Lighthearted and conspiratorially didactic; an agreeable romp toward adulthood.
In this middle-grade novel, a teenager journeys to a Tolkien-inspired fantasy land to act as its hero.
On the day before his 13th birthday, Toby Baxter looks out the classroom window and sees what appears to be a hobbit. Toby is into comic books and Marvel movies, not literary fantasies like Tolkien’s The Hobbit and C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Still, when he wakes at night to find a middle-aged man named Author in his room, he can’t help following him through the closet and into his own adventure. Toby is transported to a world where his coming is foretold and he is known as a hero. There is a magic sword encased in rock, inscribed “I.C.E. Call Toby Baxter.” The hobbit Toby saw turns out to be an elf wearing hairy boots. The elves are at war with the trolls, and though they try to live normal lives (eating large meals and playing Australian rules football), another crisis has arisen in this long conflict. Can Toby lead his new friends to victory or will Clygon, Tribal Chief of the trolls, steal his power? Through his actions, what sort of hero does Toby aspire to be? Wright employs a jocose narrative style, telling the story from Toby’s perspective (third person, past tense) but with sporadic authorial asides: “Every sound startled him. Every birdcall caused him to duck—did he just step into a pun?—until he finally relaxed.” Toby is a typical middle-class American teen who carries much of his real-world personality into the fantasy setting. He is quick to suspend disbelief yet never entirely unaware of reality. Though fired by determination and assailed by doubts, he remains happy-go-lucky and too easily distracted by food. Wright reimagines stock fantasy characters (elves, trolls, gnomes) to be more everyday in their outlooks, less a product of quest narrative requirements. While there are perhaps too many elven characters with too little to distinguish them, their society as a whole has more personality than most. The story moves at a good pace, albeit with plenty of asides, and offers a laudable twist (a Star Wars–esque “don’t give in to the dark side”). Young fantasists will enjoy having their eyes opened.
Lighthearted and conspiratorially didactic; an agreeable romp toward adulthood.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66784-963-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.
A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.
Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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