Fans of this first installment will be glad of the movie while waiting for the book’s sequel
A young Gelfling girl discovers hidden evils in this prequel to Jim Henson’s 1982 film The Dark Crystal.
Naia, training to become the matriarch of her clan, has never ventured beyond her swamp home. When her brother’s accused of being a traitor to the Skeksis Lords—creatures entrusted with the care of the life-giving crystal that runs through the world—Naia’s mother sends Naia and her father to stand in his stead. But her father and their escort are (conveniently) harmed, and Naia must travel on alone. On her journey, described in rich prose that paints a vivid picture, including the physical differences among the diverse Gelfling races, Naia discovers all is not well—worst of all, the crystal vein has taken on an amethyst hue, spreading corruption. While Naia and Kylan, a storyteller who becomes her travel partner and friend, are both likable and fallible, the Skeksis all seem interchangeable: disappointingly one-dimensional, gluttonous, and unmannerly. The book ends in a sequel setup. The many new words and concepts in this intricate fantasy world can be overwhelming, though much can be gleaned through context. And while the plot and characters are rather basic, the intriguing world and lush, descriptive, often even flowery prose make up for some of what’s lacking. Godbey’s occasional black-and-white illustrations add atmosphere.
Fans of this first installment will be glad of the movie while waiting for the book’s sequel . (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-448-48289-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
It’s the haunting details of those around Kai that readers will remember.
Kai’s life is upended when his coastal village is devastated in Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami in this verse novel from an author who experienced them firsthand.
With his single mother, her parents, and his friend Ryu among the thousands missing or dead, biracial Kai, 17, is dazed and disoriented. His friend Shin’s supportive, but his intact family reminds Kai, whose American dad has been out of touch for years, of his loss. Kai’s isolation is amplified by his uncertain cultural status. Playing soccer and his growing friendship with shy Keiko barely lessen his despair. Then he’s invited to join a group of Japanese teens traveling to New York to meet others who as teenagers lost parents in the 9/11 attacks a decade earlier. Though at first reluctant, Kai agrees to go and, in the process, begins to imagine a future. Like graphic novels, today’s spare novels in verse (the subgenre concerning disasters especially) are significantly shaped by what’s left out. Lacking art’s visceral power to grab attention, verse novels may—as here—feel sparsely plotted with underdeveloped characters portrayed from a distance in elegiac monotone. Kai’s a generic figure, a coat hanger for the disaster’s main event, his victories mostly unearned; in striking contrast, his rural Japanese community and how they endure catastrophe and overwhelming losses—what they do and don’t do for one another, comforts they miss, kindnesses they value—spring to life.
It’s the haunting details of those around Kai that readers will remember. (author preface, afterword) (Verse fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53474-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
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