Superpowered fun with depth besides.
One family stands between a city and destruction.
In an alternate future North America, Malcolm has trained to be a Guardian along with the rest of his uniquely superpowered family, the Gravenhursts. They are known as the city’s protectors against the klek, mysterious alien robot adversaries, as well as leaders in technological innovation. Now, on his 15th birthday, Malcolm’s wish is finally coming true, as he is presented to the public at a media event. But Malcolm wants to help people by fighting regular street crime, like the superheroes he idolizes from old comic books. He makes a rare exit from his family’s towering skyscraper and goes on patrol only to find something unexpected: Drew, someone else with powers. Drew introduces him to Blair and Kazue, more superpowered kids; their friend Ibrahim is missing, along with others. Initially thrilled, sheltered Malcolm isn’t expecting to learn from them that people’s powers don’t work outside the city limits and that his family has some connection to these unsettling truths. Arbuthnott revels in some tried-and-true aspects of superhero stories—presenting lots of action, pondering questions of morality, and protecting humanity against alien invaders—making for exhilarating storytelling. But the book goes deeper as Malcolm comes face to face with the limitations of his earlier, limited understanding of crime, policing, and society. Malcolm is White; Drew and Blair have dark skin, Kazue’s name indicates Japanese heritage (she and Blair are girlfriends), and Ibrahim is cued as being of Middle Eastern descent.
Superpowered fun with depth besides. (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4598-2704-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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