A timeless, well-executed middle-grade fantasy.
In Wright’s middle-grade fantasy adventure, a tween boy must find the missing piece of a sword to save a fantasy realm.
In this (2024) third installment of the Adventures of Toby Baxter series, Toby is feeling moody, crabby, and downright miserable. Though he’s about to embark upon a surprise family trip to Hawaii with his best friend Sid, he’d rather avoid packing in favor of reading his Marvel comic books. En route to Hawaii, Toby learns his beloved fantasy land of RiverHome, which he is able to enter via a portal, is in trouble. In east Maui, Clygon (a formerly villainous troll from RiverHome) transports Toby to the Tikvah Mountain’s depths and guides him to some giants. With encouragement from their Lord Harold (“It appears that you and Clygon are here to save us”), Toby sets out with Clygon, giants Oliver and Evy, and Saaba—a wolf who carries necessities and protects them—on a mission to find a piece of a missing sword and repair it to save the giants and RiverHome. The journey is not easy; the adventurers are menaced by stalactites, moving boulders, and trolls. Toby is expected to lead the quest, and he makes myriad mistakes along the way. Wright, an ordained pastor, knows middle-school kids and their challenges well. Toby’s moody behavior and interpersonal conflicts are relatable and clear from the beginning (Toby is not always correct, strong, or able to make the best choices). Lessons learned along the way are not always perfectly internalized, which is realistic for a middle-grade readership. The narrative is engaging with its well-constructed world, intriguing yet subtle conflicts, and humor (much of it timely—the narrative includes digs at social media, the current gig economy, and the overall selfishness of American culture). All of the characters have unique needs and make important contributions. While the text feels didactic at times, the story successfully incorporates realistic middle-school desires, a sound fantasy structure, and age-appropriate lessons.
A timeless, well-executed middle-grade fantasy.Pub Date: July 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781961075658
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Amazon Book Marketing Pros
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power.
Will 12-year-old Nura be able to outsmart the trickster jinn and save herself and her friends?
Nura lives in the fictional Pakistani town of Meerabagh, where she has worked mining mica to help support her family of five—her mother, herself, and her three younger siblings—since her father’s death. In the mines she has the company of her best friend, Faisal, who is teased by other kids for his stutter, and she enjoys small pleasures like splurging on gulab jamun. Although Maa wants Nura to stop working and attend school, she has no interest in classroom learning and hopes to save up to send her younger siblings to school instead so they can break the family’s cycle of poverty. Following a mining accident in which Faisal and others are lost in the rubble, Nura goes to the rescue. In her quest, she is plunged into the magical, glittering jinn realm, where nothing is as it seems. The author seamlessly weaves into the worldbuilding of the story commentary on real-life problems such as the ravages of child labor and systems that perpetuate inequities. An informative author’s note further explores present-day global cycles of oppression as well as the life-changing power of education. This action-packed story set in a Muslim community moves at a fast pace, with evocative writing that brings the fantasy world to life and lyrical imagery to describe emotions.
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5795-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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