Review by New York Times Review
The fourth and final book in the Twilight Saga once again puts its heroine, Bella Swan, in overwhelming danger. But there's a bigger risk: what happens when the main characters of an epic romance get everything they want? Marriage to Edward, Bella's vampire, was a dead certainty in Book 3, so the threat to their bliss turns out to be creepy and unexpected: someone she may love more, who could kill her and bring down condemnation from the deadly Volturi clan. Over 754 pages, the answers come almost too easily, but not quickly. THE TROUBLE BEGINS AT 8 A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West. By Sid Fleischman. Greenwillow/HarperCollins. $18.99. (Ages 9 to 12) Fleischman's illustrated biography skips along hitting the high points of Twain's life - especially his celebrated career as a Mississippi riverboat pilot, which ended with the Civil War - while fleshing out less well-known episodes, often in the writer's own words. Of course where fact ends and fiction begins is not always clear - as Twain is quoted here, "A lie well told is immortal." NEWES FROM THE DEAD By Mary Hooper, Roaring Brook. $16.95. (Ages 14 and up) In England in 1650, a young woman is found guilty of a crime and hanged. Hours later a medical student attending a planned dissection of the body sees one of the eyelids move. Based on a true story, Hooper's novel traces the story of Anne Green, who "was hanged and lived to tell the tale": somehow she was only knocked out on the scaffold. In the novel, Green is taken advantage of by the scion of local landowners and the family sets out to ruin her reputation. Her quiet, rueful voice tells half the story from the strange limbo where she finds herself on waking up; the student tells the rest. IMAGINARY MENAGERIE A Book of Curious Creatures: Poems. By Julie Larios. Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. Harcourt. $16. (Ages 6 to 9) Gouache paintings depict mythical monsters in jewel tones of red, green, yellow and blue - firebirds, mermaids, centaurs and others. The accompanying poems aim to intrigue more than inform: "I'm arrow tailed, fish scaled, a luck bringer," a dragon says. Brief endnotes expand on the folk traditions - dragons get their name from the ancient Greek, and in some tales are as small as butterflies - if only touching the surface of a fascinating subject. DOUBLE OR DIE A James Bond Adventure. By Charlie Higson. Hyperion/Disney. $16.99. (Ages 10 and up) The third "young Bond" novel revolves around codes, crosswords and ciphers as a professor turns up missing and James and his Eton friends get caught up in the case. A shadowy enemy is trying to complete "Nemesis" (in a twist, it's not a weapon; it's the world's first computer). The year is 1933, and the atmospherics, from the spires of Cambridge to an abandoned railway underneath the slums of London, are very well done. A series with a high I.Q. HERE A FACE, THERE A FACE Written and photographed by Arlene Alda. Tundra. $14.95. (Ages 4 to 8) Witty photographs pick out the "faces" all around us - a saucepan becomes a long-nosed tin man, a frizzy-headed potted plant gapes in surprise, while a knotty "old tree whistles tunes," round eyes above a round mouth. Readers will suddenly find faces everywhere they look. JULIE JUST WITNESS TO THE REVOLUTION An interview with Maying Li about her memoir for young adults, "Snow Falling in Spring," at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
As the concluding book of the Twilight saga begins, readers find a happy Bella Swan getting ready to marry the love of her life, vampire Edward Cullen. Soon she will become a vampire, too, but first Bella wants to experience sexual love with Edward. It's a honeymoon night like no other, and it leads to a momentous event that becomes the catalyst for the rest of the story. It's odd to think of a 700-plus page book moving briskly, but except for some character-laden drag toward the end, that happens here, thanks to Meyer's fevered determination to tie up loose ends. Most pressing, of course, is the need to resolve the love triangle between Bella, Edward, and the werewolf Jacob. This is accomplished in a way that is consistent with what's happened previously, though some will find what takes place to be distasteful. Other plot points are checked off as well. For instance, Charlie is kept in the loop about his daughter's situation as long as he adheres to a don't ask-don't tell policy, and questions surrounding the wolf pack are answered, if rather surprisingly. Also problematic is the introduction of a major new character (to reveal who it is would be a spoiler). Everyone in the book finds her lovable, but many readers may have the opposite view. The most dismaying new story element, however, is the way domesticity replaces the heightened emotionality of Bella and Edward's love, even though there's now sex and plenty of it. (While the sex scenes aren't graphic, a birth scene is quite unsettling, and both may not be suitable for preteens.) For those who find it hard to say farewell to Bella and company, take heart: it may not be good-bye. Astute readers will see the potential for a series spin-off, complete with another love triangle, on the horizon.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Meyer closes her epic love story of a human, a vampire, and a werewolf in this, the final installment of the saga. The story opens with Bella and Edward's wedding, and relations between Jacob and Bella remain uneasy. On honeymoon and unshackled from any further concerns about premarital sex, Edward fulfills his promise to consummate their marriage before he changes Bella into a vampire. An unexpected conception throws their idyllic world back into chaos as factions (both wolf and vampire) battle over whether or not to destroy the potential monster that is killing Bella from within. The captivating angst, passions, and problems manage to satisfyingly fill pages where surprisingly little action takes place, even after the powerful child's birth brings the Cullen family under the scrutiny of the Volturi. The international cadre of vampires who come to the Cullens' aid are fascinating, but distract from the development of prime characters at a pivotal moment. The novel begins and ends with Bella's voice, while Jacob narrates the middle third of the tale, much like the final pages of Eclipse (Little, Brown 2007). While darker and more mature than the previous titles, Meyer's twists and turns are not out of character. Fans may distress as the happy ending for everyone, including a girl for Jacob, lessens the importance and pain of tough decisions and difficult self-sacrifices that caused great grief in previous books, but they will flock to it and enjoy it nonetheless.-Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
