A tedious, confusing setup for Book 3. Disappointing.
The second book in the Rose Legacy series presents new challenges for human Anthea and stallion Florian (and readers too).
Anthea, her uncle Andrew, cousin Jilly, and others at Last Farm are now—along with their horses (with whom they communicate telepathically)—working for the Crown of Coronam as messengers. It’s part of a campaign by Queen Josephine to get the rest of the kingdom (king included) past the idea, rooted in legend, that horses brought a terrible plague to Coronam ages ago and so are to be feared and exterminated. Suffering terribly from middle-book syndrome, this story throws out bits of plot, eschewing character development, congruity, and even, at times, plausibility. The one comprehensible thread is that there’s a contagious disease spreading around the countryside, and people are beginning to blame the horses again. An all-woman team of scientists arrives at Last Farm to work on finding a cure. (Despite this gesture, gender stereotypes persist: Jilly is tediously interested in form-fitted clothes, and Anthea sees tears as a weakness.) There are twinges of war rumors with a not-nice country called Kronenhofer, some unsubtle nudges regarding Anthea’s traitor of a mother, and a plodding subplot about how Anthea’s friend Finn is the rightful king. Settings are numerous and interchangeable (as are most of the characters), and the saccharine “Beloved”-bestrewn telepathic addresses between Anthea and Florian have definitely reached the eye-roll stage.
A tedious, confusing setup for Book 3. Disappointing. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0089-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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