Some of the story covers familiar sci-fi terrain, but laser blasts and galactic pursuits make for a stellar tale.
Prisoners break free in an extraordinary ship powerful enough to hunt pirates and stop innocents from becoming slaves in the first of Goodson’s (Dark Soul Silenced, 2013, etc.) sci-fi series.
Sixteen-year-old Jess was born in captivity. But he has a chance to escape when he and fellow prisoners Matt and Sal step onto a ship to check it for booby traps. Bolts of electricity inside the vessel knock off the trio’s control collars, and they take the opportunity to run. Strangely, the ship, named the Wanderer, responds to Jess’ touch, allowing the group a clean getaway. The Wanderer fixes a “web of strands” to Jess and ultimately links to him without a physical connection. As ship captain, the teenager answers a distress call, and after he destroys a menacing Imperial craft, a number of passengers join Jess, Matt, and Sal. But some of those people may have taken others against their wills. Jess returns children to their homes, or stations, but is surprised by a shocking attack followed by a devastating betrayal. It seems everyone wants the Wanderer, especially those who witness the ship’s speed and ferocity. Jess and his remaining allies duck out on Washington (the planet), near a mining complex that’s a base for illicit activities like slave trading. They plan to infiltrate a band of criminals and liberate its bevy of prisoners. The fast-paced novel kicks the action into high gear; the opening chase with absconding prisoners is followed by numerous battle scenes in the Wanderer. Romance between Jess and rescued Ali happens almost immediately, like a YA story, while the never-been-kissed hero blushes quite often. Nevertheless, Jess and the ship’s relationship remains unquestionably engrossing. He essentially acts as the Wanderer’s conscience, bringing its mind to life—which explains his phenomenal piloting skills. The story’s a little derivative of other works, particularly Star Wars: the prime baddies are collectively the Empire, while alien Teeko’s jumbled speech too closely resembles Yoda’s. But Goodson leaves open plenty of plot avenues, including origins for Jess and the Wanderer, to explore in the series’ sequels.
Some of the story covers familiar sci-fi terrain, but laser blasts and galactic pursuits make for a stellar tale.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4910-9979-7
Page Count: 250
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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