An irresistibly bright world, packed with winning characters and real danger.
In this debut YA adventure, a group of kids duels with the ghost of a deadly pirate.
Young Bobby Holmes from London is about to spend part of his summer holiday with family, including his second cousin Brenda Watson, in America. Already nervous about leaving his mother, Bobby also wants his strange visions to subside. On the plane trip, however, a malicious voice in a dream says, “You will die if you continue this journey.” Yet when Bobby reaches Mountain Lake, Conn., Brenda treats him to charming Americana, such as the Baker Street Cafe and Conan’s Comic Shop. Then a traveling carnival arrives; Bobby, Brenda and her best friend, Stevie, visit a psychic named Madame Tarot. Taking Bobby’s hands, she begins channeling the evil voice from the plane, which now mentions “the captain’s loot.” Later, Brenda’s father says that tools were stolen from his store: two shovels and some oil-lit torches. After a local gravedigger is killed, Bobby tries to explain his theory—that a ghost pirate is searching for lost treasure—to the authorities. Unfortunately, nobody with power or influence believes him. Only Michael, a boy with Asperger’s syndrome, takes the kids seriously, offering his expertise on pirates. Can the foursome stop the specter, or are they already too deep in danger? Debut author Kelly displays a keen, nostalgic eye for childhoods well spent adventuring. His prose is lush with whimsy—“Their mouths began to water like broken faucets”—though he captures natural beauty just as well: “Sunlight streaked through the entangled branches, painting splotches of bright light on the moss covered canvas below.” Mountain Lake, meanwhile, is populated by a grouchy Italian Ice man and cranky gas station workers, among others, likely to draw readers’ suspicions. Amid the genre trappings, there are also excellent messages for younger audiences; when Bobby remarks on Brenda’s very pink bedroom, the tomboy replies, “I don’t think of things that way. You know, boyish or girly. I either like something or I don’t.” This line of tolerance is accompanied by the kids’ acceptance of the socially awkward, though extremely smart, Michael.
An irresistibly bright world, packed with winning characters and real danger.Pub Date: July 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-1484084946
Page Count: 302
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate.
An otherworldly Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the South Bronx.
Pheus visits his father in the Bronx every summer. The Afro-Dominican teen is known for his mesmerizing bachata music, love of history, and smooth way with the ladies. Eury, a young Puerto Rican woman and Hurricane Maria survivor, is staying with her cousin for the summer because of a recent, unspecified traumatic event. Her family doesn’t know that she’s been plagued since childhood by the demonlike Ato. Pheus and Eury bond over music and quickly fall in love. Attacked at a dance club by Sileno, its salacious and satyrlike owner, Eury falls into a coma and is taken to el Inframundo by Ato. Pheus, despite his atheism, follows the advice of his father and a local bruja to journey to find his love in the Underworld. Rivera skillfully captures the sounds and feels of the Bronx—its unique, diverse culture and the creeping gentrification of its neighborhoods. Through an amalgamation of Greek, Roman, and Taíno mythology and religious beliefs, gaslighting, the colonization of Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad identity, and female empowerment are woven into the narrative. While the pacing lags in the middle, secondary characters aren’t fully developed, and the couple’s relationship borders on instalove, the rush of a summertime romance feels realistic. Rivera’s complex world is well realized, and the dialogue rings true. All protagonists are Latinx.
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate. (Fabulism. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0373-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
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