Quirky, original, and cathartic.
An inquisitive, offbeat, angry girl becomes a time-travel assistant in this translated Dutch import.
Cate’s mum died in childbirth 12 years ago, leaving Cate with a father who retreats into his own world, leaving her at the mercy of their overbearing, critical neighbor, Cornelia, who cleans for them and tries to get Cate to suppress her feelings. After discovering a mysterious business card her father left on their piano, Cate finds her way to a movie theater that promises “Movies Showing Nowhere!” There, Cate meets the strangely familiar Mrs. Kano, who offers her a job. But this theater doesn’t show traditional films—it gives patrons the chance to venture back to specific moments in their pasts. As Cate becomes a time-mate, accompanying visitors on their trips, she affirms her desire to remain forever curious while learning to sympathize with the people in her own life—and perhaps be kinder to herself, too. Small details threaded throughout the story join together in an ever-expanding interconnected web to deliver a clever tear-jerker of an ending. Cate’s strong sense of justice and her fear of becoming cowardly or dull combine with the pain she feels from not knowing her mother to create a compelling, prickly veneer that explains why she lashes out at times and rings true to a preteen’s growing understanding of the world. All named characters are coded white. Lacet’s poignant art enhances the work.
Quirky, original, and cathartic. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781782694106
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Pushkin Children’s Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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Ponderous and protracted, with more work needed on both the world and the characters.
Two young teens with special powers face an ancient evil rising from the very heart of the Tinvali Empire in this doorstopping series opener.
Pursued by ruthless agents eager to exploit her mysterious ability to read peoples’ true feelings, Arden—eventually, after many chapters alternating between dual narrators—links up with foundling Mako, a budding music mage who’s carefully hiding the fact that he’s invited an invisible smooth-talking trickster spirit named Narrix to be his lifelong guardian. It seems that some of Narrix’s fellow spirits may be even nastier—and there are ominous hints that they might be sneaking back into the world. Several of Arden’s adventures do more to bulk up the page count than advance the plot in any meaningful way, and though (like many of Mull’s protagonists) she’s a dab hand at snarky banter, she otherwise comes off as a rather wooden character. Readers may find Mako’s journey and conflicts more absorbing, as he struggles to balance the joy of blossoming into an outstanding warrior under Narrix’s tutelage with the sneaking suspicion he’s made a bad choice of tutor. Whether his concerns are valid or not remains to be seen. The leads present white.
Ponderous and protracted, with more work needed on both the world and the characters. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780593712047
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Labyrinth Road
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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