Will score higher with sports fans of the inner game than the on-field sort.
Middle schooler Albert Kinney evades more murder attempts while searching for both peace and public glory on the playing pitch.
Having been recruited from Earth in Star Striker: Game On! (2021) to play the soccer(ish) game johka on planets in the Fŭigor Solar System, Albert finds himself struggling to get past feelings of guilt and inadequacy in order to regain an essential mystical union called “ahn” with his Zeenod teammates, all while training for the huge upcoming match, which will be held partly on ice, and contriving to stay alive through multiple efforts to assassinate him for reasons of interplanetary politics. Meanwhile, in what amounts to a second plotline rather than a subplot, mad botmaker Mehklen Pahck schemes to secretly switch Albert out for an android of his own design…once he escapes from prison. What with all these intertwined threads, it’s no surprise that actual game action doesn’t get underway until nearly the end, but as Amato is focusing less on plot than character in this series, it’s the way Albert copes with his internal challenges that takes center stage anyway. Through meditation and with teammates on his side—as well as an unusually smart dog who occasionally takes over narratorial duties and friendly classmate Jessica—Albert does regain balance and confidence just in time for a properly spectacular performance. As before, minimal description makes racial identity difficult to determine.
Will score higher with sports fans of the inner game than the on-field sort. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4912-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.
Basketball-playing twins find challenges to their relationship on and off the court as they cope with changes in their lives.
Josh Bell and his twin, Jordan, aka JB, are stars of their school basketball team. They are also successful students, since their educator mother will stand for nothing else. As the two middle schoolers move to a successful season, readers can see their differences despite the sibling connection. After all, Josh has dreadlocks and is quiet on court, and JB is bald and a trash talker. Their love of the sport comes from their father, who had also excelled in the game, though his championship was achieved overseas. Now, however, he does not have a job and seems to have health problems the parents do not fully divulge to the boys. The twins experience their first major rift when JB is attracted to a new girl in their school, and Josh finds himself without his brother. This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story.
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch. (Verse fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-10771-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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