The Legendary Scarlett and Browne

March 1, 2025
Young bandits complete personal quests while creating immense explosions and massive havoc in this high-action trilogy closer. Playing to his strengths, Stroud strings together a bank robbery, an ambush that nearly sees Scarlett McCain eaten by cannibalistic Tainted, and other increasingly lurid, violent set pieces, propelling a plot that moves along at a breakneck pace to a climactic battle. In interspersed chapters, neither Thomas (the little brother Scarlett was forced to abandon and has been seeking for eight years) nor the faithful sidekick he acquires come off as more than pale reflections of the lead duo as the author moves them mechanically through contrived adventures. Scarlett's own sidekick Albert Browne's search for the secret prison where he and other children with psychic powers have been ruthlessly trained is similarly cursorily wrapped up. And what of the series' broader ongoing struggles with the local slave trade and the corrupt Faith Houses? Here, too, the author drops the ball at the end. Readers who delight in titanic explosions, swashbuckling young troublemakers escaping through hails of gunfire, and foes coming to squishy ends will be pleased; those who like stories that offer more definite closure and their heroes and supporting characters to show meaningful growth, less so. Some racial diversity is cued in the cast surrounding the white leads. Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point. (maps)(Science fiction. 10-13)

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May 1, 2025
Stroud has much to wrap up in this third (seemingly final) volume of the exploits of fearsome Scarlett McCain and disheveled, telepathically gifted Albert Browne. In the dystopic, hostile landscape of postapocalyptic Britain, they and their company now have a double mission: to liberate banks of their funds and to free enslaved people and those about to be sold into slavery. Scarlett and Albert pursue personal quests as well: Albert wants to find his former prison and learn its secrets; Scarlett searches for her younger brother, lost to slavers years ago -- and all this in the context of a terrorizing force even greater than the pair's former enemy, the repressive Faith Houses. Now, it's a group arming itself with weapons unearthed from deep within the ravaged land, "weapons that destroy everything they touch." Stroud offers much activity and incident; dangerous, malicious terrain; risky schemes with explosive outcomes -- in short, there's barely a moment to stop and ponder. But even within the pressure of action, description, and bringing many threads together, Stroud's vivacity of phrasing has lost none of its verve. "Her pale face hung beneath her hat like a moon of vengeance in a blood-soaked sky," he writes in one of many unforgettable descriptive moments. Deirdre F. Baker

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)