Fascinating source material deserves a treatment less reliant on tired tropes
Drawn into a primordial struggle that threatens the balance of the world, Howard embarks on a journey through time and space.
A split narrative, twining from imperial-era Sanxingdui to contemporary Aylford (an author’s note informs readers that Sanxingdui is a real place in China, while fictional Aylford is inspired by American author H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional town Arkham), tells the story of the Golden Mask, an object of immense power. When nefarious forces seek to seize that power, Howard must battle darkness of monstrous proportions. It’s an ambitious story, weaving in ancient civilizations from all over the world. Wilson misses the mark, though, deploying one cliché after another, from the “very important magical object” to the “chosen one.” Howard’s unfathomable importance remains unexplained, and Cate, his friend, exactly embodies the “mystical minority” trope. Cate is one of three characters in Aylford who are specifically and repeatedly identified as Chinese—the rest are presumed white. Small discrepancies riddle the text, and use of Chinese language is inconsistent or simply wrong. Passages of evocative prose appear alongside moments of unbelievably cartoonish description and dialogue (one character uses the phrase, “cool people like me”). With a cast of characters who seem to reappear in various incarnations, the plot feels simultaneously fussy and simplistic—and insufficiently compelling for readers to want to continue on to the next book in the planned series.
Fascinating source material deserves a treatment less reliant on tired tropes . (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1970-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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