City of Light, City of Dark: A Comic Book Novel

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and depth of this story. I shouldn't have been because AVI stories are top notch. The illustrations (in black and white) at first seemed sparse, but as I got into the story they were very expressive. The characters were well defined. I am delighted to have found this beautiful and touching story. It was great. And not just for youngsters either - I am in my 60s.

When a token that controls the fate of Long Island is lost it's up to one girl, Sarah Groff, to get it back. It's the 45th day of the 13th moon; the humans come to an island. The island is owned by the Kurbs, creatures who thrive on darkness. The humans ask for permission to live on the island. The Kurbs say yes but on one condition, every year the humans have to find the Kurbs' power source. The humans granted one person powers to find the power. When a "Neon Light Genius", Mr. Underton, finds out about the Kurbs awesome power he is determined to find it. He figures out who is the one who carries out the sacred "power source ritual." He makes his right hand man meet the woman. His right hand man and the woman fall deeply in love and have a baby, they name her Sarah Groff. Mr. Underton takes the baby and forces his right hand man to live a new life, start over. Sarah grows up thinking her mother is dead when she gets in a giant mess containing her father, mother, the token, and Mr. Underton. Does she find the token? Does she find out about her real mother? Those are questions the book will answer. I thought this book was a real "page turner." New questions kept popping up. This book was a giant comic, which made it even better. The author Avi can take a place and make it seem like another world. I also thought the book was suspenseful, you think that something is going to happen and something completely different happens. That's why I loved this book so much.

I thought this was an astounding and ingenious book. There are people called "Kurbs" and they own an island and have a lot of POWER. Unfortunately, after an accident that caused him to be blind, a man wants to take the POWER for himself and the token in which the POWER rests. He keeps ordering his assistant to get the token, but the assistant marries the woman with the token. Then a boy finds the token while being attacked by pigeons, and then the rest of the story turns into a fast-paced adventure involving the token. Read the book to find out more!

This is one of my favorite Avi books. It is told in a comic book form, but don't let that fool you. It would have been just as good if it had been writen as a novel, but the black and white pictures really add depth to the story.

My 11-year-old son read this book, who is not much of a reader in the first place, except for Harry Potter -- and he found it exceptional. This is the first book that he he continued reading until it was completely done. The story is based on a boy and girl, trying to recover a gold token hidden by the "Kurbs". Once they find it and return it to the "Kurbs", society can continue living on Earth. In the meantime a blind neon sign builder is trying to capture the token in order to light up his neon signs. Granted it was basically in a comic format, but the story line was interesting enough to keep his interest. He is now reading "Man From the Sky" also by Avi, and finds it just as intriguing. It's good to know that there's an author out there to catch the interest of an 11-year-old.