Fans of science will love its central role, and those readers who crave adrenalin will appreciate the view from the edge of...
Collecting stamps is boring. Why not start a more exciting collection, like dangerous elements?
Itchingham Lofte never meant to get himself, his cousin and sister sick with radiation poisoning. He never meant to attract the attention of heartless corporations and evil terrorist groups. He certainly never meant to provoke his science teacher into attack mode. But Itch has an unusual, dangerous hobby—he collects the elements. And when one of his contacts delivers an unusual rock, Itch is thrilled. Instead of being afraid, he’s excited when the Geiger counter at school goes wild in reaction to the radioactive rock. But then begins the complicated task of finding a safe place for the amazing rock—and seven more just like it—while avoiding the ruthless people who want to use the element toward disastrous ends. British radio host and debut novelist Mayo delivers a fun, frightening, gutsy adventure story populated by heroic young people who refuse to back down from their save-the-world mission, even as their treasure renders them sick. These kids are smart enough to worry about their choices and moral enough to know those choices will make a political difference on a global scale.
Fans of science will love its central role, and those readers who crave adrenalin will appreciate the view from the edge of their seats. (Adventure. 10-15)Pub Date: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4549-0509-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Splinter/Sterling
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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