Lightweight, fluffy fun—especially good for kids just embarking on reading fantasy.
Kara and Prince Fred’s mission to rescue Kara’s father turns into saving all of Heldstone.
After defeating the evil Sorceress in The Battle for Urth (2016), Kara (a pale-skinned Latina) and Prince Fred (a white Heldstonian) have returned to his castle. But the palace is swarming with dignitaries gathered for the big Luminary Ball, including dangerous-seeming Grand Duke Sturmenburg and Fred’s childhood friend, now mean-girl (and aspiring royal bride) Francesca. To eliminate competition for Fred’s hand, Francesca locks Kara on a balcony; when Kara escapes to the next balcony, she overhears Sturmenberg and the Sorceress, who’s survived as a magical shadow, plotting a coup. Kara and Fred’s talking cat, Xyler, manage to save him from the poison but must flee before they can rescue Fred’s parents. On the run, they befriend a vegetarian, free-range-chicken–farming troll and liberate all the enslaved acts of a traveling carnival—including the Elektro-Magician, Kara’s Argentinian-American electrician father—before turning their attention back to rescuing Fred’s poisoned parents. Kara and Fred share the alternating, present-tense narration; their voices are not particularly differentiated, so readers will need to pay attention to chapter-heading cues. The device does, however, help to boost tension by facilitating cliffhanger chapter endings. Heldstone’s diversity appears to reside mostly in its magical beings; the book assumes a white default.
Lightweight, fluffy fun—especially good for kids just embarking on reading fantasy. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-53406-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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
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