A compelling collection of tales that delight and enlighten.
Lonely people search for peace and stability in this volume of fictional and true stories.
Spc. Vincent Parker and his fellow National Guard members get lost in rainy Vancouver in Washington state in this book’s title novella. The Guard had failed to control a civil demonstration, which became a riot and “a war of independence” against the authorities. The soldiers later stumble on a cabin apparently owned by street preacher John Monk, whose accidental death may have sparked the riot. Signs of Monk’s messages of tranquility fill the cabin, both haunting and inspiring Parker, who’s tormented by the memory of a civilian he fatally shot. The opening tale, “May Eleventh,” also features a soldier—the author himself. In 1970, he was a Navy veteran at Portland State University in Oregon. Although he saw no combat in Vietnam, he witnessed the campus war protests turning violent not long after the Kent State shootings. The collection’s stories showcase literal and figurative loners. For example, Morgan’s home porch repair project in “Before the Rains Come” involved work he handled solo despite an escalating sickness and the fact that he lacked the skills his carpenter father had wielded. Others, like Parker, feel alone even when surrounded by people. The author aptly ties his profound tales together; Fire in the Night, which concludes the book, features entertaining nods to earlier stories. But the collection is occasionally repetitive; nearly every protagonist is a writer or an aspiring author. And “Rains” mirrors another tale, “The Sound Garden”—a hefty backyard project for a not-so-skilled Morgan. Still, myriad highlights brighten the pages, such as “Vido’s Stone.” In this memorable fable, reclusive sculptor Vido allows art student Giovine to watch him work. But Vido’s surprisingly unhurried progress repeatedly tests Giovine’s patience. In addition, the author’s descriptions teem with vivid details, including one man’s big nose; thick, multicolored hair; and badly shaven face of “little nicks and cuts.”
A compelling collection of tales that delight and enlighten.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66553-272-3
Page Count: 350
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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SEEN & HEARD
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