A fun and fiery follow-up.
Princess Rowan and company return to battle monsters, bestial and human alike, in Armstrong’s action-packed sequel to A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying (2019).
Having flouted tradition to trade roles with her twin brother, 12-year-old royal monster hunter Rowan has at last settled into routine—if you can call wyvern attacks, gryphon births, and political undermining from ambitious cousins “routine.” The court is thrown into upheaval once again when the gryphon that Rowan captured in the previous title as part of her monster hunting trials dies giving birth, and the fledgling beast rapidly grows bigger and more dangerous than Rowan can manage. After an accident, the princess reluctantly volunteers to return the creature to the wild—a task easier said than done when every monster in the kingdom seems to dog the princess’s steps. Armstrong follows the second-installment playbook almost to the letter, introducing new monsters and every fight sequence imaginable to test Rowan’s, Dain’s, and Alianor’s expanding skill sets and saving any real plot advancement for the inevitable third book. But action is no sin with such an impressive menagerie to feature—belligerent koalas and carnivorous aquatic horses just for starters—nor does Armstrong waste the opportunity to show readers the growing depth of Rowan’s sense of purpose and relationship with her friends. Rowan’s illustrated field guide continues to expand in the backmatter as well. Armstrong’s setting is a thoroughly multiracial (but not racialized) one, with the principals’ skin tones of varying shades of brown.
A fun and fiery follow-up. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6538-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Puffin/Penguin Random House Canada
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
During a school year in which a gifted teacher who emphasizes personal responsibility among his fifth graders ends up in a coma from a thrown snowball, his students come to terms with their own issues and learn to be forgiving. Told in short chapters organized month-by-month in the voices of seven students, often describing the same incident from different viewpoints, this weaves together a variety of not-uncommon classroom characters and situations: the new kid, the trickster, the social bully, the super-bright and the disaffected; family clashes, divorce and death; an unwed mother whose long-ago actions haven't been forgotten in the small-town setting; class and experiential differences. Mr. Terupt engineers regular visits to the school’s special-needs classroom, changing some lives on both sides. A "Dollar Word" activity so appeals to Luke that he sprinkles them throughout his narrative all year. Danielle includes her regular prayers, and Anna never stops her hopeful matchmaking. No one is perfect in this feel-good story, but everyone benefits, including sentimentally inclined readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73882-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
