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BEYOND THE DOOR

From the Time Out of Time series , Vol. 1

Sure-handed and page-turning, this series opener leaves plenty to be resolved.

A promising start to a fantasy series mines the rich ore of Celtic mythology and propels a young boy into cosmic battle.

Timothy James Maxwell props open his front door to see what might happen on a March evening, and the strangers who drop in are unexpectedly otherworldly. McQuerry sends her young characters—Tim, his sister and his classmate Jessica (whose prettiness and queen-bee status torment him)—into the conflict between Light and Dark and into the territory made familiar in Susan Cooper’s Dark Is Rising quintet. There is the Greenman, the horned huntsman, a Celtic warrior in wolf form, even a May Day sacrifice complete with Morris dancers. Tim’s elderly babysitter, Mrs. Clapper, becomes Cerridwyn the huntress, explaining that Tim and his companions are now caught up in an ongoing cosmic story: “Before all things and after all things the story is.” Jessica’s role in the May Day sacrifice and Tim’s substitution for her in the wild hunt put both of them in dangerous proximity to Balor, an emissary of the Dark. References to quantum physics and to the way that time might seem “like water pouring off a tabletop, flowing in all directions at once,” emphasize the simultaneous presence of the mythic and everyday life. An Ogham-based code explained in an opening note runs along the bottoms of the pages for readers to decipher.

Sure-handed and page-turning, this series opener leaves plenty to be resolved. (Fantasy. 10-14)

Pub Date: March 18, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4197-1016-2

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014

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THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS

From the Girl of Fire and Thorns series , Vol. 1

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

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BAMBOO PEOPLE

Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)

Pub Date: July 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Charlesbridge

Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010

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