Largely spellbinding.
Two lonely young people team up to fight an ancient evil.
Anna, 13 and the youngest child in a Jewish and Irish family that is psychically endowed, is dismayed about her own gift of psychometry. For Anna, touching someone who has experienced another’s death gives her a vision of that death; it’s hard for her to understand how that could be useful. Her family runs Ravenfall, an inn in the magical town of Wick, Oregon, “where magic is never far from your fingertips” and the veil between the Otherworld and our own is somewhat permeable. As the family anticipates their annual celebration of Samhain, 14-year-old Colin arrives, seeking refuge after his parents’ murders. Colin has known little about his own magical powers but discovers that his Irish ancestor Fin Varra, one of the faerie folk also known as the King of the Dead, plans to use him to reclaim a place among the living. The first-person narrative switches between Anna’s and Colin’s perspectives. Both kids are home-schooled and isolated, Colin as his family fled mysterious pursuers and Anna as she struggles with being quirky and different. The house Ravenfall is enchanted, taking care of itself and its occupants and sparring with Max, the resident Jabberwocky, a shape-changing guardian posing as a cat. Magical traditions, creatures, and objects abound in this intriguing setting, offering possibilities for sequels. A pitched climactic battle provides the young heroes with a swift if somewhat predictable victory over the dark forces.
Largely spellbinding. (Fantasy. 9-14)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48358-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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BOOK TO SCREEN
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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