In volume four of the Redwall Abbey saga, peace is threatened when Mariel—a fierce young mousemaid who's lost her name but kept her hatred for Gabool, the pirate rat king—arrives worn and half-starved. After recovering her memory under the kind care of the Abbey animals, Mariel sets forth to settle accounts with Gabool, accompanied by Dandin, descendent of Martin the warrior mouse; Tarquin L. Woodsorrel of the ``long patrol'' of intrepid hares; and Durry Quill, an adventurous young hedgehog. Led by an old poem uncovered by Dandin; menaced by needle-beaked herons, masked weasels, and loathsome toads; and helped by unexpected allies, they make their way to Gabool's stronghold- -where his vicious band is in disarray and Gabool himself has been driven mad by the booming of the bell he stole from Mariel and her bellsmith father, en route to Lord Rawnblade Widestripe, badger hero. After hair-raising adventures, Mariel—with friends, father, a band of escaped slaves, and Rawnblade—defeats Gabool and recovers the bell. Astonishing stuff: the by-now expected mixture of clichÇ piled on clichÇ; British music-hall dialects and humor; rhapsodies on raspberries, nuts, and delectable-sounding forest concoctions; characters that epitomize their class origins but sometimes rise above them; and plots from Sabatini by way of Tolkien—all combine in a satisfying ripsnorter of an adventure. Mariel marries Dandin, peace returns to Redwall, and it would be churlish to complain. (Fiction. 9+)
Pub Date: March 25, 1992
ISBN: 0-399-22144-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992
A thrilling, beautifully written page-turner.
A young woman pursues a dangerous quest in late-1800s Egypt in this sequel to What the River Knows (2023).
After Inez Olivera was nearly murdered while assisting with her uncle’s archaeological expedition in Egypt, Tío Ricardo is eager to ship her home to safety in Argentina. But Inez burns with the need to stay and make sure that those who committed crimes against her family are held responsible. Unfortunately, the law precludes Inez, as a young unmarried woman, from accessing her inheritance (needed to fund her quest for justice) without her guardian uncle’s permission. Whitford Hayes, a former British soldier and her tío’s aide-de-camp, proposes marriage, which could solve her problems. But can Inez trust the secretive Whit? More danger and intrigue lurk at every turn in this exciting duology closer, which fully addresses the first entry’s jaw-dropping cliffhanger. The well-paced plot encompasses many fresh, new adventures and betrayals in this reimagined historical setting in which ancient magic abounds and not everyone or everything is what it seems. Even more captivating, however, is the complicated, nuanced love story between Whit and Inez. Their chemistry sizzles, but their relationship is achingly layered with both profound loyalty and deep deception. As their journey unearths new enemies and priceless archaeological finds, the duo must try to trust each other enough to survive.
A thrilling, beautifully written page-turner. (cast of characters, map, timeline) (Historical fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781250822994
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly...
In a radical departure from her realistic fiction and comic chronicles of Anastasia, Lowry creates a chilling, tightly controlled future society where all controversy, pain, and choice have been expunged, each childhood year has its privileges and responsibilities, and family members are selected for compatibility.
As Jonas approaches the "Ceremony of Twelve," he wonders what his adult "Assignment" will be. Father, a "Nurturer," cares for "newchildren"; Mother works in the "Department of Justice"; but Jonas's admitted talents suggest no particular calling. In the event, he is named "Receiver," to replace an Elder with a unique function: holding the community's memories—painful, troubling, or prone to lead (like love) to disorder; the Elder ("The Giver") now begins to transfer these memories to Jonas. The process is deeply disturbing; for the first time, Jonas learns about ordinary things like color, the sun, snow, and mountains, as well as love, war, and death: the ceremony known as "release" is revealed to be murder. Horrified, Jonas plots escape to "Elsewhere," a step he believes will return the memories to all the people, but his timing is upset by a decision to release a newchild he has come to love. Ill-equipped, Jonas sets out with the baby on a desperate journey whose enigmatic conclusion resonates with allegory: Jonas may be a Christ figure, but the contrasts here with Christian symbols are also intriguing.
Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 978-0-395-64566-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
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