Laced with ethical questions and examples, this is a thought-provoking coming-of-age story.
A boy with a clockwork heart, a magical girl, and a damaged young man, all orphaned, cross paths with dramatic consequences.
Each is on a quest: Alphonsus wants to find who made his heart; Esme wishes to use her magic to kill the Nachtfrau, a sorceress; and Guntram hopes to soothe his emotional pain by gaining power. But each is missing accurate historical information as well as self-knowledge. In a world that evokes medieval Europe, the action ranges from palace and town to forest and canyon, forcing the threesome on a collision course. The Hierophants, a magical race, abused their power by granting life to and then abandoning creatures who turned murderous. Only one heroic Hierophant remained, trying to contain the peril posed by the monsters; over time, her role became shrouded in rumors and lies. In a fast-paced series of encounters, Alphonsus and Esme open their eyes to the past. They meet and learn from colorful, memorable characters who are rarely as they first appear, while the treacherous landscape they traverse mirrors their interior journey. In the process, they leave childish whims behind, find their voices, and learn selflessness. An epic fight that demands a sacrifice made with love enables them to move forward, in counterpoint to Guntram’s desires. The well-developed setting lends an otherworldly historical atmosphere. The cast is default White, although Alphonsus and one of his adoptive mothers have dark skin.
Laced with ethical questions and examples, this is a thought-provoking coming-of-age story. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-61620-506-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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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