzie Little-legs and Jude gradually become friends and later partners in their quest to kill the last dragon. This beast has created great havoc in a drought summer, the fire spreading cruelly with entire village populations as victims. A sense of safety is provided by a narrative device that has Jude dictating to a monk long after all danger is over. Lizzie, whose actual name is Jing-wei, provides the knowledge of gunpowder and kites that are used to attack the dragon, as well as other Chinese innovations not yet common in England, such as silk and paper. Jing-wei consistently is the heroine, whose essential knowledge and determination make each step possible. Whether she will remain with Jude or try to return to her home country illustrates the tough choices of even involuntary immigrants and provides some additional suspense. Jordan creates an appealing and sedate romance in an unusual place and time for younger readers than her usual, more complex work. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-028902-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
In this sketchy, incoherent, near-future tale, a child named Rain and the lion she has raised are stolen from an inland village for some never-explained Sacrifice by “Tekkies” inhabiting The Island, a former mountaintop surrounded by risen seas. Aside from vague references to “the Wild,” “Drylands” and air-conditioned “chill chambers,” the author does little to set up either the scene or the back story, nor does she ever reveal why Rain or the lion are considered so significant. Instead she focuses almost entirely on Rain’s unhappiness and confusion through disconnected encounters with Island residents, and then she engineers a highly contrived escape for the girl and lion as their former prison is totally destroyed for unknown reasons. The deadly effects of global warming certainly make a cogent theme, but this effort to take it up seems to have been, at best, phoned in by a veteran South African author who usually offers much more careful and sensitive work (Song of Be, 1993, etc.). Goodness knows, there's a raft of other eco-disaster tales out there for readers so inclined. (Science fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84780-114-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More serious in tone than Radiance (2010), this supernatural adventure story finds perpetually 12-year-old Riley and her 14-year-old guide, Bodhi, first battling then helping Rebecca, an angry ghost child who initially seems to be evil personified. After the death of her mother, Rebecca, the daughter of an unloving plantation owner in the 1700s, was ignored by her father and reared by her family’s uncaring household slaves, leaving her bereft and psychologically damaged. The slaves on the plantation were cruelly and barbarically treated, and they eventually rebelled, killing Rebecca and her father. Rebecca is holding the ghosts of some of these slaves in what could be called memory hell, a place where they must constantly relive their most nightmarish remembrances. Riley, who is dead and existing in the “Here & Now,” is compelled to go where angels fear to tread when Rebecca captures Bodhi and Riley’s faithful dog Buttercup. In the rather tedious adventure that follows, Riley frees her friends, then, with their help, tries to bring forgiveness and peace to the slaves and Rebecca, so they can all cross the bridge to the happiness that awaits on the other side. The backdrop of the story, a slave revolt in the West Indies, adds some historical weight, but the situation remains abstract and the characters only marginally interesting, leaving readers ultimately unengaged. (Ghost story. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-64825-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Square Fish
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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