A high-stakes and exciting tale of good versus evil that thoughtfully reflects on modern maladies.
A boy from a long line of paranormal healers fights the embodiment of illness itself in McCormick’s debut middle-grade fantasy novel.
Twelve-year-old Alexander Asclepius Revelstoke, a Seattle middle schooler, has the ability to sense things about people’s physical conditions. It’s true that his parents are doctors and that he’s grown up surrounded by the tools, books, and journals of their trade, but that doesn’t explain his unusual talent. When his parents become aware of his gift, they take Alex to visit his Grandpa Asclepius, who explains that although the power sometimes skips generations, “Revelstokes can see disease, can diagnose illness, without labs or x-rays. And not just disease. Injury, illness, anything wrong with the body.” It turns out that the Revelstokes also have an enemy, called ILL (“all in capital letters to emphasize his power,” Alex’s dad says), an evil entity who creates or worsens diseases and addictions. Asclepius’ father managed to shackle and weaken ILL, but he still has great power to harm others. It’s up to Alex to destroy ILL before he can carry out his plan to unleash a deadly worldwide plague. Alex has a few allies, but his strength, courage, and healing abilities will be tested to their limits. The story’s pandemic theme is impressively timely and resonant considering that McCormick’s book was written before the rise of the Covid-19 crisis. McCormick intriguingly links age-old diseases like leprosy with modern-day health dangers, such as hugely increased serving sizes of junk food—both of which were conjured by ILL. The suspenseful plot is well grounded in Alex’s growth as a healer and his growing maturity, as shown in his developing friendship with blue-haired Penelope, a new girl in town who was recently orphaned.
A high-stakes and exciting tale of good versus evil that thoughtfully reflects on modern maladies.Pub Date: May 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5092-3566-7
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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