With the U.S. teetering on the brink of war and her father off on a secret government job, 11-year-old Nickie’s trip with her aunt to the small town where her great-grandfather lived and died is a welcome break from reality. Yonwood, however, is governed by a cabal who interpret for the Prophet, a local woman who has been struck insensible by a fiery vision of doom. Nickie wants to comply with the Prophet’s apparent directives, but she struggles to understand how her friendships with Grover, a local boy, and Otis, a lovable mutt, fit (or don’t fit) into the Prophet’s plans. DuPrau effectively depicts a community in the grip of a millennial fever, the residents eager to appease an angry God in increasingly twisted ways. Less successful are subplots involving Nickie’s explorations of her great-grandfather’s effects and the weird research of a curmudgeonly astronomer. Thinnest of all is the connection to Ember, which is encapsulated entirely in an afterward. This will disappoint Ember’s fans, but those who read this offering with no series expectations will find it a provocative read with an appealingly conflicted protagonist. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 25, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-87526-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2006
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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Fast-paced dragon flights and mid-space fights—plus underdog heroes who are easy to root for.
A tenacious 13-year-old battles to save Mars, the only home he knows, in this series opener.
Lunar Jones, called “Dad” by the other orphans at the understaffed, underfunded Martian Relocation Clinic, is a scrapper in the dying Mars settlement, which is ironically named Harvest. Although the atmosphere supports human life, Martian plants, animals, and weather pose threats to survival, and the salvagers risk their lives with every expedition. A century ago, people killed Ares, Mars’ King-Dragon, hoping to make the planet “a paradise. A second version of Earth.” But that plan backfired. After a bloody attack by a rival salvage group, Lunar regains consciousness in an underground bunker, under the care of Gen. John Poppy, who’s secretly rearing a dragon named Dread. Poppy has rallied a group of young people with assorted special skills. Soon Dread will choose his dragoon, the human he bonds with for life. In the world of the story, which is reminiscent of Mad Max and Star Trek, each celestial body has its own dragon avatar. The backstory is fairly well developed, and the short chapters are packed with action. Lunar and some other key characters show positive growth, while the minor characters feel more like types. Lunar presents white; there’s some diversity in race among the supporting cast.
Fast-paced dragon flights and mid-space fights—plus underdog heroes who are easy to root for. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665946513
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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