Proof positive that a well-imagined setting and a promising premise can’t survive amateurish writing. Being the only human in his entire world who cannot work magic, young Timothy Cade might seem to have a devastating handicap—except that he’s not only a combination of Leonardo, Thomas Edison, and Bruce Lee, but also utterly immune to any magic attack or spell. He is, therefore, well equipped to take on evil archmage Nicodemus, who’s out to take over the Parliament of Mages for his supposedly dead master. To follow Timothy’s adventures, however, readers will have to plow through ten pages of prefatory non-action before even meeting him, and thereafter be continually assaulted by awkward language (“A ripple of mutterings went around the room”), wooden dialogue (“It would not at all surprise me to see the youth used for ill gain”), and slo-mo battles in which participants find time to deliver threats or instructions. Wordy, contrived, amateurish work—and, naturally, first in a projected series. Skip it. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86661-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2004
The worldbuilding of countless eco-thrillers serves here as the setting for a classic Western. A Western, that is, with plankton instead of cows, harpoons instead of six-shooters and submarines instead of covered wagons. Ty lives below the ocean, in a future in which water levels have risen and Topsiders live cramped together in unbearable conditions. Undersea, any brave settler can stake a claim and build a huge homestead. Ty was born down here, and he loves it. When he encounters freckle-faced Topsider orphan Gemma, he revels in showing her his world, from inflatable houses shaped like jellyfish to beautiful schools of swordfish. If only they weren’t in danger from the villainous Seablite gang that keeps attacking homesteads! This caper features a slew of Western standards—the crabby old doctor (“Doc”), the saloon filled with bandanna-clad thugs, the posse of furious citizens—and a few plot twists keep the tension high. A thrilling conversion of the classics to one of our newer frontiers. (Science fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-17814-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
Life in the seaside village has been hard for Adrianne and her family, even before the arrival of the mermaid. Since Papa’s death, they’ve been living with horrible Auntie Minnah, the village boys ignore Adrianne in favor of wealthier and prettier girls and the villagers despise the whole family. Adrianne gets the opportunity for her dream job, but as soon as things start looking up, the Windwaithe Mermaid comes, summoning Adrianne and terrifying the superstitious villagers. Now Adrianne needs to make a choice between a magical life of undersea romance and the poverty and degradation she knows on land. It ought to be an easy choice, but perhaps not. Lucky, lucky Adrianne. Her magical adventure will bring out her true potential—as a girl who is “quite attractive” and whose outer beauty is now visible both to herself and to the handsome boys of the island. Readers obsessed with paranormal romance could do worse, but they probably won’t remember this for very long. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-09734-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
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