Powerful, moving, relevant.
A compendium of Norse tales from the age of the Vikings.
In ninth-to-11th-century Scandinavia, the world was, to the humans who inhabited it, a place full of spirits, gods, trolls, giants, and dwarves. Midgard (“Middle Earth”), where humans lived, was also home to giants and dwarves and a place where spirits of the uneasy dead walked. The gods lived in Asgard, above Midgard, and occasionally came to visit Midgard by way of a three-strand rainbow bridge. The five tales gathered here, mostly from Iceland, have a powerful, unadorned way of going, reflecting the subsistence lives of the people who created them as a way to make sense of their often capricious existence. A mother and father implore the gods for help to save their daughter from a troll. A human girl is given the gift of flax by the goddess Frigg, wife of Odin, the Allfather. While the archaic details may be unfamiliar, the basic essence of the human condition comes through loud and clear—and comfortingly. With each story, readers will realize both the close connection the people felt with the natural world and how deeply they lived their spare and forceful existence. Equally spare and forceful are the masterful illustrations. Silhouette spots are interspersed with dramatic, limited-color double-page spreads that show off and deepen the narrative, sometimes portraying harsh, raw, and even frightening scenes, sometimes gentle and illuminating ones; each is a tour de force of design and execution.
Powerful, moving, relevant. (Traditional literature. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1771-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick Studio
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Not as strong as the series opener, but the space battles galore will satisfy returning fans.
Lunar Jones and Dread the dragon rally the Dread Knights to defend Mars from attack by Triton, the dragon from Neptune’s largest moon.
About a year has passed since 14-year-old Lunar Jones became a dragoon and bonded with Dread, the planetary dragon of Mars. In this second series entry, Mars is now productive and again accepting Earthers as settlers, while Lunar adjusts to being in a leadership role, despite being younger than most of those he commands and “responsible for protecting all of Mars.” Proctor (strategy), Doc (programming), Little Will (lead scout), and Mara (who’s nicknamed “Wildcard”) reprise their crucial roles, while the story is fleshed out with other familiar faces, a batch of new recruits, and dragoons and dragons from throughout the solar system. Upon the approach of unknown vessels into Mars’ atmosphere, Lunar and Dread recall uncomfortable rumors about hostility from Neptune’s dragons, and the battles begin. Lunar narrates most chapters; occasional sections are told from Proctor’s point of view. A whiff of romantic attraction doesn’t impede the nonstop action, and the epilogue points to more entries to come. The dragon backstory holds together, although several innovations that appear at just the right time and support healing or offer battle advantages feel like overly easy solutions. Most humans present white.
Not as strong as the series opener, but the space battles galore will satisfy returning fans. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781665946544
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing series opener that explores emotional themes through a magical lens.
An American teen’s powers make her dangerous—to some, anyway.
Ever since the Great Outburst 10 years ago that killed Aria Loveridge’s mother, the world has known that dreamslingers are a threat. Fourteen-year-old Aria has learned to control her dreamslinger powers by keeping her emotions in check, demonstrating her father’s argument that those who share this genetic mutation might be dangerous but are “patients who [deserve] society’s care.” When the secretive Kingdom of Royal Hanguk, located on an island in Seoul, announces that its Annual Royal Slinger Trials will for the first time be open to teenagers from every nation, Aria, who’s cued Korean and white, agrees to participate. She’s on a secret assignment for the governor of Texas, who wants her to find out what threats Royal Hanguk might be planning to unleash on the world. But when she arrives, Aria finds a place that accepts dreamslingers, and she begins to make friends. As she learns about her abilities, she discovers more about her past and what it means to be a dreamslinger, secrets that tie her both to her father’s philosophies and to Royal Hanguk. As she becomes more invested in the training, Aria must decide where her loyalties lie. The worldbuilding is fun but contains emotional depth, and the perennially appealing magic school setting contains a healthy dash of familial and political drama. This deftly executed work successfully addresses serious coming-of-age themes with optimism.
An intriguing series opener that explores emotional themes through a magical lens. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781368104777
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
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