Renegade: Graphic Novel

May 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-Young warrior Billos is sucked from his swords-and-sorcery world into an alternate realityours. Tempted by the evil Marsuvees Black to hunt for books of powerful magic, he accepts and begins heartlessly attacking the small town of Paradise, CO, with his newly granted superpowers. Meanwhile, his lover, Darsal, and her friends make a deal with the monstrous Alucard in order to rescue him, but when they arrive in our world, they find that the now-cruel Billos is convinced that they should join him in his quest for power. Complexly plotted, this work seems to require knowledge of the YA novel series it is derived from; for new readers, it can be bit of a challenge to understand some of the story line. Although this book has some light Christian themes, the overall tone is not evangelical. It may be best for libraries that have a strong demand for Dekkers work or for Christian-themed works in general; for general collections, it is best as a supplemental purchase."Dave Inabnitt, Brooklyn Public Library, NY"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2009
Grades 7-9 The time-travel adventure of the Lost Books graphic-novel series continues, involving a black-and-white battle between forces of good and evilwith some scary (black) and cute (light gray) creatures mixing with the humans. The Christian overtones here are specific and blunt, what with looking for the Books and some direct biblical quotation. High coloring and excellent action shots will keep middle-school readers moving along as heroBillos veers from his medieval village into a mechanical spaceship future and then into mid-twentieth-century hick-town life. Damsel Darsal is close behind, but so is the man in black.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)