Solid, authentic basketball action with plenty of food for thought, colored with elements of fantasy.
A former NBA superstar is part of a writing duo that combines basketball and magic to tell the story of a struggling inner-city team.
Twelve-year-old Rain treasures the Fairwood Community Center and his team, the West Bottom Badgers. Although it is run-down, the walls hung with tattered banners, for Rain, the gym represents his best chance of becoming a success. The team owner, Freddy, has also brought in a new coach, professor Rolabi Wizenard, with a decidedly different way of running things. He seems to speak in riddles and use magic—the appearance of a tiger to assist in a drill, for example. As Rain contemplates life, he hears Rolabi in his head, challenging his fears and his thoughts about himself. Teammate Alfie, aka Twig, is from a comfortable suburban family, and some of the guys never let him forget it. Mercilessly teased, he has no one to confide in—but he might be the one to unlock the secret behind their new coach. The novel is unusual in structure and plot as readers experience the same incidents portrayed through different perspectives, each revealing another layer of the story. The end of training camp and the approach of actual games concludes the novel, leaving a cliffhanger for the next volume. Physical descriptions are limited, but most major characters are brown-skinned.
Solid, authentic basketball action with plenty of food for thought, colored with elements of fantasy. (Sports fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-949520-01-9
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point.
Young bandits complete personal quests while creating immense explosions and massive havoc in this high-action trilogy closer.
Playing to his strengths, Stroud strings together a bank robbery, an ambush that nearly sees Scarlett McCain eaten by cannibalistic Tainted, and other increasingly lurid, violent set pieces, propelling a plot that moves along at a breakneck pace to a climactic battle. In interspersed chapters, neither Thomas (the little brother Scarlett was forced to abandon and has been seeking for eight years) nor the faithful sidekick he acquires come off as more than pale reflections of the lead duo as the author moves them mechanically through contrived adventures. Scarlett’s own sidekick Albert Browne’s search for the secret prison where he and other children with psychic powers have been ruthlessly trained is similarly cursorily wrapped up. And what of the series’ broader ongoing struggles with the local slave trade and the corrupt Faith Houses? Here, too, the author drops the ball at the end. Readers who delight in titanic explosions, swashbuckling young troublemakers escaping through hails of gunfire, and foes coming to squishy ends will be pleased; those who like stories that offer more definite closure and their heroes and supporting characters to show meaningful growth, less so. Some racial diversity is cued in the cast surrounding the white leads.
Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point. (maps) (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593707364
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly paced, expertly crafted, and stocked with surprising twists and nuanced characters.
A young warrior battles inner ghosts and a rival to the throne in this series kickoff.
Switching to a graphic format, Myklusch returns to the elusive island of Imagine Nation, the setting of his Jack Blank novel series, where belief is the ruling principle. Dreaming of measuring up to his dead parents, Skerren takes center stage in a battle for the crown of Varagog, where it’s always 1404. He faces Zorn, the son of a displaced ruler who fled years ago following the cybernetic Rüstov’s invasion attempt. Orlando’s art effectively showcases Imagine Nation’s racially and culturally distinctive residents and settings as the high-action plot shifts scenes beyond Varagog to Faerie and futuristic Hightown—until an evil alliance in the Night Lands that threatens everyone on the island is revealed. In combat scenes, the artist also substitutes sprays of black Night Lander goop for red blood, rendering swordfights somewhat less gory. To the pleasure of returning fans (and comics readers in general), Jack and his fantastically rubbery-blue friend Allegra step in to help, and in a Marvel Universe–style twist, a conflicted older retainer nursing a devastating secret later plays a crucial role. Happily, for those readers who aren’t fans of never-ending plotlines, this volume offers enough of a resolution to work as a stand-alone.
Briskly paced, expertly crafted, and stocked with surprising twists and nuanced characters. (Graphic fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781665928182
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
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