What could be interesting worldbuilding drowns in infelicitous prose and inexplicable machinations
Urban fantasy whose original ideas aren't sustained by the overall package.
In this sequel to Lightbringer (2011), Wendy just tries to survive in the complicated dual world she inhabits. She's inherited the duties of a Reaper from her mother, who recently died and then became an evil adversary—in that order. Wendy exists simultaneously in the worlds of the living and the dead, taking care of her siblings in the real world but using her Light to destroy maggoty Walkers in the parallel Never, the world of the dead. When a new and dangerous opponent arises among the dead, Wendy's erstwhile (and deceased) boyfriend, Piotr, navigates the overly complex metaphysics and politics of the Never in an attempt to help her. Meanwhile, Wendy discovers a never-known family of aunts, grandmothers and female cousins, Reapers all, and most definitely not on her side. Realism is not enhanced by Piotr's friends: Lily, who, like the Tiger Lily of Peter Pan for whom she is named, plays generic exotic Indian rather than an individual from an actual tribe, and ghostly flapper Elle, whose Damon Runyon–esque dialogue ("it's the cat's meow to doll up and ritz it up for a night again") feels as forced as Piotr's frequent das and nyets.
What could be interesting worldbuilding drowns in infelicitous prose and inexplicable machinations . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61614-632-0
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Pyr/Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama
An illegitimate girl who hopes to find her creative passion may be connected to another kingdom’s magical history.
At 10, white, orphaned Brienna was brought to Magnalia House. For the last seven years she’s studied to become an arden, an apprentice passion, with the goal of finding her patron. The arden-sisters study art, dramatics, music, wit, and knowledge; Brienna, who has no true vocation, has eccentrically studied in all the fields. Though she doesn’t truly belong among the talented (and somewhat racially diverse) noble girls of Magnalia House, they are her beloved friends. Perhaps once she’s passioned, she can even act on her romantic feelings for the white knowledge master. But Brienna’s having strange visions lately; could they be ancestral memories of an unknown forbear from the neighboring country? What with romance, jealousy, family drama, betrayals, ancient magical history, and characters with multiple secret identities, there’s a nigh-constant pitch of throbbing…well, passion. A voice is like “tamed thunder,” and hair is like “a stream of silver.” Malapropisms abound (“punctures of laughter”; “her beauty warbled by the mullioned windows”). Oddly, most of the shocking revelations of back story are openly detailed in the lengthy family trees at the novel’s opening.
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-247134-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
This sequel to The Dark Divine (2009) falls into the classic Twilight patterns: a blank slate of a heroine and a reliance on sexual tension and vague presentiments of danger to drive the narrative. Grace Divine is a werewolf now, bitten by her rogue-werewolf brother Jude before he ran off. Her family is falling apart, with her mother increasingly unstable at the loss of a child and her father traveling around the country seeking his lost son. Grace’s only joy is her relationship with her boyfriend Daniel, himself a former werewolf but now disturbingly standoffish. Now Grace is receiving mysterious phone calls that appear to be from her brother and that may be connected to the town’s unsolved rash of vandalism. Though the plot drags, Despain’s fans will be pleased by the introduction of a flannel-clad hottie who is more than ready to comfort Grace during Daniel’s mysterious absences. For those who find a surfeit of rippling muscles and naked pecs to be sufficient for an enjoyable romance. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)
Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60684-058-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
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