Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City

Our narrator in Kristen Miller’s debut novel is the unfortunately named Ananka Fishbein, who lives in New York with her academically-minded parents and attends a prestigious private school thanks to a restriction in her kooky grandfather’s will. There, she catches sight of Kiki Strike, the tiny, intriguing girl with white-blonde hair, who, when asked what she’d like to be when she grows up, responds, “dangerous.” The week before seeing Kiki for the first time, Ananka saw a strange thing on her morning walk. An enormous sinkhole had opened in a nearby park. Exploring it, she finds a little room, furnished in 19th century style. She scours her parents’ library for information on an underground city beneath New York, and learns about the “Shadow City,” home to smugglers and outlaws. Kiki soon contacts Ananka, and gathers a group of super-talented preteen girls – a mechanical genius, master of disguise, talented forger, and chemist. They explore the Shadow City together, have adventures, and foil Chinese gang members, corrupt businessmen, spoiled socialites, and murderous exiled royalty.

I’m sure that the over the top descriptions of unrealistic situations was intended to be humorous, but it just didn’t work for me. The author didn’t have the skill to convince me to suspend my disbelief. I each situation seemed more ridiculous for 12 year olds to be in, and the Shadow City itself wasn’t at all interesting or given the description that could have made it so. Kiki didn’t come across as human, and much of the story was predictable or had a high groan-factor. I didn’t enjoy this one, but it wasn’t so terrible that I couldn’t finish it. I think I was disappointed because the story had great potential, but just didn’t deliver.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks; I definitely will pass on this one.
Pater Anon.