A four-inch Moses leads his people in the general direction of the Promised Land—in this funny satire from the author of The Colour of Magic (1985, published for adults but also enjoyed by young people). Thousands of years after being shipwrecked on Earth, the Borrower-like Nomes have forgotten their origins and are living happily under the floors of a department store full of goods and huge, stupid humans, all created for them by their god, Arnold Bros (est. 1905). Thanks to the labors of the Stationeri tribe, the demesnes of Haberdasheri, Ironmongeri and the rest are uneasily at peace; but there are Signs—"Final Reductions," for instance, and "Everything Must Go"—that all is not well in the "world." Then a group of strangers, led by an often-bewildered and always self-pitying antihero named Masklin, appears from the mythical Outside bearing the Thing, a small black box that suddenly lights up and announces that the store will be destroyed in less than a month. How to move several thousand Nomes and all their possessions in a hurry? Desperate, Masklin decides to steal a human truck. How to drive it? No problem: he asks the ingenious inventor Dorcas del Icatessen to form a steering committee! Nomes and readers are both in for a wild ride, as time is even shorter than Masklin thinks. Again, Pratchett gives his cast plenty of personality and fuels the plot with nonstop comedy; he also wields a satirist's blade against human politics, mores, and preconceptions. Though Masklin settles the Nomes in an old quarry, sequels are obviously planned.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0552551007
Page Count: 209
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1990
Somberly beautiful.
A girl goes in search of her missing sister and discovers a strange hidden world of dreams.
Corin, who’s 18 and dark-skinned, strives to protect her 12-year-old sister, Elly. But life as a thief is full of struggle, poverty, and loss, even without Corin’s avoidance of other relationships. Elly clings to the promise of fairy tales, like the one that says a princess lies sleeping in an underground castle after pricking her finger on a spindle. After the sisters fight and Elly runs off, Corin searches for her in Gyldan’s old network of tunnels—and finds the tale is true: Cursed Princess Amelia, golden-haired, with eyes like “sea glass” and porcelain skin, lies asleep, surrounded by flowers. Corin enters the princess’ dreamworld—the place “where your subconscious desires come to life.” She meets Briar Rose, Amelia’s alter ego, who experienced her share of sadness and wanted to fall asleep. Also in the dreamworld is green-skinned Malicine, the nonbinary demon who, despite having placed the curse of eternal slumber on Amelia, is mostly friendly. All three are running from things they can’t face, though the dreamworld may not give them a choice. Pham’s debut, a Sapphic reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty,” explores mental health and asks a lot of readers as it seesaws between emotional confrontations, time jumps, and scenes where one character inhabits the memories of another, all of which demand intense engagement. Still, the ending is earned as well as positive.
Somberly beautiful. (content note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9798217113026
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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