An unhappy blend of an imitative story and mediocre writing.
When an impulsive bet sets an ancient prophecy in motion, one boy might be all that stands between a small town and the forces of evil.
Twelve-year-old Will Wilder has been seeing shadowy creatures in his peripheral vision all his life. Doctors and his parents have attempted to explain them away as the symptoms of fatigue, but when the dark shapes begin attacking the town, Will is the only one who can fight them. However, if he is going to follow in the footsteps of his relic-hunting great-grandfather and combat the rising evil, Will is going to need his loyal friends, his tough-as-nails great-aunt Lucille, his intelligence, and a good measure of faith. Unfortunately, this too-familiar adventure is hobbled by several significant problems. Action scenes are hampered by odd pacing, poor description, and simplistic puzzles, while the quieter scenes are filled with cringeworthy dialogue and improbable characters. Readers will be continually frustrated by Will’s mindless rebelliousness, Aunt Lucille’s ineffectual mentoring, and the one-dimensionality of Will’s friends. Even the forces of evil seem to lack any real conviction. Includes black-and-white illustrations.
An unhappy blend of an imitative story and mediocre writing. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53959-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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