In the first section of this wise, warmhearted fairytale, the elf Yorsh is only a sweetly naïve child; but as the last of his kind, he accepts his destined burden to return summer to a world of endless rain and famine. Assisted by a pair of sympathetic humans and a very difficult dragon, Yorsh discovers that fulfilling a prophecy can sometimes be simpler than it seems. But it can also be more complicated, as an adolescent Yorsh learns in the second story. Even with the help of a dragon and a feisty orphan girl, he finds bringing back the sun was much easier than lifting the darkness of oppression and bigotry. Graceful, witty prose lightly sketches a land filled with astonishingly vivid and original characters. Gentle Yorsh may be an innocent, but he’s no fool; through his eyes, his companions glow with humor, tenderness and courage. Their quest provides plenty of suspense and heroic action, never flinching from conflict or the pain it breeds, yet the narrative continually opts for clever, non-violent solutions; the climactic sacrifice is portrayed as necessary, even glorious, but also almost unbearably tragic. Readers are left assured that kindness and hope will prevail, however tenuously, over anger and fear. (Fantasy. 10+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7868-3636-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2006
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
Gratuity Tucci (“Tip” for short) has a problem. Aliens have invaded Earth, stolen her mother, and now she and the rest of humanity are being shunted onto small reservations while the invaders (the Boov) take over the rest of the planet. In avoiding this plan, via her family car, Tip runs across J.Lo, a renegade Boov with problems of his own. Together, girl and alien attempt to locate Tip’s mother only to discover that an even greater alien threat is imminent. It’s up to the two heroes to defeat the invaders, Boov and otherwise, and save the day. The humor in this story is undeniably unique, containing a skewed worldview that children will certainly enjoy. Yet while the first half of the book is an entirely funny road trip of the Kerouac-meets-E.T. variety, the second half slows down considerably. Rex has such a nice grasp of small tender moments amidst a world gone haywire, it’s a pity the book wasn’t pared down significantly. Inspired but problematic. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7868-4900-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2007
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