The Ruined City

by John Wilson

Overview

Howard is a lonely, geeky tenth-grader dealing with a father who's had some kind of breakdown, a flaky, overprotective mother and frightening waking dreams. Then he meets Cate, a strange girl who convinces him that he is an Adept, which means he can communicate through dreams with other dimensions and, under certain circumstances, travel between them. Howard discovers that our world is only one of several dimensions swirling in time and space, and that one of the others, peopled by unimaginably powerful monsters, is approaching Earth for the first time in millennia. The last time the dimensions coincided, our world was saved by the breaking of a powerful golden mask in the Chinese city of Sanxingdui. Together, Howard and Cate travel through time and space, meeting other Adepts and avoiding lurking monsters, in a quest to find the three fragments of the golden mask and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459819719
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Series:	The Golden Mask , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	986 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Wilson grew up on the Isle of Skye and outside Glasgow, without the slightest idea that he would ever write books. After obtaining a degree in geology from the University of St. Andrews, he worked in Zimbabwe and Alberta before taking up writing full time and moving to Vancouver Island in 1991. John is the author of numerous articles, essays, poems and reviews, and almost fifty novels and nonfiction books for kids, teens and adults. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award (The Alchemist's Dream, 2007), and his books have won or been shortlisted for most Canadian children's-literature prizes. For more information, visit johnwilsonauthor.com.

Editorial Reviews

"An ambitious story, weaving in ancient civilizations from all over the world…Fascinating."

Kirkus Reviews

"A tale of adventure and monsters, The Ruined City, with more than a nod to H.P. Lovecraft, should appeal to readers who enjoy a mystery and slimy monsters from another dimension. Highly Recommended."

CM Magazine

"For libraries where fantasy with elements of horror circulates well."

School Library Journal

"An enjoyable ride, with nods to Indiana Jones, Tolkien, Lovecraft, and even Dorothy's red slippers…satisfyingly twisted and complicated."

School Library Connection

"Hand to dedicated fantasy and time-travel fans."

Booklist

"Arresting visuals."

Resource Links

"Hand to dedicated fantasy and time-travel fans."

Booklist

2018-07-30

Drawn into a primordial struggle that threatens the balance of the world, Howard embarks on a journey through time and space.

A split narrative, twining from imperial-era Sanxingdui to contemporary Aylford (an author's note informs readers that Sanxingdui is a real place in China, while fictional Aylford is inspired by American author H.P. Lovecraft's fictional town Arkham), tells the story of the Golden Mask, an object of immense power. When nefarious forces seek to seize that power, Howard must battle darkness of monstrous proportions. It's an ambitious story, weaving in ancient civilizations from all over the world. Wilson misses the mark, though, deploying one cliché after another, from the "very important magical object" to the "chosen one." Howard's unfathomable importance remains unexplained, and Cate, his friend, exactly embodies the "mystical minority" trope. Cate is one of three characters in Aylford who are specifically and repeatedly identified as Chinese—the rest are presumed white. Small discrepancies riddle the text, and use of Chinese language is inconsistent or simply wrong. Passages of evocative prose appear alongside moments of unbelievably cartoonish description and dialogue (one character uses the phrase, "cool people like me"). With a cast of characters who seem to reappear in various incarnations, the plot feels simultaneously fussy and simplistic—and insufficiently compelling for readers to want to continue on to the next book in the planned series.

Fascinating source material deserves a treatment less reliant on tired tropes. (Fantasy. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews