A densely packed middle-grade fantasy.
Gorgons and centaurs and gnomes, oh, my! Young Arthur Grey and the Spyglass Squad must solve a riddle and find an ancient relic.
Finnish (The Society’s Traitor, 2012) sets his second novel about a mystical secret society, Historia, on a fictional island near Crete called Elysium. Twelve-year-old Arthur, his talking dog, Griffin, and his pals, the Spyglass Squad, go there to train. Historia has been plagued by a series of unsolved robberies, losing its investors in the process. Arthur is not just an Initiate there; he’s also a Relic Guardian descended from ancient Nordics. During his long hours of folklore lessons, he longs to learn the secrets of Guarding. One of many odd characters on Elysium, the bulging-eyed Ms. Featherweit, introduces the Initiates to a papyrus sheet covered with a mixture of Hittite, Minoan and Greek symbols—as well as symbols not yet identified. These unknown symbols turn out to be written in an obscure ancient language and are rumored to be the key to locating an undersea labyrinth and the fabled Minotaur, who guards a valuable ancient relic. Arthur and his reluctant friends take it upon themselves to locate the labyrinth and get the relic before a saboteur does, so that Historia will once again be secure. The plot is cluttered with trivia and references to Arthur’s first adventure in Peru, and readers may find it hard at times to follow his character development. Nevertheless, the initially timid Arthur eventually encounters a variety of creatures, perseveres through jousts and sea-horse races and eludes a mysterious white ghost. The real message Arthur has to learn is given to him by a faun: “Brains over strength and giving over greed.” Despite similarities to the Harry Potter series and its plethora of creatures, myth and history, Finnish is a dedicated, inventive author, and many young fantasy devotees will find this novel intriguing once it truly gets underway.
A densely packed middle-grade fantasy.Pub Date: June 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-0985220235
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Panama Hat Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A nostalgic, authentic novel that charms with its vintage hue.
Brown’s debut novel recounts how a young woman’s murder affects the lives of childhood friends.
In the early-20th century, three adolescent boys—Nickels, Kurt and Charlie—are the most loyal of chums. They each face their share of hardships, but none so difficult as Nickels’ father’s imprisonment for a murder he didn’t commit. The man was a father to all three boys; Charlie’s dad is a hapless drunk, and Kurt lost his father at a young age to pneumonia. Life goes on, inside and outside prison walls, until the friends learn that revenge against the real killer is in sight. The account is narrated by Nicky’s granddaughter, who gathered the information from her family. This approach adds a sense of authenticity and casts the tale as a recollection. Characters seem to arrive already defined, as they would in memory. The three boys are the indisputable heroes, and the villains are blatantly evil—Russell Cantrell, a rich lawyer who’s introduced as he accuses someone else for a crime he committed (he’s only 13 at the time), and his assistant/chauffeur, Voigt, whose hands are dirty almost from the get-go. The murder is incidental to the narrative, and the murderer’s identity is never really in question. Still, a generous amount of suspense comes with the revelation of the victim’s name and the exact date and location of the murder. The novel recreates an era as it follow the boys’ lives from World War I through their adulthood and into the Great Depression. Several issues faced by the characters are still relevant today, such as corruption and bigotry—Nicky and his Polish family are often vulgarly called “Polacks.” But it is the portrayal of real-world history—the height of Prohibition, the early days of cinema—that makes the book such a gem.
A nostalgic, authentic novel that charms with its vintage hue.Pub Date: May 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985439118
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Woodchuck Publishers
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thought-provoking thriller.
In Folsom’s novel, the Saudis and the Americans team up to thwart Iran’s attempt to build a nuclear bomb.
What will happen if Iran successfully develops a nuclear warhead? This question, which usually vexes presidential candidates and U.N. diplomats, drives Folsom’s fast-paced follow-up to his previous novel (The Pareto Spread, 2006). As scientists in Iran drive relentlessly toward completion of the nuclear technology that will give them a bomb, powerful figures in the U.S. and the Middle East fear that the Iranians’ pursuit will set off an arms race that will throw the Arab world into chaos and endanger global stability. Hoping to avert catastrophe, members of the Saudi royal family risk it all on “Peaceful Eagle,” a dangerous gambit that will deliver either peace or destruction. A Cold War-era bomb lies hundreds of feet below the ground in North Carolina, and the Saudis contract with the New Democratic Right—a semi-covert American paramilitary group—to extract the warhead. If necessary, the Saudis plan to detonate the device preemptively in Iran, scuttling the country’s nuclear ambitions and avoiding all-out war. Meanwhile, Robert Faircloth, an NDR operative, is working his way through the Middle East in an effort to contact the Iranian mullahs, warn them of the impending danger and resolve the crisis diplomatically. The tension mounts as these figures and others race to a startling conclusion. Folsom’s novel is full of satisfying twists and intrigues; Tom Clancy would be proud. Further, the author is clearly conversant in international politics, Arab cultural norms and the intricacies of global religion. His knowledge lends his novel a realistic look and feel, and his expansive familiarity with current events gives it an up-to-the-minute realism. Best of all, while his plot moves forward at breakneck speed, he never sacrifices character development for pace. All of his major players are fully realized people, not just pawns in an international chess match.
A thought-provoking thriller.Pub Date: May 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469966342
Page Count: 274
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
