Well-plotted, intelligent hilarity.
Jennifer Strange’s latest adventure isn’t a quest, but that’s only because quests require approval from the Questing Federation.
Everyone needs Jennifer’s help: Once Magnificent Boo has been arrested in the Cambrian Empire and needs the wizard agency Kazam to pay her ransom; Queen Mimosa needs Jennifer to educate (reform) the spoiled crown princess; and even the Mighty Shandar has an errand for Jennifer. Since Jennifer thwarted Shandar’s plan to render the dragons extinct (The Last Dragonslayer, 2012), he technically owes his clients a refund—and Shandar doesn’t do refunds. Either he will exterminate the dragons (and Kazam with them, as Kazam will try to protect them), or Jennifer must retrieve a powerful mystical item for him, the Eye of Zoltar. Rumor puts the Eye of Zoltar in the Cambrian Empire, so Jennifer can educate the princess, save Boo and retrieve the Eye in one trip. The Cambrian economy depends on “jeopardy tourism,” but their destination is so dangerous that even the risk tours don’t list it. Luckily, they secure the services of an ace guide and are on their way through various puns and perils. The princess’s naturally paced development entertains, especially her passion for economics (never before have options and the stock market been so much fun). The Cambrian wackiness eventually ties together in a cohesive conspiracy, and the ending cliffhanger will agonize fans—but in a good way.
Well-plotted, intelligent hilarity. (Fantasy. 12 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-547-73849-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The sardonic tone of the narrator’s voice lends a refreshing air of realism to this riotously paced quest tale of heroism...
Edgar Award–winning Riordan leaves the adult world of mystery to begin a fantasy series for younger readers.
Twelve-year-old Percy (full name, Perseus) Jackson has attended six schools in six years. Officially diagnosed with ADHD, his lack of self-control gets him in trouble again and again. What if it isn’t his fault? What if all the outrageous incidents that get him kicked out of school are the result of his being a “half-blood,” the product of a relationship between a human and a Greek god? Could it be true that his math teacher Mrs. Dodds transformed into a shriveled hag with bat wings, a Fury, and was trying to kill him? Did he really vanquish her with a pen that turned into a sword? One need not be an expert in Greek mythology to enjoy Percy’s journey to retrieve Zeus’s master bolt from the Underworld, but those who are familiar with the deities and demi-gods will have many an ah-ha moment. Along the way, Percy and his cohort run into Medusa, Cerberus and Pan, among others.
The sardonic tone of the narrator’s voice lends a refreshing air of realism to this riotously paced quest tale of heroism that questions the realities of our world, family, friendship and loyalty. (Fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: July 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7868-5629-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch.
A Jewish girl joins up with Polish resistance groups to fight for her people against the evils of the Holocaust.
Chaya Lindner is forcibly separated from her family when they are consigned to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. The 16-year-old is taken in by the leaders of Akiva, a fledgling Jewish resistance group that offers her the opportunity to become a courier, using her fair coloring to pass for Polish and sneak into ghettos to smuggle in supplies and information. Chaya’s missions quickly become more dangerous, taking her on a perilous journey from a disastrous mission in Krakow to the ghastly ghetto of Lodz and eventually to Warsaw to aid the Jews there in their gathering uprising inside the walls of the ghetto. Through it all, she is partnered with a secretive young girl whom she is reluctant to trust. The trajectory of the narrative skews toward the sensational, highlighting moments of resistance via cinematic action sequences but not pausing to linger on the emotional toll of the Holocaust’s atrocities. Younger readers without sufficient historical knowledge may not appreciate the gravity of the events depicted. The principal characters lack depth, and their actions and the situations they find themselves in often require too much suspension of disbelief to pass for realism.
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-14847-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
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