Skippable for newbies, but fans will salvage enough to make it worthwhile even as they hope for payoff next time.
Tom Ward, the Chipenden Spook, is back from the dead and ready to fight against the monstrous wolflike Kobalos horde, with his apprentice, Jenny Calder, and the witch assassin Grimalkin by his side.
The two white humans and the shape-shifting lamia do their best to prepare to fight evil, but old friends and foes enter the picture and complicate things. By the story’s end not much has changed for our heroes, but the author does a good job driving in circles and making readers feel like they’re seeing new scenery. Delaney’s usual blunt expository dialogue and clumsy narrative drive are on full display here, but so are his worldbuilding and mood-setting. Tom’s world, a boilerplate alternative medieval Europe, is filled with fog and moonlight and creepy creatures lurking behind every tree. Tom and Jenny don’t get much to do other than cope with bloody terror, but Delaney knows how to build a horrifying set piece. The adventure is no better built than the last, continually ambling toward a massive showdown with the enemy but never getting there, however a late reveal of an old foe provides just enough spark to make the book worth fans’ time. Here’s hoping the next installment will finally give readers a payoff to all this buildup.
Skippable for newbies, but fans will salvage enough to make it worthwhile even as they hope for payoff next time. (Grimalkin’s notes, glossary) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-233456-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
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