For all readers fond of the edges of their seats—a penultimate triumph.
Bloodshed sparks the flames of conflict as Hicks’ adventurous fantasy trilogy takes a dark turn following the events of The Nameless City (2016).
Inspired by the friendship between Kai, a Dao, and Rat, a Nameless City native, the General of All Blades moves forward with Kai’s father’s unprecedented plan for a council to give all that city’s peoples, natives and conquerors alike, a say in its governance and future. But many Dao, particularly the general’s son, Erzi, are unhappy with the idea of yielding control, and Erzi’s fear of losing the rule he sees as his birthright turns swiftly to anger…and murder. With the Dao Empire suddenly thrown into chaos and with their lives in danger, Kai, Rat, and Kai’s injured father seek refuge among the monks of the Stone Heart. But Erzi’s desperate and dangerous ambition is being guided by the enigmatic Mura’s quest for vengeance. They want a powerful weapon kept secret by the monks, and they will stop at nothing to take it. Flourishing from the strong worldbuilding and characterization of the first installment, this middle volume of Hicks’ epic introduces a few new characters but mostly provides a vital and enthralling closer look at those readers have already met as well as unfurling more of the Chinese-inspired city’s past, as colorist Bellaire brings all to stunning emotional life.
For all readers fond of the edges of their seats—a penultimate triumph. (author’s note) (Graphic fantasy. 12-adult)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-159-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
A bone-chilling tale not to be ignored by the universe.
If Anne Frank had been a boy, this is the story her male counterpart might have told. At least, the very beginning of this historical novel reads as such.
It is 1939, and Yanek Gruener is a 10-year old Jew in Kraków when the Nazis invade Poland. His family is forced to live with multiple other families in a tiny apartment as his beloved neighborhood of Podgórze changes from haven to ghetto in a matter of weeks. Readers will be quickly drawn into this first-person account of dwindling freedoms, daily humiliations and heart-wrenching separations from loved ones. Yet as the story darkens, it begs the age-old question of when and how to introduce children to the extremes of human brutality. Based on the true story of the life of Jack Gruener, who remarkably survived not just one, but 10 different concentration camps, this is an extraordinary, memorable and hopeful saga told in unflinching prose. While Gratz’s words and early images are geared for young people, and are less gory than some accounts, Yanek’s later experiences bear a closer resemblance to Elie Wiesel’s Night than more middle-grade offerings, such as Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars. It may well support classroom work with adult review first.
A bone-chilling tale not to be ignored by the universe. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-45901-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch.
A Jewish girl joins up with Polish resistance groups to fight for her people against the evils of the Holocaust.
Chaya Lindner is forcibly separated from her family when they are consigned to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. The 16-year-old is taken in by the leaders of Akiva, a fledgling Jewish resistance group that offers her the opportunity to become a courier, using her fair coloring to pass for Polish and sneak into ghettos to smuggle in supplies and information. Chaya’s missions quickly become more dangerous, taking her on a perilous journey from a disastrous mission in Krakow to the ghastly ghetto of Lodz and eventually to Warsaw to aid the Jews there in their gathering uprising inside the walls of the ghetto. Through it all, she is partnered with a secretive young girl whom she is reluctant to trust. The trajectory of the narrative skews toward the sensational, highlighting moments of resistance via cinematic action sequences but not pausing to linger on the emotional toll of the Holocaust’s atrocities. Younger readers without sufficient historical knowledge may not appreciate the gravity of the events depicted. The principal characters lack depth, and their actions and the situations they find themselves in often require too much suspension of disbelief to pass for realism.
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-14847-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
