Rebel Genius
The Rebel Geniuses series, Book 1
Michael Dante DiMartini
Roaring Brook Press
Fiction, MG Fantasy
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Since the rise of the Supreme Creator Nerezza, the artists of Zizzola and their avian spirit guide Geniuses have been doomed; only Nerezza and her own monstrous Genius are allowed creative reign. Young Giacomo's parents used to be artists themselves, until Nerezza's troops slaughtered their Geniuses and turned them into half-mad Lost Souls... a fate that led to their deaths, leaving the boy an orphan to scrape a living out of the gutters. But despite deep artistic yearnings, Giacomo never had his own Genius - until an attack by city guards led to its arrival. Discovered by three other children who have their own forbidden Geniuses, he becomes part of a quest to find the three great instruments left behind by the Creator Himself, with which the world might be remade... or utterly destroyed. But others also seek the instruments, including agents of Nerezza and a rogue artist who created the ultimate blasphemy by daring to make his own living servant, a Tulpa. Can an untested, untrained boy like Giacomo hope to succeed where so many others have failed?
REVIEW: The author of this book, as the cover proudly announces, was a co-creator of the cult hit animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra... a connection that both explains and does not explain much about this story.
It explains the high visual component of the action, with the colored lights flashing about, the Geniuses with their bright plumage and gemstone-adorned crowns, and even the strong theme of "sacred geometry," the idea that reality can be broken down into a small number of "perfect" elemental shapes that form God's blueprint (more on this in a bit.) This was clearly written by someone used to having their ideas expressed in images, particularly animated images, and I couldn't help wondering if that was the original intent of this story: to be brought to life on screen, where it would've undoubtedly dazzled.
Given what I've seen of Avatar, however, it does not explain the overall flatness of the characters, which lean heavily on gender stereotypes, and how the story keeps explaining itself to the reader (perhaps a legacy of only having words to tell a tale when DiMartini is used to an animation team bringing them to life - it was as though he did not trust his ability to convey emotions without those images, and felt he had to explain again and again what was going on in the character's heads.) Hints of depth exist, but none of it feels authentic, not helped by the immaturity of Giaocomo and the other stars. Giacomo in particular is an annoyingly childish character in many respects, whose great importance (and, at more than one point, mere survival) is more a function of the plot than inherent courage or ability. It's ridiculously easy to sort the good guys from the bad based on first impressions; the one major betrayal was telegraphed early on. But this seems to be a common pitfall of this subgenre of fantasy... and here we get back to the Creator idea that dominates - indeed, stomps down on with an iron heel - so much of the story and the characters and the Renaissance-flavored world.
In my admittedly-limited reading of Christian fantasy - which this undoubtedly is, despite not actually using the words - there tends to be an oversimplification of plot and characters to emphasize Good and Evil, and (in this case especially) make for a fairly simplified creation story that discourages questioning... such as wondering at the seemingly-fickle abilities and blind spots of the god involved. Some few shades of gray trickle in by the end, but not enough to ameliorate the greater flattening effect.
Readers on the younger end of the middle-grade market might enjoy this one, but overall I've read too many other, more involved and interesting middle-grade titles to like it, despite some nice mind's-eye-candy appeal and potential. Which is a shame, as I saw so much more storytelling and character potential in the Avatar series than I saw here. (After reading this, though, I suppose it's just as well I never pursued the show, if it became this heavy-handed and overexplained. Maybe DiMartini just plain thinks more in terms of animation than straight-up writing...)
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