A wandering, though cathartic, urban fantasy saga about a jewel thief.
This debut novel sees a woman with a knack for trouble run afoul of a secret enclave of Elves.
Shona McLeod is attending a party at the Zurich villa of Ekbeth na Duibhne. He’s the enigmatic owner of a private bank and cousin to the roguish Lyrian Farrill, who possesses the jade Kadj’dur ring. Shona desperately wants the ring—and can steal it using her miraculous talent for phasing through solid objects—but she opts for some fun first. She seduces Ekbeth and pilfers irreplaceable jade stones from a safe in his quarters, intending to ransom them against the Kadj’dur. The stones, however, are the Annilis jewels, the millennia-old legacy of the As’mirin, a community of elves living in the Valley (the inert crater of a volcano). When Ekbeth catches up with Shona, they discuss the fact that she, too, is an As’mir, an Oyyad (outsider) from the Scottish McLean family. He tells her that the gems must return with him to the hidden city of Kse’Annilis. There, she eventually submits to a trial for her past transgressions by her ghostly ancestors, the Ke’As’mirin. Once in the Valley, Shona witnesses the reunion between the estranged McLeans and na Duibhnes, who have been feuding for 30 years. When Shona abruptly vanishes from the reunion, chaos and paranoia become the backdrop to her continued hunt for the Kadj’dur. In this first installment of an urban fantasy series, Haynes aims to redeem a protagonist who’s been through it all, including heroin addiction and suicidal tendencies. Even the Goddess Ara says, “Life has not been easy for you so far. You’ve survived, but at what price?” The extent of Shona’s tragic past, involving a family in Bhutan, may blindside many readers expecting a story typical of elves and teleportation powers. Yet Shona’s arc from wild child to reborn matriarch meanders, like a memoir, and the main theme remains revenge. Nevertheless, Haynes strives for a light tone early on, as when Shona tells Ekbeth: “I won’t bite, I promise! Or maybe just a little.” But overall, some readers may wish for a tighter focus on fewer characters.
A wandering, though cathartic, urban fantasy saga about a jewel thief.Pub Date: July 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5354-3485-0
Page Count: 532
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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