Polly Holyoke

An epic middle-grade fantasy adventure that will capture the hearts and imaginations of boys and girls alike.

Skyriders is the first book in a new middle-grade fantasy series of the same name by author Polly Holyoke. The story pulls out all the stops for adventure, world-building, and overcoming impossible, overwhelming odds. This epic fantasy adventure will appeal to both boys and girls, reluctant readers, and would be perfect for reading aloud and tempting eager young imaginations.

The book’s action begins immediately with minimal exposition; there’s no waiting around! Kie is the kind of young heroine who everyone can get behind. At 13 years of age, she is humble, loving, brave, and loyal. I loved that she (and the others) could communicate telepathically with their skysteeds, and early on, readers know that her ability is not limited to N’Rah. Their foe, the chimerae, are horrific three-headed monsters and are a returning menace from her country’s past, one foretold by her beloved Uncle Dug. He was right all along! The aerial battles against the chimerae are exciting and easy to follow.

The plot is an extraordinary underdog story, as Kie faces frustration after frustration trying to get those in a position to act to believe her. Her warnings repeatedly fall on deaf ears. However, it’s always a satisfying moment for young readers when young characters prove to be right and the adults wrong.

The author’s world-building is so impressive in this first volume of the series. The descriptions of the various settings are so vivid you can practically feel the mountain storms or the grit and heat of the desert. But best of all are the Pegusus-like skysteeds, sentient and wise and a welcome addition to a genre filled with dragons. You can almost feel the experience of flying on the back of one of these winged horses (but don’t call them horses!) Kudos for the fabulous cover that features Kie, N’Rah, and the monstrous chimerae and establishes a perfect visual right from the start.

With its highly relatable heroine, great underdog story, and fantastic creatures of myth and legend, I recommend SKYRIDERS to readers of middle-grade fantasy and adventure.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Book Blog Tours.… (mehr)

The pacing in this book is a bit wonky, it feels like it rushes through plot points at a breakneck pace, and I'm not really sold on the romance, but otherwise this is a good book. It has a fairly unique premise, with mermaids not being supernatural but rather genetically modified teenagers, and it also subverts that premise by showing the pain and hardship these kids would go through by having to swim all that distance to get to safety.

The characters were interesting, and I kind of like the fact that Holyoke didn't pull any punches with the eventual fates of the kids. Fairly realistic injuries are played out pretty realistically, and there are consequences to character's actions.

Like I said, I wasn't sold on the romance or the attempted "bad boy" character, who just comes off as a bit lame and not a good choice, but I'm very interested to see where this series goes.… (mehr)

Global warming has continued to do its worst. Earth is hotter; the seas have risen; climate zones have moved; there has not been the wonderful increase in arable land envisioned by some optimists. As a result, political upheaval has produced new, fragmented, and from what we see, mostly repressive governments.

Nere Hanson is a teenage girl living in the Western Collective, somewhere along what was the southern California coastline. She remembers a happier family past when her father and mother were both marine scientists, and her older brother was still with them. Now, her father is dead, her brother has run off after a steady deterioration of his relationship with their mother, and Nere herself, with weak eyes and weak lungs, is not happy anywhere but in the ocean, with the dolphins her mother still works with. It's a tough life, but it is a life.

Their dangerous secret is that Nere and her mother, Gillian, are both telepaths.

Then the Western Collective cracks down, announcing that because food production is too low and the smugglers are too active, everyone is being moved inland. What really brings Nere's world crashing down, though, is when her mother tells her the bigger, more dangerous secret, the one that is going to send Nere and her friends on a dangerous ocean journey with their dolphin friends.

This is a pretty good YA adventure novel, with some major excitement and plot twists along the way. Characters are allowed to be complex, to have both good and bad in them, to make both right and wrong choices. Both Kyel and Dai, two of the older teens that Nere and her friends meet up with, demonstrate both the capacity for an alarming ruthlessness, and a willingness to take serious risks for the benefit of their slowly expanding group. The choices made along the way are real choices, difficult ones, with no way to be certain you've made the right choice.

It's not a perfect book. There are some clumsy bits, like the new, futuristic currency being called "dollarns" and "birthday" having become "birthing day." There are other little bits that aren't well thought out. Overall, though, this is a nice, solid adventure story.

Recommended for light reading.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
… (mehr)