Ambitious but not entirely successful, with entertaining moments and promise for more.
In the latest from Bell (Spireseeker, 2013), a dragon scientist and a human witch try to survive political machinations on two separate but related worlds.
In the prologue, an unnamed, four-dimensional being relates how one of its children accidentally split a three-dimensional space into two separate worlds (i.e., planes or dimensions). Now this being tries to help the creatures reconnect their worlds. These two separate worlds parallel each other—which explains why the book opens with two nearly identical maps—but are slightly different. On the human world of Teirrah, a young orphan named Cor wants to discover the mystery of her parents’ murder; her only real clue is a strange tattoo. On her search, she faces prejudice as a woman, especially in the university she sneaks into for research: “WOMEN, CATS, AND WEAPONS STRICTLY PROHIBITED,” a sign declares. On top of all that, there’s political upheaval, as the Seastate seeks some measure of freedom from the Unified Government and its oppressive rules, with some secessionists willing to commit violent revolution. On the dragon world of Arev, Emperor Zee faces a shadowy challenger wishing to unseat her—a conspiracy connected to how Zee herself claimed the throne. Meanwhile, a young dragon studying a potentially medicinal (or narcotic) plant gets forcibly recruited by the emperor and her military. Can such disparate forces heal the rift between these two worlds? There are some interesting elements and episodes in this book, such as Cor’s escaping the university library by accusing another person of being a woman, and the curious dragon society, where the emperor has analysts and biologists at her command. Bell writes clearly and presents some uncommon elements—artistic dragons, a vegetarian heroine, etc.—but the book introduces so many characters in both worlds that few engage the reader as fully as they could. Perhaps the second volume—this being the first in a planned series—will help narrow the focus and deepen reader engagement.
Ambitious but not entirely successful, with entertaining moments and promise for more.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9896992-7-3
Page Count: 346
Publisher: Atthis Arts, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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