A strong continuation of a teen fantasy series that doesn’t shy away from life’s darker side.
In the second book of her YA paranormal fantasy series, Barnhart (The Rampart Guards, 2016) pits her 14-year-old hero against the insidious forces of authoritarianism.
Over the last year, Jason Lex has already come to terms with a lot: the existence of cryptids on Earth (not-so-mythical creatures, such as Encantados and Yeti); his own newly discovered fire-wielding powers as a Rampart Guard; and his mother’s death after she turned evil and tried to destroy the world. It’s a lot to cope with, and just when Jason’s life seems as if it might be settling down, a new threat emerges from within the League of Governors, which regulates interactions between humans and cryptids. After following his father and sister from the United States to London, Jason is attacked by a man in a ski mask. When he wakes up, he’s in a strange hospital, run by members of a conspiracy that threatens not only to topple the League, but also to take away everyone Jason holds dear. Adult readers may initially find Barnhart's delivery lacking in weight, as her prose contains little description and little sense of place, and events unfold more with subsequence than consequence. The lack of emotional impact, however, is quite in keeping with its young-adult characters’ worldview. Jason sometimes appears to be naïve, but he is, in fact, merely trusting and unprejudiced. When he seems indifferent, he’s really just showing a 14-year-old’s distinct form of resilience. Jason is the only character who has a fully developed voice; he’s a disinterested, angst-y, yet clearsighted and determined teenager. The other characters blend into a homogeneous cast of not-Jasons—but that’s the point. As the story’s paranormal element remains largely in the background, Jason fights against the League’s oppressive demand for conformity. He carries the dual burdens of feeling powerless and responsible, and his struggle is the perfect metaphor for teenage isolation. The book is relatable on this fundamental level, and its creepy setting and end-of-chapter hooks will entice many YA readers.
A strong continuation of a teen fantasy series that doesn’t shy away from life’s darker side.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9969031-4-1
Page Count: 431
Publisher: Camashea Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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