A fast-paced, funny, and adventurous read.
Vikings, Saxons, and dragons meet in this middle-grade fantasy novel sprinkled with humor and magic.
All 13-year-old Lassa Erikson wants is to be a quiet, studious apprentice alchemist in Denmark, but he and his brother, Sven, are conscripted into the Viking army and find themselves heading to fight the infamous Saxon Lord Mordred. The kids know they have no place in the company of the fiercest warriors they’ve ever seen, and they try to hide during their first battle. But after Lassa accidently kills Mordred, he’s hailed as a hero, deemed a fierce “berserker,” and given a prominent position in a Viking group that aims to rescue King Magnus, who’s imprisoned in England. Meanwhile, in English King Harold’s castle, 14-year-old Princess Ann would rather be a warrior than be married off for political purposes. Her opportunity arises when hooded figures, apparently Norsemen, invade the castle and capture her father and sister. Ann escapes to get Mordred’s help—not knowing he’s already dead—and ends up joining Lassa’s group of warriors to fight a common enemy. Both kings have been captured by a mysterious half-man, half-dragon cult leader who has witches and druids under his control. This short, fun, humorous novel feels like a cross between Horrible Histories and Game of Thrones, and it deftly combines elements of a comedy of errors and a fantasy epic. It also features a plethora of lovable secondary characters, but Ann and Lassa are the real draws, the former as a tough, loyal fighter, and the latter as a coward-turned–brave hero who uses his scientific knowledge to face problems. The comedic tone is quite goofy at some points, even in the face of very real danger, and the story is almost entirely ahistorical, but readers likely won’t be bothered by either of these factors.
A fast-paced, funny, and adventurous read.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Golden Productions LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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