by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020
A top-heavy close that gives fans a fitting happily-ever-after.
Three magical challenges will decide who will be Camelot’s king in this series wrap-up.
Being smarter, viler, and, except maybe for Merlin, more powerful a wizard than anyone else, it looks like Japeth, impersonating his dead good twin, Rhian, is destined to seize both crown and the Storian, the pen that writes—and can as easily rewrite—reality. Standing in his way is chiseled, golden-haired, relentlessly noble-hearted rival claimant Prince Tedros—who, for all that he can really fill out a wet shirt, has well proven in previous episodes that he would come out second best in a battle of wits with a fence post. Unfortunately (for Japeth), Team Tedros includes a lot of strong, savvy women, led by the prince’s angelic true love, Agatha, and her wickedly flamboyant BFF, Sophie. Pulling together a now-teeming cast, Chainani spins out a series of adventuresome quests that frequently grind to a halt for personal epiphanies, explicative backstory, and earnest conversations on the nature of true love (particularly in contrast to Japeth’s unrequited same-sex love for the dead, equally evil Aric). There are also heroic sacrifices and exploits aplenty on the way to (what else?) a literal storybook ending. Exceptions to the default-white lineup are cued by occasional references to “brown” or “cinnamon” skin and non-European names; likewise, some of the small figures in Bruno’s exuberantly detailed chapter-head vignettes are people of color.
A top-heavy close that gives fans a fitting happily-ever-after. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-269521-5
Page Count: 624
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Julia Iredale
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
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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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by Gordon Korman ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2022
A terrific premise buried beneath problem-novel tropes.
A gaggle of eighth graders find the coolest clubhouse ever.
Fulfilling the fantasies of anyone who’s ever constructed a fort in their bedroom or elsewhere, Korman hands his five middle schoolers a fully stocked bomb shelter constructed decades ago in the local woods by an eccentric tycoon and lost until a hurricane exposes the entrance. So, how to keep the hideout secret from interfering grown-ups—and, more particularly, from scary teen psychopath Jaeger Devlin? The challenge is tougher still when everyone in the central cast is saddled with something: C.J. struggles to hide injuries inflicted by the unstable stepdad his likewise abused mother persists in enabling; Jason is both caught in the middle of a vicious divorce and unable to stand up to his controlling girlfriend; Evan is not only abandoned by drug-abusing parents, but sees his big brother going to the bad thanks to Jaeger’s influence; Mitchell struggles with OCD–fueled anxieties and superstitions; and so forth. How to keep a story overtaxed with issues and conflicts from turning into a dreary slog? Spoiler alert: Neither the author nor his characters ultimately prove equal to the challenge. With the possible exception of Ricky Molina, one of the multiple narrators, everyone seems to be White.
A terrific premise buried beneath problem-novel tropes. (resources, author’s note) (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-62914-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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