A feel-good, enthralling fantasy that adults and children alike will savor.
In Evans’ middle-grade fantasy novel, a tween and her friends hope to show their dragon-fearing world that the scaled, feathered beasts are no danger.
Twelve-year-old Eliana Fallond only just learned that she’s a rare Dragon Speaker. She has befriended Winston, a dragon who, along with his parents, stays hidden from humans. But some people in the medieval-like kingdom of Southern Land have seen the dragons, refuting the conventional wisdom that the creatures are extinct. Now Eliana and others, including her Dragon Speaker mentor, Doryu, want to take Winston and his parents to Denross, the Overking of the Southern Land; if they can prove to the king that the dragons are benevolent, humans surely won’t see them as a threat. Meanwhile, at the Overking’s castle, a 13-year-old Shadow runs into a few suspicious individuals who each crave a mysterious item, from an old parchment to a glowing orb. It seems something nefarious is afoot, and Winston, upon reaching the castle, is unnerved by the possible sighting of a villain everyone believed was long gone. Taking place about a week after the events of the previous book in the series—True North: The Dragon and the Girl, Book 1 (2021)—the author’s second installment hits the ground running. Evans skillfully mingles returning characters with new faces, including Shadow, whose self-imposed name befits her nature of avoiding attention. The story keeps the huge cast in check with quick, helpful reminders of names and titles. Most of these characters are good company; bighearted Eliana, for example, simply wants others to see how virtuous and downright lovable Winston is. Even the villains, at least for a time, are more ambiguous than explicitly malicious. Throughout, the pithy prose packs details into breezy, memorable passages: “...beside him was a short, frazzled-looking man with a slightly tarnished crown perched askew on his fluffy gray hair.”
A feel-good, enthralling fantasy that adults and children alike will savor.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.
A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.
Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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