Inventive in detail if predictable in plot, this should please fans of the first volume.
Long on action and atmosphere, with detailed descriptions and illustrations of the odd world of Orbona, Eva Nine’s adventures pick up just where they ended (The Search for WondLa, 2010).
In the ruins of an ancient city, an airship has appeared, piloted by the first other human Eva has ever seen. Hailey (think a teenage Han Solo) promises to deliver Eva and Rovender to New Attica (the reference will doubtless be lost on young readers), where the human population lives beneath a giant dome. Once there, Eva gets briefly caught up in its glamour and novelty before a strangely familiar young woman opens her eyes to the destructive intentions of the colony’s leader. A complicated escape and a series of chases ensue, with dramatic battles, a stop to reunite Rovender with his estranged family, betrayal by an ostensible ally, a mystical encounter and an attempt to rescue friends from danger. Once again, a not-terribly-surprising surprise ending sets up the next installment. The pace is faster and DiTerlizzi’s voice is stronger in this sequel, but it still feels like less than the sum of its parts. The accompanying website offers games, character descriptions and an "Augmented Reality" flying game. Full interactivity requires a webcam and a software download and may or may not increase readers’ enjoyment.
Inventive in detail if predictable in plot, this should please fans of the first volume. (Science fiction/fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4169-8312-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
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Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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