Thrilling adventure set in an enchanting world makes this an easy pick for high fantasy fans.
With the help of new friends and powerful beasts, sisters must save their kingdom from their treacherous uncle after he murders their father.
Aster and Ursula are known as the spoiled daughters of Maj. Jasper Lourdes, ruler of the entire Bear Highen, which comprises several kingdoms. Neither is considered fit to lead someday. When Uncle Bram betrays Jasper in an attempt to usurp the throne, the sisters know they are in danger. They flee the Manor alongside the bear Alcor, who is a High Beast, and Dev, the boy apprenticed to care for Alcor. This rich fantasy world is inspired by the constellations, and each kingdom is associated with a beast that is reflected in the stars. After sending a plea for help, the runaway group is joined by two young princes: Quintin Wyvern with a Shadow Dragon and Lorc Conri with a Starhound. The ragtag team must learn to trust one another, work together, and find their individual strengths. The stellar worldbuilding is both expansive and accessible, and the action never falters. Parental expectations clash with the aspirations of several of the young crew, adding a sympathetic dimension. The primary plot is wrapped up, but this world is ripe for many more stories. Physical descriptions are few, but most characters read as White; Quintin’s mother has brown skin.
Thrilling adventure set in an enchanting world makes this an easy pick for high fantasy fans. (map) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4660-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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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