If a little illogical and unsubtle, this trilogy closer nonetheless delivers what's most important: thrills
Adam Adlar is back, working with his scientist dad to save the world from the deviant dreams of Geneflow, a high-tech organization that wants to remake the world, even if it means starting World War III.
This adventure starts when Adam is kidnapped right off the streets of Washington, D.C. The city is being attacked by practically invisible, flying dinosaur replicas, and Adam, along with everyone else, is defenseless against them. Saved at the last second by a reluctant pterosaur, he’s taken to a secret research facility. There he meets Zoe, a girl who can communicate with the pterosaur, Keera, who doesn’t like what she’s being made to do. When Adam’s old friend Zed the Z-Rex shows up, they form a team that is ready to go to the ends of the earth to put an end to Geneflow once and for all. From D.C. to the outer reaches of Siberia, the action just keeps coming. While it’s never really clear why Geneflow wants to do its dastardly business, the premise alone is enough of a threat to make the rest of the plot reasonable, while the thought of transcontinental flights with Keera and Zed are the things juvenile dreams are made of.
If a little illogical and unsubtle, this trilogy closer nonetheless delivers what's most important: thrills . (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-399-25255-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Less charming than the opener but does feature a thimbleful of moral quandary at its center.
Armed only with her magical sewing needle, foundling mouse Delphine sets out to confront the cruel rat king in this duology closer.
As vicious rat armies pillage the mouse realms in search of her and her pointy, long-hidden treasure, Delphine finds herself waging an inner war that parallels the outer one. According to dusty documents and other reputable sources, the needle’s good powers can be perverted, but she sees no other way except killing to stop evil rat King Midnight. While struggling with a grim determination to go over to the dark side that sets her at odds with her own fundamentally loving nature, Delphine threads her way along with loyal allies past various scrapes—only to come, climactically, face to face with not only her nemesis, but her own past. Moon stitches in flashbacks to fill out the details of a tragic old love triangle that reaches its fruition here and sews her tale up with a return to Château Desjardins just in time for Cinderella’s wedding and a celebratory rodentine ball in the chandelier overhead, and she leaves a fringe of epilogue hinting at further installments to come.
Less charming than the opener but does feature a thimbleful of moral quandary at its center. (secret codes) (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-04833-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
With plenty of thrills, friendship, some humor, intrigue and an easy good-guys/bad-guys escape plot, young readers will find...
Six middle schoolers + mad scientists + Everglades = adventure.
Cat, along with five other children who have suffered head injuries, goes to what is billed as the pre-eminent neurological center in the world, the International Center for Advanced Neurology, located in the Everglades. At first, she receives excellent care, but she soon overhears an ominous conversation that leads to her discovery of the awful truth: The terrible Dr. Ames and his colleague intend to implant the children with the DNA of long-dead scientists, including Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Marie Curie and even Leonardo da Vinci. Worse, they learn that Trent, who has already received a transplant, has virtually become Thomas Edison. Trent not only has Edison’s DNA, he has Edison’s century-old memories and speech patterns. Cat and her friends seize an opportunity to escape, relying on Trent’s technical expertise and “inherited” memory to evade the bad guys. As she outlines in her author’s note, Messner follows good science in her descriptions of head-injury treatment; she also gives teachers opportunities to explore the differences between hereditary and acquired characteristics in her more fictional genetic “science.” Her characterizations are solid and age-appropriate; Trent, as young Thomas Edison still avidly working on alternating currents, supplies some laughs.
With plenty of thrills, friendship, some humor, intrigue and an easy good-guys/bad-guys escape plot, young readers will find lots of fun here. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8027-2314-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
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