Occasional passionate snogging aside, all the physical action’s offstage in this touchy-feely outing.
In this elaborately plotted-out interactive adventure, “past life regression therapy” sends a modern teenager back several centuries to collect hunky guys while getting in touch with her inner self.
With her therapist’s guidance, Rose breathes deeply and wakes in medieval Heart’s Home to meet various characters—notably four eminently eligible men—and to gather clues to the mysterious death of her physician father. In the static illustrations, figures digitally rendered from photographed models pose in photorealistic settings, changing expression or position slightly. Above, lines of printed dialogue (“What is it you want?” “Just a kiss would do. Failing that…the dagger on your hip.”) scroll into and out of view one at a time, and bland music tootles monotonously in the background. At intervals, readers are presented with a choice of some sort: A box opens with two or more possible ways for Rose to respond to a conversational sally, or a puzzle must be finished to move on. Periodically, Rose returns to the present for some therapeutic analysis, or a map/playing board appears to chart her progress along a twisted, branching path. The board also includes tables that tally accumulated strength points (based on the aforementioned responses) for Rose’s four budding romances as well as her levels of Kindness, Wisdom and three other characteristics. Though multiple games can be saved and the board, when open, allows quick access to past encounters, there is no way to skip ahead or to cut scenes short.
Occasional passionate snogging aside, all the physical action’s offstage in this touchy-feely outing. (iPad game app. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Silicon Sisters
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
Big brother Duane is off in boot camp, and Justin is left trying to hold the parental units together. Fat, acne-ridden, and missing his best friend Ben, who’s in the throes of his first boy-girl relationship with Cass, Justin’s world is dreary. It gets worse when he realizes that all of his mother’s suspicions about his father are probably true, and that Dad may not return from his latest business trip. Surprisingly ultra-cool Jemmie, who is also missing her best friend, Cass, actually recognizes his existence and her grandmother invites Justin to use their piano in the afternoons when Jemmie’s at cross-country practice. The “big nothing” place, where Justin retreats in time of trouble, is a rhythmic world and soon begins to include melody and provide Justin with a place to express himself. Practice and discipline accompany this gradual exploration of his talent. The impending war in Iraq gives this story a definite place in time, and its distinct characters make it satisfying and surprisingly realistic. Misfit finds fit. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-56145-326-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2004
Troubled teen meets totemic catalyst in Mikaelsen’s (Petey, 1998, etc.) earnest tribute to Native American spirituality. Fifteen-year-old Cole is cocky, embittered, and eaten up by anger at his abusive parents. After repeated skirmishes with the law, he finally faces jail time when he viciously beats a classmate. Cole’s parole officer offers him an alternative—Circle Justice, an innovative justice program based on Native traditions. Sentenced to a year on an uninhabited Arctic island under the supervision of Edwin, a Tlingit elder, Cole provokes an attack from a titanic white “Spirit Bear” while attempting escape. Although permanently crippled by the near-death experience, he is somehow allowed yet another stint on the island. Through Edwin’s patient tutoring, Cole gradually masters his rage, but realizes that he needs to help his former victims to complete his own healing. Mikaelsen paints a realistic portrait of an unlikable young punk, and if Cole’s turnaround is dramatic, it is also convincingly painful and slow. Alas, the rest of the characters are cardboard caricatures: the brutal, drunk father, the compassionate, perceptive parole officer, and the stoic and cryptic Native mentor. Much of the plot stretches credulity, from Cole’s survival to his repeated chances at rehabilitation to his victim being permitted to share his exile. Nonetheless, teens drawn by the brutality of Cole’s adventures, and piqued by Mikaelsen’s rather muscular mysticism, might absorb valuable lessons on anger management and personal responsibility. As melodramatic and well-meaning as the teens it targets. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-380-97744-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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