Save this action-packed but derivative adventure for die-hard shonen manga buffs.
The Underworld makes another bid for control of Mio’s mystical sword.
In this sequel to The Name of the Blade (2014), Mio and her friends are still celebrating their defeat of the Nekomata with their allies in the Kitsune Kingdom when they are attacked again. This time their enemy’s tools are the Shikome, the “Foul Women,” whose feathers carry a deadly contagion. The gang is ill-prepared to handle the Shikome since they are still coping with the fallout from their first adventure. Mio’s connection with her dangerous katana is growing ever more seductive and powerful, while Rachel is discovering that her abduction by the Nekomata has left her terribly changed. Select third-person passages from other characters’ perspectives are interspersed throughout Mio’s first-person narration, and they emphasize how completely the Shikome plague overwhelms London. The too-tidy ending consequently feels like a cop-out, despite the setup provided for the inevitable third book in the series. Nonetheless, the intense fight scenes and doomed romance will still appeal to many readers, especially if they’re inclined to appreciate Marriott’s obvious manga influences and willing to overlook generally shallow characterization. At least one major plot twist will immediately remind savvy fans of a similar storyline in Tite Kubo’s Bleach.
Save this action-packed but derivative adventure for die-hard shonen manga buffs. (Urban fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6958-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The slow build culminates in a satisfyingly cinematic climax
Explosions, aerial dogfights, betrayals, bionic limbs and passionate kisses: the ingredients of a great action adventure.
After their escape from Republic forces at the end of Legend (2011), popularly beloved rebel Day and Republic darling June need help. They lack both friends and money, and Day’s wounds are festering. There's no help for it: They’ll have to throw their lot in with the revolutionary Patriot forces. Day, whose own rebelliousness takes a playful, Robin Hood–esque approach, has always avoided the Patriots, with their cavalier attitude toward life and death. But with his life at risk from injury and no leads in his quest to find his missing baby brother, he has few options. After a too-lengthy buildup, Day and June find themselves embroiled in a dangerous assassination plot. They just want to protect their few remaining loved ones while saving their country—is that so wrong? The pathos of Day and June's erstwhile romance shines through without detracting from the tension of their rebellion; both riveting action and entertaining characterization keep their quest engaging (in one scene June apologizes through both ruthless tactical training and "the tragic slant of her eyebrows"). Meanwhile, the heroes’ confusion when faced with the mores of the world outside their own Republic shines a worrying lens upon our own world.
The slow build culminates in a satisfyingly cinematic climax . (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-25676-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
The romantic subplot is really shoehorned in, but it lightens the overall tone of this briskly paced mystery.
A budding journalist, almost 18, takes an internship at a small-town newspaper and discovers ugly doings afoot at the big-box store recently opened nearby.
Hardly has Sherri stepped off the bus than her reporter’s antennae go up: Not only does everyone who works at the huge Shopwells outside town behave like a smiling zombie, but nearly all the smaller local businesses are closed and papered over with Shopwells fliers. Moreover, her new boss stonewalls her inquiries, and when she visits the store, she finds herself buying a cartload of junky goods she normally wouldn’t have touched. What is going on? Amid a whirl of stolen evidence, veiled threats and an attempted kidnapping, Sherri investigates a nefarious scheme worthy of conspiracy theories: “I mean,” says one employee, “how else do you get people to work minimum wage with no overtime, no health benefits, stocking shelves, and like it?” In the meantime, she finds hot-and-heavy romance with a local lad, threatening her relationship with her Toronto boyfriend.
The romantic subplot is really shoehorned in, but it lightens the overall tone of this briskly paced mystery. (Light horror. 13-16)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-896580-97-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Tradewind Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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