A smoothly written fantasy that deftly balances adventure and science education.
A boy in training at an elite school searches for his missing father in this middle-grade fantasy.
Eleven-year-old Peter Blue has just enrolled at Spiral Hall, an island-based school for the “ecodemically gifted.” As an environmentally conscious kid, he’ll be further trained to use nature’s gifts in the battle against waste, pollutants, and freakish weather. These elements are embodied by the Anthrogs, creatures born of toxic environments. Five years ago, Peter’s parents died in a fire. His father, Byron, was a top agent of the Global Advanced Intelligence Agency, and Peter now wears the man’s high-tech jacket. In a dream, Byron’s ghost tells his son, “Never capitulate!” Peter’s mentor, GAIA Agent Artiss Fleur, is sure that Byron is alive and held captive by the Anthrogs. This possibility proves distracting as Peter must join the new class at Spiral Hall competing in the Race Across the Earth, a course comprising various hostile weather regions created by climate change. He’s joined by children his age, including science whiz Chu Lee Wong and Peter’s soon-to-be best friend, Roly Portagalo. In tracking down Byron, Peter and company will meet nonhumans, like Agent Livingstone, and Havok, a dangerous Stormlord. If the kids survive the experience, their careers as eco-warriors will still be just beginning. Colless has created a kind of Hogwarts that operates on the magic of environmental awareness. Students must care for and bond with a young tree, which will in turn nurture them. Chu, the naïve scientist, says: “I don’t believe in things like that.” The narrative boldly confronts the anthropocentric question “Wasn’t everything on Earth for humans to put to use?” Plot devices like the “Eat or Be Eaten” game superbly explain energy cycles to younger readers. In the second half, a clever exploration of the Trojan Horse concept raises the stakes in Peter’s hunt for his father. The author skillfully gives several children the spotlight throughout the adventure. Pickles the wallaby proves a unique addition to a diverse cast of characters that fans will feel a kinship with by the finale.
A smoothly written fantasy that deftly balances adventure and science education.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-9529460588
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Peter Blue Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power.
Will 12-year-old Nura be able to outsmart the trickster jinn and save herself and her friends?
Nura lives in the fictional Pakistani town of Meerabagh, where she has worked mining mica to help support her family of five—her mother, herself, and her three younger siblings—since her father’s death. In the mines she has the company of her best friend, Faisal, who is teased by other kids for his stutter, and she enjoys small pleasures like splurging on gulab jamun. Although Maa wants Nura to stop working and attend school, she has no interest in classroom learning and hopes to save up to send her younger siblings to school instead so they can break the family’s cycle of poverty. Following a mining accident in which Faisal and others are lost in the rubble, Nura goes to the rescue. In her quest, she is plunged into the magical, glittering jinn realm, where nothing is as it seems. The author seamlessly weaves into the worldbuilding of the story commentary on real-life problems such as the ravages of child labor and systems that perpetuate inequities. An informative author’s note further explores present-day global cycles of oppression as well as the life-changing power of education. This action-packed story set in a Muslim community moves at a fast pace, with evocative writing that brings the fantasy world to life and lyrical imagery to describe emotions.
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5795-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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