Uneven yet at moments exceedingly exciting: readers who stick through to the end will be looking for the next in the series.
Timothy James Maxwell and his friends continue their adventure in cosmic realms.
Think of The Dark is Rising and A Swiftly Tilting Planet: when Celtic forces of good, evil, and the fairy folk come together, snow flies, winds rise, and mere mortals are caught off balance. McQuerry dives right in, picking up where she left off in series opener Beyond the Door (2014). The one-eyed evil representative of the Dark, Balor, wreaks havoc on the Marketplace out of time, while armies of trees and birds join to beat back his reptile and insect forces. An enigmatic map and a Christmas (when “the Light comes into the world”) trip to Edinburgh set the stage for another mythic encounter between good and evil. McQuerry borrows freely for her tropes, tossing in ancient tales, the Scottish regalia, Macbeth’s Dunsinane, the Wild Hunt, and fairy folk with a great deal of scope and ambition. Though she slides distractingly from one point of view to another in early chapters, she sticks with young Timothy for most of the rest, engaging readers in his predicament and the web of cosmic tension. The overlap of mythical and present is nicely realized, with adults especially not what they seem, whether representative of good or evil.
Uneven yet at moments exceedingly exciting: readers who stick through to the end will be looking for the next in the series. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: May 12, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1494-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains.
Myla and Peter step into the path of a gang when they unite forces to find Peter’s runaway brother, Randall.
As they follow the graffiti tags that Randall has been painting in honor of the boys’ deceased father, they uncover a sinister history involving stolen diamonds, disappearances, and deaths. It started long ago when the boys’ grandmother, a diamond-cutter, partnered with the head of the gang. She was rumored to have hidden his diamonds before her suspicious death, leaving clues to their whereabouts. Now everyone is searching, including Randall. The duo’s collaboration is initially an unwilling one fraught with misunderstandings. Even after Peter and Myla bond over being the only people of color in an otherwise white school (Myla is Indian-American; mixed-race Peter is Indian, African-American, and white), Peter can’t believe the gang is after Myla. But Myla possesses a necklace that holds a clue. Alternating first-person chapters allow peeks into how Myla, Peter, and Randall unravel the story and decipher clues. Savvy readers will put the pieces together, too, although false leads and red herrings are cleverly interwoven. The action stumbles at times, but it takes place against the rich backdrops of gritty New York City and history-laden Dobbs Ferry and is made all the more colorful by references to graffiti art and parkour.
A quick, agreeable caper, this may spark some discussion even as it entertains. (Mystery. 10-12)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2296-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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