An entertaining and action-packed journey that will appeal to Marvel and DC comics fans.
What begins as a short-term space con spirals into a galaxywide adventure.
While hustling a few credits for his next meal, an unnamed 17-year-old narrator is offered a deal: briefly impersonate Mirabor Gravane so he can live free of his famous family’s restrictive expectations. Newly dubbed Grey, the narrator arrives planetside at Justice Academy and embarks on a curriculum of superhero classes, gathering a motley crew of multispecies friends: Seventhirtyfour, a four-armed Brontom; Pilvi, a human plant expert; tech genius Gadget Dude; reptilian Dez; and winged Avrim. Trust, friendship, and having a place to belong are discussed even as Grey hides the truth of his identity from his new friends. During convoluted, risky missions, what makes a superhero truly a hero: powers, technology, or just the right knowledge for the situation? The skills Grey brings as a charismatic human who lacks superpowers but excels at strategic thinking are depicted plainly and directly. One major reveal will likely be spotted by readers well in advance, and only Grey, Seventhirtyfour, and Pilvi receive much character development; action sequences, mysterious capers, and somewhat cinematic battles take the forefront. The human characters seem to be white by default; the rest of the main cast is alien.
An entertaining and action-packed journey that will appeal to Marvel and DC comics fans. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-951122-08-9
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Shadow Dragon Press
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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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Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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