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Overview
After saving the world’s oceans in Firestorm, Jack Danielson goes home to see P.J., his girlfriend and sole remaining touchstone. But she’s missing, and blame falls on Jack. Now he’s on the run with Gisco, his crafty canine sidekick, and is literally caught up in a whirlwind as he travels to the heart of darkness to rescue P.J.—a journey that will bring him face-to-face with the Dark Lord, the father of his old nemesis. Jack’s quest becomes nearly impossible as he discovers that the only person who can stop the Dark Lord is an old man from the future, but no one knows where he is, or if he even exists. But if anyone can find him, it’s Jack. The fate of the future is once again in his hands, but will Jack be able to travel halfway around the world, find a missing time traveler, and raise a powerful army in time to save the world?
Synopsis
In this environmental thriller, one boy is in a race against the Dark Lord to save the rain forests and the future.
KLIATT
AGERANGE: Ages 12 to 18.
In this action-packed ecological thriller, Jack, our hero, has been gone from his hometown for six months, off fulfilling his destiny and saving Earth s oceans. Now he returns to try to see his high school sweetheart, P.J., only to discover that she s disappeared and he s being blamed. Jack escapes with the wisecracking telepathic dog Gisco and heads off in a hot air balloon for the Amazon to rescue P.J. and save the planet once again. The Dark Lord is destroying the rain forest, and only the great wizard scientist, the Mysterious Kidah, can stop him. Jack must find Kidah and P.J and help fight the dread Dark Lord and his army. Eko, the beautiful Ninja Babe from the future, is there to help as Jack faces all kinds of new dangers in this breathless adventure. While the plot of Book 1, Firestorm, is summarized, this will work better for those familiar with that story than new readers, but every YA will enjoy the nonstop action, the fantasy and horror elements, and the heartfelt ecological message. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick
March 2008 (Vol. 42, No.2)
Editorials
KLIATT
AGERANGE: Ages 12 to 18.In this action-packed ecological thriller, Jack, our hero, has been gone from his hometown for six months, off fulfilling his destiny and saving Earth’s oceans. Now he returns to try to see his high school sweetheart, P.J., only to discover that she’s disappeared and he’s being blamed. Jack escapes with the wisecracking telepathic dog Gisco and heads off in a hot air balloon for the Amazon to rescue P.J. and save the planet once again. The Dark Lord is destroying the rain forest, and only the great wizard scientist, the Mysterious Kidah, can stop him. Jack must find Kidah and P.J and help fight the dread Dark Lord and his army. Eko, the beautiful “Ninja Babe” from the future, is there to help as Jack faces all kinds of new dangers in this breathless adventure. While the plot of Book 1, Firestorm, is summarized, this will work better for those familiar with that story than new readers, but every YA will enjoy the nonstop action, the fantasy and horror elements, and the heartfelt ecological message. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick
March 2008 (Vol. 42, No.2)
VOYA
Klass continues his ecological science fiction adventure by sending heroic earthly caretaker Jack Danielson back to the home he fled in the first book of The Caretaker Trilogy, Firestorm (Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2006/VOYA October 2006), to find his girlfriend, P.J. Jack soon finds out from his psychic shaggy-dog pal, Gisco, that she has been abducted, and the villainous Dark Army is hot on their trail. The search for the love of Jack's young life leads them back to the woman he is apparently destined to marry, Eko, which make things complicated, and through dangerous jungles in hopes of waking an ancient warrior to battle the Dark Army's Dark Lord. The next installment is again difficult to anticipate with any emotion stronger than grim determination to see the series conclude. Although the second book is a vast improvement over the first, many of the same quibbles still exist: convoluted storytelling, racing right from one adventure to another, and still too many sentence fragments. Plus Jack keeps gets knocked out a lot, and throughout the book he faces off against vampire bats, vampire fish (in two separate scenes), and a deadly elderly balloonist. If this were a tongue-in-cheek action-adventure send-up, that sequence might fly. But there is no evidence that Klass is portraying his tale as anything other than deadly serious, which still leaves things deathly dull. Reviewer: Matthew WeaverChildren's Literature -
In this second book of "The Caretaker Trilogy," Jack Danielson, who returns home in hopes of reuniting with his girlfriend, PJ, discovers that she has been kidnapped, and that he is the prime suspect. With the help of Gisco, a telepathic dog, Jack escapes and learns that not only does he have to save PJ but also the world. The Dark Lord is back, and he is intent on destroying the Amazon rain forests and getting revenge on Jack for killing his son. The ethereal ninja babe, Eko, returns from the future to assist Jack on his mission to find the Mysterious Kidah, a great wizard-scientist and the only person capable of thwarting the Dark Lord. While the action packed, fast paced plot is bound to appeal to some readers, specifically reluctant male readers, most will not be impressed. Jack's voice is not consistent, seeming uncharacteristically too adult at times. The female characters are stereotypical action babes—undeveloped, generally passive, with the primary purpose of providing sexual titillation. Despite these drawbacks, the end of chapter cliff hangers, strange Amazon creatures, and non-stop action will draw a certain audience and keep them reading until the end. Reviewer: Melissa Joy AdamsSchool Library Journal
Gr 8 Up- Returning home to Hadley-by-Hudson after surviving his treacherous, six-month-long quest to save the Earth's oceans in Firestorm (Farrar, 2006), Jack Danielson is anxious to make sure that his girlfriend is all right. He is horrified to find that P.J. is missing and that he is considered responsible not only for her disappearance, but also for the deaths of his parents, who perished trying to save him from the Dark Army in the first book. This evil army from the future has now kidnapped P.J. and is gathering its forces to thwart Jack in his mission to save the planet from ecological disaster. To find P.J. and fulfill his mission, Jack must travel to the heart of the Amazonian rain forest; find the missing time-traveling wizard, Kidah; and join with him to defeat the Dark Lord from the future before he destroys the Earth. Like Jack's first adventure, Whirlwind is filled with thrilling, death-defying situations seldom found outside computer games. The fast-paced, gripping plot is an excellent vehicle for presenting a significant environmental message to an audience that might not hear it otherwise. The story stands on its own, but will be especially appreciated by those who experienced the cliff-hanger ending of Firestorm (Farrar, 2006). All readers will eagerly await the third book.-Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA
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