This companion is intriguingly and skillfully told, helping to mitigate the less-than-stellar character development.
An upper-middle–grade story that builds on (but is not a sequel to) the premise of The Twistrose Key (2013).
Twelve-year-old Niklas Summerhill, a black-haired, blue-eyed white boy, lives on the family farm (also called Summerhill) in a Scandinavia-like setting with Grandma Alma and Uncle Anders. His mother, Erika, died seven years earlier and refused to see him on her deathbed, saying she was a Thornghost, something Niklas doesn’t understand. Now, his mother comes to him in recurring nightmares, and creepy things are happening near the farm. While exploring a cave to try to find the source of whatever is tainting Summerhill, Niklas and a talking lynx named Secret stumble into the ruins of Jewelgard—a fantasy world where Petlings and Wildlings (animal companions of children in Niklas’ world) go after they die. But trolls and other dark magic have taken over Jewelgard and infiltrated the Rosa Torquata—the twisted rose—that keeps the world safe. Almhjell unspools this cryptic mystery with enormous skill and economy but leans heavily on description and action for impact, and the development of truly emotionally resonant characters suffers as a result. Some details are inconsistent: when Niklas bites into a “diamond apple,” the “shards crackle with just the right twist, while the flesh melts,” but then he “licks the diamond shard, careful not to slice his tongue.”
This companion is intriguingly and skillfully told, helping to mitigate the less-than-stellar character development. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3897-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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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