A robust, well-realized universe that sparkles with promise.
The first book of a prospective trilogy, Wier’s debut fantasy novel follows a young girl whose link to the cosmos will decide the fate of an age-old war of light versus dark.
To celebrate her upcoming 17th birthday, Kira decides to swim under the stars at a local lake. But when she wades into the water, she narrowly escapes a fatal collision with a falling object. An unconscious Kira dreams of a tunnel and starlight that transport her to an alternate universe that mirrors her own. This world features a carnival full of eccentric characters—time-traveling gypsies, snaggletooth attendants, and a handsome farm boy who tells her she came to him by way of a psychic connection. The novel includes various YA trademarks: teenage love triangles, broken families, and the Campbell-ian monomyth. Kira’s search for her long-lost father doubles as a search for herself. Taken in by the gravitational pull of an alternate universe, she begins to discover mysteries about her identity, including theories about her father. When she discovers her light is dying, she faces a major decision; torn between her curiosity about this new world and her nostalgia for home, Kira finds herself in a race against the dying of her light, which, once extinguished, will trap her in whichever world she is in at the time of its dimming. By following through on these consequences, the author adds weight to Kira’s decisions. Wier’s prose is largely conversational, though she paints Kira’s quieter meditations with dreamy visuals that parallel the story’s landscape: “Eyes closed, I hid in the dark, visible only to our moons, floating like two paper lanterns in the starlit sky.” Instead of being a navel-gazer about a 17-year-old’s effort to discover life’s meaning, the novel delivers an action-driven storyline on the universal desire to set one’s own course.
A robust, well-realized universe that sparkles with promise.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-942111-01-6
Page Count: 318
Publisher: REUTS Publications
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A clever series starter sure to leave readers wanting more Peas and Hambone adventures.
A boy and his dog face off against a horde of zombie gorillas in this action-packed adventure by debut author Nichols.
Peter, whose nickname is “Peas,” is an ordinary 10-year-old kid with an extraordinary dog named Hambone. The dog walks and talks like a human but only when he’s alone with Peas, and he gives Hobbes (of Bill Watterson’s famous Calvin and Hobbes comic strip) a run for his money. Snarky troublemaker Hambone is determined to get even with a gorilla who threw “dirt” at him, so he and Peter break into the zoo early one morning. As they try to determine which gorilla is Hambone’s nemesis, they stumble upon an evil plot: One of the gorillas (whom Peas nicknames “Evil Doctor Crazy Gorilla”) gives the other gorillas a smoky green potion that turns them into zombies. Peas and Hambone are the only ones who stand between humanity and the zombie gorilla incursion, aside from crazy Mr. Oswalt, who’s so obsessed with World War I that he pilots a Sopwith Camel biplane around the neighborhood, and the Mama’s Boys biker gang, which fights with foam swords and squirt guns. Peas, who’s seen a lot of scary movies, knows that where there’s a potion, there must be an antidote. Hambone, who suffered a “childhood trauma involving the movie King Kong,” has a serious hatred of gorillas and zombies, and he comes up with the plan that eventually leads them to the mad scientist’s lair. Peas and Hambone’s first outing, full of chase scenes, absurd combat, cross-dressing and gross-out humor, is a madcap adventure sure to appeal to fans of Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books and Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The vocabulary and pacing are well-suited to reluctant readers, and Nichols’ silly, coined phrases (such as “whup-butt” and “Oh-my-shnippies!”) are catchy enough that kids might adopt them.
A clever series starter sure to leave readers wanting more Peas and Hambone adventures.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-615-87100-4
Page Count: 120
Publisher: SecretSquirrel Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An epic, masterly expansion of the Outlaw’s world.
This second volume of a YA series follows a Los Angeles crime fighter whose own body is both his salvation and destruction.
Chase Jackson, a high school junior in Glendale, California, has survived the football season and his first few weeks as the costumed vigilante Outlaw. The super speed, strength, and coordination that helped him become a star quarterback also pushed him into battle against teenage slumlord Tank Ware. After a brief sabbatical from crime fighting, the Outlaw meets another superpowered individual named Carter. He explains that Chase’s abilities come from a virus that amplifies his body chemistry. And if Chase doesn’t slow down and avoid stress, the virus will either drive him insane or kill him. Slowing down is tough, however, considering that bands of rioters have been roving Los Angeles in protest of anti-immigration laws. Chase is also still in a sham relationship with cheerleader Hannah Walker, who adores him merely as an accessory. Worse, his best friend, Katie Lopez, is dating Tank, unaware that he runs a gang and is at war with a new drug lord named the Chemist. The Outlaw must contend with new players, too, like the Sniper, who’s ready to pick him off if his powers run amok, and PuckDaddy, a legendary hacker who may or may not be on his side. Janney (The Outlaw, 2015) ratchets up every component that made the first novel in this series so compelling. The central arc of a football season, however, has been replaced by the mystery of the Outlaw’s aneurysm-inducing powers. Janney’s pacing is excellent, as are the action sequences; during a riot at school, Chase “could almost literally see the angles I should throw [the ball] if I wanted to hit him” when contending with a trespasser. As in the previous book, Chase finds solace at church, where the message “Love each other. Live peacefully. Take care of the poor” proves irresistible. By the explosive end, Janney’s Los Angeles and its Infected citizens know tragedy and that harder times approach.
An epic, masterly expansion of the Outlaw’s world.Pub Date: May 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9962293-4-0
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Sparkle Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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