Tongue-in-cheek, pedal-to-the-metal action, with an unusually broad cast of humans, aliens, and…others.
If it’s not aliens, it’s cryptids and idealists that complicate the lives of Area 51’s teen interns.
Barely a week since the harrowing events of Alien Summer (2022), the discovery of a tantalizing Forbidden Zone beneath Area 51’s sprawling facility pitches Viv, Charlotte, Elijah, and Ray (with cute pocket alien Meekee) into an escalating catastrophe after parties unknown stage a mass breakout of cryptids ranging from jackalopes and a huge but (being Canadian) polite lady Yeti named Roger to a terrifying Chupacabra with mind-control powers. What with Viv’s unsuccessfully struggling to suppress her own recently revealed alien powers and also stewing over the attention Elijah seems to be paying to newly arrived auburn-haired brainiac Joanna Kim, Murray and Smith also stir plenty of emotional turmoil into the effervescent whirl of attacks, betrayals, and cliffhangers. As it turns out, the cryptids were released by a well-meaning animal rights activist, and if the authors sidestep a meaningful discussion of the ins and outs of that issue, they do at least give the ethics of the act some nuance on the way to a tidy and (improbably) fatality-free resolution. Spaziante contributes a helpful set of colorful creature and locale files. As previously established, Viv is Black, Elijah is Latine, and their fellow interns are White; Joanna’s surname may point to Korean heritage.
Tongue-in-cheek, pedal-to-the-metal action, with an unusually broad cast of humans, aliens, and…others. (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-22614-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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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