Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
James Patterson continues his Maximum Ride series with School's OutForever. The six genetically altered, winged characters from The Angel Experiment are en route to Washington, DC, to an FBI agent's home as the book opens, for a taste of "normal" lifebut the sextet soon sets off for Florida on a mission to keep the world safe. Ages 11-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-10-An unusually dark fantasy, skillfully told. In this third book in the series, Dina and her family have settled into a comfortable life of farming and trading. Her mother no longer uses her Shamer's gift of seeing the ugly truths hidden behind peoples' eyes, and Dina's own Shamer's talent has disappeared. Then her father, a Blackmaster who wields the Serpent's Gift of illusion and coercion, comes to claim his daughter. The family flees to a neighboring country where Dina's brother, Davin, and Nico, the usurped teenaged ruler of their homeland, break the repressive local laws and are sentenced to years in the royal prison. In this grim place designed to break the souls of its inmates, Davin learns to respect Nico, and Dina learns to see some good in her father. Dina and Davin's alternating first-person descriptions of the various threats to their family make for a fast-paced read. Prison scenes of physical and psychological abuse are absolutely chilling, all the more so because they sometimes involve children. The book can stand alone but will be more rewarding for readers of the first two books, who will recognize the characters' growing strength and maturity under often-brutal conditions.-Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6-9. Kaaberbol's third book in the Shamer Chronicles, which began with Shamer's Daughter (2004), is every bit as entertaining and well written as its predecessors. The Shamer's family and Nico are on the run; Dina's father, Sezuan, a Blackmaster who commands the gifts of lie and illusion, has turned up at Yew Tree Cottage, bringing death and destruction with him. Trouble dogs the escapees, accelerating after they reach Sagisloc, where they become slaves for the Foundation. They are separated, stripped of their names and belongings, and hired out. When Nico and Davin are arrested, Dina attempts to secure Sezuan's aid in freeing them. Meanwhile, locked in the bowels of Sagisburg Castle, Nico and Davin, shackled with other prisoners, must work as fast as possible to avoid floggings and, even worse, torture staged for the entertainment of Prince Artos Draconis. The unique world Kaaberbol has created, her well-developed characters, fast-moving plots, and thoughtful examination of bravery and moral issues put this book, and the series as whole, in good standing alongside Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. --Diana Herald Copyright 2006 Booklist
Horn Book Review
(Middle School) Fugitives from the evil tyrant Drakan (The Shamer's Daughter, rev. 5/04, and Shamer's Signet, rev. 5/05), Dina and her family take flight again -- this time from a man able to manipulate people with dreams, a man who (Dina's mother confesses) is Dina's father. Dina is afraid of her father's power and of the possibility that she may have inherited it. The family flees to Sagisloc, but the city's housing for transients turns out to be a system of debt slavery that they, as ""graylings,"" become entrapped by. Furthermore, criticizing the city's Prince Arthos can get you sentenced to hard labor in the prison/re-education fortress of Sagisburg, a fate that befalls Dina's brother and their companion Nico. Into the fabric of the series's meticulously crafted fantasy vision, Kaaberbol weaves new and compelling magical abilities for her conflicted heroine. As Dina wrestles with the morality of her powers, Kaaberbol delivers a self-contained adventure that still keeps the tension directed toward an eventual showdown with Drakan. Another excellent installment in this exciting, always surprising series. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Book Review
The third installment in the Shamer Quartet draws Dina and her family out from temporary safety into indentured servitude and peril. Dina's loved her refuge in the Highlands, but it all falls apart when a stranger seeks her out. The stranger is Sezuan, her father, and Dina's mother flees from him in terror. Though Dina barely understands the danger Sezuan poses, she comprehends the price of flight; when they enter a Lowland city, Dina and her family are tricked into slavery. Dina's brother Davin and friend Nico are dragged to prison, where dreadful mind games brainwash both prisoners and citizens. Thus begin two parallel adventures: Dina turns to Sezuan to mount a rescue mission, while Davin and Nico barely resist the manipulations of their captors. The wickedness of the villains is complete and unredeemable--yet the supposed wickedness of Dina's father is more nuanced. The villains' dire magic keeps the tension simmering, but it's Dina's relationship with her father and Davin's growing self-knowledge that enrich this compelling fantasy. (Fantasy. 11-15) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.