From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8–Astonishingly tall 15-year-old Alfred is plunged into a world of adventure, assassination, and Arthurian legend when he agrees to help his uncle filch an ancient sword from the office of a CEO who just happens to be a descendent of the Knights of the Round Table. Of course the sword turns out to be none other than Excalibur, and the guy Alfred swiped it for is Mogart, a knight-gone-bad who hopes to use its magical powers to take over the world. Enter Bennacio, another descendant of the Round Table, who then takes Alfred under his wing on a quest across the Atlantic to rescue the sword from Mogart. The descriptions of minor bits of blood and gore leave much to the imagination and will make
Kropp especially appealing to fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books (Philomel), Geoffrey Huntington's
Sorcerers of the Nightwing (ReganBooks, 2002), and even Darren Shan's The Saga of Darren Shan series (Little, Brown). True to its action-adventure genre, the story is lighthearted, entertaining, occasionally half-witted, but by and large fun.
–Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 9-12^B. Everyone around Alfred Kropp is dying. And all because the unassuming 15-year-old took something he shouldn't have. Darned kid. Then the big lug goes on to save the world. Sound incredible? Well, not when you learn that what he's taken is Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, the most powerful weapon on earth, which has somehow survived in the custody of descendants of the original Knights of the Round Table. Of course, taking the sword is one thing; keeping it, as Alfred discovers, is quite another, especially given international forces--for good
and evil--are after Excalibur, too, and they will stop at nothing to get it back. Heads literally roll in the ensuing, intensely violent and cinematic action, as Alfred discovers enough astonishing things about himself to fire a whole host of sequels, which are sure to follow. For readers willing to suspend disbelief, Yancey's first novel for YAs is a white-knuckle, page-turning read.
Michael CartCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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