A high-spirited tale of a girl’s trials with a wizard and a skeletal baddie.
In this second installment of a middle-grade fantasy series, a teenager struggles to stop a curse that burdens her with troublemaking magic.
In her last adventure, 13-year-old Alyssa McCarthy had a run-in with sorcerer Master Beau. But the two’s residual “magical connection” is what the recently resurrected Errol now exploits. As Errol is a mere skeleton, he needs Master Beau’s power to regain his flesh and blood. His plan requires the sorcerer’s soul, which is apparently most effective when it’s linked to Alyssa. Consequently, Errol curses her with magic that the teen unfortunately can’t control. This leads to seemingly endless mishaps at school or at home with her godfather/legal guardian, Alex Kress. Alyssa’s mentor, Simon, has an unusual method for removing her unwanted magic. She must boost her confidence and bravery (using a handy skillometer to measure her progress) as well as uncover Errol’s past and “point out the painful parts to him clearly.” Alyssa’s confidence is currently low, and it’s especially difficult to raise it when her magic disrupts school activities and repeatedly lands her in detention. Moreover, Errol cooks up a scheme that will not only render Alyssa helpless, but may somehow harm Simon, Alex, and her friends as well. Prasad’s (The Frights of Fiji, 2018) breezy novel is frequently entertaining. For example, Alyssa’s involuntary magic creates several amusing sights, like a giant inflatable whale that easily shuts down cheerleading practice. There are also fantastic creatures, including a “winged unicorn zebra,” that have escaped from a magical zoo and add to the story’s increasing chaos. The author’s unadorned writing style accommodates more character discourse than scene descriptions. But she leaves room for playfully worded details: Magical tech works anywhere, courtesy of “an enchanted satellite in space, invisible to non-wizard astronauts.” Notwithstanding the tale’s humor, there are believably serious moments, from Alyssa’s incessantly defending herself against accusations (including that she’s a witch) to Errol’s genuine threat against her loved ones.
A high-spirited tale of a girl’s trials with a wizard and a skeletal baddie.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-69904-737-8
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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