Exciting and cinematic.
A robot faces an existential threat to its kind.
This sequel to The Last Human (2019) looks at the world 30 years after a robot uprising drove humans into hiding and just months after a group of robots encountered a tween girl named Emma. XR, the robot narrator, explains that humans all over the world emerged from their bunkers and rebuilt settlements in cooperation with robots. But some people haven’t forgiven the past: An insurgent group called the Machine Breakers are bent on revenge, tyranny, and the destruction of all robots “and any human who gives them aid.” The Machine Breakers’ leader, a woman named Talin, turns off the link enabling robots to function and to connect with each other. And then, the group takes Emma’s parents prisoner. XR and Emma set out with two robot companions and Keller, a human boy, to find and infiltrate the massive offshore digitally camouflaged Fortress in which Talin and her followers are hiding. XR’s compact sentences and analytical viewpoint (often explained in binary adjectives) offer a convincing, often amusing, robot perspective. The robots’ hilarious interpretation of Emma’s flirtatious behavior toward Keller, robot Ceeron’s attempt to master joke-telling, and robot SkD’s emoji communications provide comic relief. The mission that unseats Talin and confirms human commitment to peace is suitably thrilling, neatly choreographed, and without serious bloodshed. Human characters are minimally described and sometimes racially ambiguous. Final art not seen.
Exciting and cinematic. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781419769177
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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
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