For Minecraft fans whose game consoles are broken.
“Same as it ever was….”
These are the lyrics to the classic Talking Heads song that keeps repeating in the mind of the narrator, who has awakened underwater and surfaced in the world of Minecraft. Stumbling onto dry land, the narrator realizes that its body is not human but rather made head to toe of blocks. It has no memory of how it arrived in this world and finds itself in a moment-to-moment survival adventure. The world is Earth-like, with trees, seeds, and fruit. There’s a grazing area for blocky farm animals the narrator calls Disappointment Hill, where it befriends a cow that it later deems a best friend. The stranded protagonist is not alone, as no Minecraft world is without enemies, including stalker zombies and skeleton archers who lurk and strike with no real purpose other than to antagonize the anonymous protagonist. Each chapter title is a life lesson learned by the main character as it imagines its way to survival. Unlike Robinson Crusoe, whose castaway protagonist’s existential journey has a history that leaves readers invested in his survival, this tale loses its punch in the tedious, mundane details of Minecraft worldbuilding that are best suited to devotees of the video game. Upon reading the list of life lessons presented after the epilogue, readers may well feel that it may be far more interesting to play the actual video game than to read about it.
For Minecraft fans whose game consoles are broken. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18177-1
Page Count: 271
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2017
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch.
A Jewish girl joins up with Polish resistance groups to fight for her people against the evils of the Holocaust.
Chaya Lindner is forcibly separated from her family when they are consigned to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. The 16-year-old is taken in by the leaders of Akiva, a fledgling Jewish resistance group that offers her the opportunity to become a courier, using her fair coloring to pass for Polish and sneak into ghettos to smuggle in supplies and information. Chaya’s missions quickly become more dangerous, taking her on a perilous journey from a disastrous mission in Krakow to the ghastly ghetto of Lodz and eventually to Warsaw to aid the Jews there in their gathering uprising inside the walls of the ghetto. Through it all, she is partnered with a secretive young girl whom she is reluctant to trust. The trajectory of the narrative skews toward the sensational, highlighting moments of resistance via cinematic action sequences but not pausing to linger on the emotional toll of the Holocaust’s atrocities. Younger readers without sufficient historical knowledge may not appreciate the gravity of the events depicted. The principal characters lack depth, and their actions and the situations they find themselves in often require too much suspension of disbelief to pass for realism.
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-14847-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
None
None
The Potternaut rolls on, picking up more size than speed but propelling 15-year-old Harry through more hard tests of character and magical ability. Rowling again displays her ability to create both likable and genuinely scary characters, most notable among the latter being a pair of Dementors who accost Harry in a dark alley in the opening chapter. Even more horrible, Ministry of Magic functionary Dolores Umbridge descends upon Hogwarts with a tinkly laugh, a taste in office decor that runs to kitten paintings, and the authority, soon exercised, to torture students, kick Harry off the Quidditch team, fire teachers, and even to challenge Dumbledore himself. Afflicted with sudden fits of adolescent rage, Harry also has worries, from upcoming exams and recurrent eerie dreams to the steadfast refusal of the Magical World's bureaucracy to believe that Voldemort has returned. Steadfast allies remain, including Hermione, whose role here is largely limited to Chief Explainer, and a ragtag secret order of adults formed to protect him from dangers, which they characteristically keep to themselves until he finds out about them the hard way. Constructed, like Goblet of Fire, of multiple, weakly connected plot lines and rousing, often hilarious set pieces, all set against a richly imagined backdrop, this involves its characters once again in plenty of adventures while moving them a step closer to maturity. And it's still impossible to predict how it's all going to turn out.
None (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: July 1, 2003
ISBN: 9780439358064
Page Count: 896
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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