Lee (Saint Fire, not reviewed, etc.) opens a new series framed, belt and suspenders, in chapters and diary entries. Having grown up serving a petty, vicious princess, Claidi jumps at the chance to help in the escape of Nemian, a handsome, imprisoned prince. In their journey across the barren Waste, the pair weather dust storm and monster attack, pass through towns where sheep and clocks are worshipped, and encounter the Hulta, nomads led by Argul, a kingly youth who takes a shine to Claidi. She is attracted to him, too, especially after he rescues her from a sacrificial rite, but though familiarity has worn some of Nemian’s glitter away, Claidi decides to go on with the prince to his home in distant Wolf Tower. To her dismay, she discovers that Nemian is already married, and that she is the victim of an elaborate ruse designed to force her back into servitude. Lee gives Claidi a modern-sounding voice—believing that some of the Hulta voted against her rescue: “Now when I talk to them, I wonder which ones didn't think I was worth the trouble. I don't blame them. But yuk”—and regards the religion and politics of the Waste's residents sardonically. In the end, Argul rescues her again, and off the two ride into upcoming sequels. A diverting escapade for fans of Karen Cushman’s Catherine, Called Birdy (1994), Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted (1997), and the like. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-46394-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2000
Long after the destruction of society, a tribe of Amazons lives an ascetic life. Along with the other young women of her community, Keller longs to become a Tracker, guarding the borders from mutant, deviant men. She doesn’t want to be dragged into political machinations: not those of her secret-keeping teachers; nor those of the ruling Committee who decide when the girls will be impregnated; nor those of the other Novice Trackers’ prohibited cliques. The most popular of the Novices, Laing, has discovered a cache of secrets and is reveling in its forbidden discoveries: press-on fingernails, names that end in i and y, makeup, social manipulation. Meanwhile, the all-powerful Committee Chair publicly flaunts a different taboo femininity, riding sidesaddle in Victorian garb. Oddly, the girls relate exclusively to glamorous 20th-/21st-century Western models, although the limited sources available to them also portray young girls, athletes and women in niqab. Nevertheless, secrets revealed make for a compelling emotional journey for Keller in this possible series opener, despite the incongruous obsession with 21st-century mores. (Dystopian science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9064-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
Gleeful Alien-esque action adventure. Cheney has spent every one of his 17 years on a spaceship (33 years if you count the time in suspended animation). One day, he knows, Plexus will land on a planet, but space is home. His life is birthday parties, dinner with his parents and work rotations until the fateful day where they hit a mysterious wave in space. It’s a subatomic radiation wave, or the universal life force or... really, the details don’t matter. The point is, suddenly the ship turns alive. What used to be floating laundry units, transport shuttles and scientific equipment are now enormous oozing cells and acidic carnivores, and every last piece wants to kill the humans. The race-against-time adventure is chock-full of scientific revelations, gruesome corpses and a marvelously gratuitous samurai sword. Even the requisite escape through the air ducts is made more exciting when the living ship has an asthma attack. Packed with thrills, this deserves equally over-the-top CGI. In a word—AWESOME. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-15-206193-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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