Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




Magical Titles to Fill 'The Casual Vacancy'


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Cover art for THE SALT GOD'S DAUGHTER
FICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012

"This is a bewitching tale of lives entangled in lushly layered fables of the moon and sea."
When a blue moon rises, mistakes can be undone, lost children can find their homes, and sea lions can shed their skins. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE NIGHT CIRCUS
FICTION
Released: Sept. 13, 2011

"Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings."
Self-assured, entertaining debut novel that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic. Read full book review >
Cover art for SIDE JOBS
FICTION
Released: Oct. 26, 2010

"Sidelights on the Dresden mythos, which no true fan will want to miss."
Eleven tales, 2002-2010, complete with author's notes and chronology, embellishing the exploits of Chicago's Harry Dresden, licensed PI and professional wizard, ranging from an apprentice piece written two years before the Dresden Files series achieved liftoff to an unpublished novelette set hours after the end of Changes (2010). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE MAGICIANS
FICTION
Released: Aug. 10, 2009

"Very dark and very scary, with no simple answers provided--fantasy for grown-ups, in other words, and very satisfying indeed."
Grossman (Codex, 2004, etc.) imagines a sorcery school whose primary lesson seems to be that bending the world to your will isn't all it's cracked up to be. Read full book review >
Cover art for JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL
FICTION
Released: Sept. 8, 2004

"An instant classic, one of the finest fantasies ever written."
Rival magicians square off to display and match their powers in an extravagant historical fantasy being published simultaneously in several countries, to be marketed as Harry Potter for adults. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY
FICTION
Released: Sept. 22, 2000

"A tale of two magnificently imagined characters, and a plaintive love song to (and vivid re-creation of) the fractious ethnic energy of New York City a half century ago. "
A stroke of sheer conceptual genius links the themes of illusion and escape with that of the European immigrant experience of America in this huge, enthralling third novel from the author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988) and Wonder Boys (1994). Read full book review >
Cover art for STARDUST
FICTION
Released: Jan. 6, 1999

"Wonderful stuff, for kids of all ages."
The multitalented author of The Sandman graphic novels and last year's Neverwhere charms again, with a deftly written fantasy adventure tale set in early Victorian England and enriched by familiar folk materials. Read full book review >
Cover art for A GAME OF THRONES
FICTION
Released: Aug. 12, 1996

"You won't get it: Be prepared for a lengthy series with an indefinitely deferred conclusion."
After a long silence (Portraits of his Children, stories, 1987), the author of the cult The Armageddon Rag (1983) returns with the first of a fantasy series entitled, insipidly enough, A Song of Ice and Fire. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GOLDEN COMPASS
CHILDREN'S
Released: April 1, 1996

"This first fantastic installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy propels readers along with horror and high adventure, a shattering tale that begins with a promise and delivers an entire universe. (Fiction. 12+)"
Pullman (The Tin Princess, 1994, etc.) returns to the familiar territory of Victorian England, but this time inhabits an alternate Earth, where magic is an ordinary fact of life. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE COLOUR OF MAGIC
FICTION
Released: Oct. 21, 1983

"Not quite the gleefully insane parody Strata (1981) was, but frothy, inventive, and fun."
Pratchett borrows from Babylonian cosmology for his second, wacky flat-Earth yarn—set on an Earth.disk that rests on the backs of four elephants, who themselves stand on the shell of an enormous turtle. Read full book review >