Fans will be pleased to see answers, background, and a clear path to Volume 1.
In this sequel to a prequel, a third candidate for School Master brings simmering tensions between twins Rhian and Rafal to a boil.
In events following close on those in Rise of the School for Good and Evil (2022), the arrival of James Hook in Neverland, along with fellow ex-students Aladdin and Princess Kyma, spurs ruthless tyrant Peter Pan to mount his own bid to take over the twin-towered school where fairy-tale characters are trained. Meanwhile Rafal and Rhian, amid their growing rivalry, are both searching for an ally they can trust, and they kidnap a Reader—young Midas—from the outside world. What follows is a seminar on telling Good from Evil as the line between the two becomes even more muddled, numerous members of the sprawling cast exhibit qualities of both, and Rafal, in particular, suffers an extended identity crisis. Chainani explores feminist themes as a group of punk Neverland fairies and a man-hunting troll join Kyma, asserting their independence and questioning what might happen “if boys don’t have the last word in our stories.” He also presents a credible rationale for Good’s invariable victory over Evil in fairy tales. Characters’ skin tones vary from pale to bronze, and the two trolls are colorful showstoppers. Final art not seen.
Fans will be pleased to see answers, background, and a clear path to Volume 1. (Fantasy. 11-14)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780063269538
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure
A Prohibition-era child enlists a gifted pickpocket and a pair of budding circus performers in a clever ruse to save her ancestral home from being stolen by developers.
Rundell sets her iron-jawed protagonist on a seemingly impossible quest: to break into the ramshackle Hudson River castle from which her grieving grandfather has been abruptly evicted by unscrupulous con man Victor Sorrotore and recover a fabulously valuable hidden emerald. Laying out an elaborate scheme in a notebook that itself turns out to be an integral part of the ensuing caper, Vita, only slowed by a bout with polio years before, enlists a team of helpers. Silk, a light-fingered orphan, aspiring aerialist Samuel Kawadza, and Arkady, a Russian lad with a remarkable affinity for and with animals, all join her in a series of expeditions, mostly nocturnal, through and under Manhattan. The city never comes to life the way the human characters do (Vita, for instance, “had six kinds of smile, and five of them were real”) but often does have a tangible presence, and notwithstanding Vita’s encounter with a (rather anachronistically styled) “Latina” librarian, period attitudes toward race and class are convincingly drawn. Vita, Silk, and Arkady all present white; Samuel, a Shona immigrant from Southern Rhodesia, is the only primary character of color. Santoso’s vignettes of, mostly, animals and small items add occasional visual grace notes.
Narrow squeaks aplenty combine with bursts of lyrical prose for a satisfying adventure . (Historical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1948-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
Series fans may enjoy this patched-together prelude.
Twin wizards duel, fret, switch roles, and fall for the same guy in this prequel to the popular series.
Continuing on the theme that it isn’t as easy to distinguish good from evil as it might seem, Chainani goes back to a time when the titular school was run by a pair of immortal adolescents. School Masters Rhian and Rafal have been told that loving one another is the only way to maintain the balance between Good and Evil at the school, but a long run of folk and fairy tales written out by the mysterious pen called the Storian—in which Good triumphs—has led to a fraternal rift. The assignment of decided scapegrace Aladdin to, astonishingly, the School for Good widens the antagonism (could the Storian have made a mistake?). But though Aladdin is the main point-of-view character for major stretches in the early going, no sooner does he hook up with dazzling schoolmate Princess Kyma than the author shoves him deep into the supporting cast to make room for a jealousy-fueled break and some bad behavior that comes when first Rafal then Rhian lock gazes and lips with pirate trainee James Hook (latest of a long line of villains defeated by a certain other ageless teen). Most of the cast reads as White. Lush but rare illustrations underscore dramatic incidents.
Series fans may enjoy this patched-together prelude. (Fantasy. 11-14)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-316152-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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