A sensual and savage but nuanced epic fantasy tale.
An archer joins a group of thieves as the world teeters on the brink of war in debut author Barron’s epic-fantasy series opener.
Jethis a Del’Cabrian soldier with impeccable archery skills and heightened senses. He’s with a squad of men in the desert who are intent on stopping a marriage between the Herrani and Tezkhan tribes. If the Herrani mage and overlord Nas’Gavarr, aka “the Immortal Serpent,” marries his daughter, Saf’Raisha, to Chief Ukhuna, he’ll have enough resources to take over the world. The Del’Cabrian soldiers easily capture their prey, and while Jeth takes a turn guarding Saf’Raisha, she reveals to him that she’s really Anwarr, a thief posing as the mage’s daughter to steal the Emerald of Dulsakh from Chief Ukhuna. When Jeth accidentally kills an abusive fellow soldier, his only choice is to help Anwarr escape. After they successfully obtain the Emerald, she brings him to the City of Herran to join her commune alongside thieves Lysandros, Ash, and Istari. They take orders from someone named Snake Eye, and their next assignment, stealing the Bloodstone Dagger from Nas’Gavarr, should yield their biggest score yet. Meanwhile, Vidya, a vengeful Harpy, won’t rest until the Immortal Serpent is dead. Barron launches a racy, culturally detailed saga that examines what it is to be an outsider: Anwarr, who sleeps with multiple partners, tells Jeth at one point that “The past only serves to keep you from truly being free,” and although he misses his home of Fae’ren, Jeth chooses a life full of danger and erotic adventurousness. Barron maintains tight control over the violence, ratcheting up the gore slowly until, later in the novel, one character’s skin is “ripped away with such force, his hair, clothing, and every accessory went with it.” A steady series of twists, including the debut of a shape-shifting “Flesh Mage,” will keep readers intrigued as the tale goes on. Lurid plot elements, such as the fact that Harpies require three male sacrifices for a powerful ritual, should transfix both horror and fantasy fans. Barron hints at a tempestuous sequel.
A sensual and savage but nuanced epic fantasy tale.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-989071-00-7
Page Count: 460
Publisher: Foul Fantasy Fiction
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
