Loose ends are tied up with almost painful tidiness in Lee’s (Wolf Star, 2001, etc.) third entry in the series. After commandeering the Star to return her to the nomadic Hulta and their leader, her beloved Argul, Claidi is crushed by the tribe’s rejection, blaming her for the brokenhearted Argul’s abdication. Determined to set things right, Claidi tracks Argul to the frozen north, pursued in turn by the sinister Jelly, an apparent agent of Wolf Tower. But Argul, when found, spurns Claidi coldly, and beats Jelly senseless; Claidi and Jelly are carried off by the Lady Winter Raven to the icy fastness of Raven Tower, Wolf Tower’s rival. There, Claidi receives a royal welcome—and finally faces the mother who abandoned her. Yet nobody in this convoluted plot turns out to be who they seem, and it takes all of Claidi’s irrepressible independence to sort through the layers of subterfuge and claim her own destiny. Although most of the wonder here comes from Lee’s mysteriously evocative settings, Claidi remains a feisty, irreverent heroine, and her diary charms with its cheeky tone. But while racing through the episodic plot, Lee barely sketches in the remaining characters, and her efforts to wrap up the dangling threads of Claidi’s melodramatic adventures render this volume incomprehensible to new readers. Even with the clumsy chunks of exposition plopped at the end, the nature of Claidi’s world is still muddled, and her future unclear. Still, this lightweight confection provides some essential closure. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-525-46895-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
Paulsen recalls personal experiences that he incorporated into Hatchet (1987) and its three sequels, from savage attacks by moose and mosquitoes to watching helplessly as a heart-attack victim dies. As usual, his real adventures are every bit as vivid and hair-raising as those in his fiction, and he relates them with relish—discoursing on “The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition,” for instance: “Something that you would never consider eating, something completely repulsive and ugly and disgusting, something so gross it would make you vomit just looking at it, becomes absolutely delicious if you’re starving.” Specific examples follow, to prove that he knows whereof he writes. The author adds incidents from his Iditarod races, describes how he made, then learned to hunt with, bow and arrow, then closes with methods of cooking outdoors sans pots or pans. It’s a patchwork, but an entertaining one, and as likely to win him new fans as to answer questions from his old ones. (Autobiography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32650-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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