by Alan Lawson ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 6, 2015
A bouncy adventure that threatens to darken in later volumes.
This YA fantasy by the author of Captain Silverspoons (2015) features a teenager who’s transported to a magical realm where dark forces gather.
Fifteen-year-old Jason Greaves lives with his Aunt Florence in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In school, he frequently daydreams about fantasy worlds filled with fabulous creatures. On the way home from school one day, he enters an enticing derelict building near Cavehill Forest Park. Inside, he falls through a pit into an elaborate, blue-lit chamber in which he finds a large gem. Handling it causes him to travel to the realm of Haspaira, populated by elves, trolls, wizards, and others. Wandering through the Elderine Forests, he encounters some elves who escort him to their home, Glen Tirel; there he meets Lord Elindril, who tells him there’s no way to send him home. Meanwhile, the wizard Aber Talathin and his teenage granddaughter, Emily, travel to Glen Tirel to discuss the rise of the Dark Lady, a sorceress from outside the realm. Prophecies indicate that a hero will turn back her spreading evil. This noble feat would make the hero beloved throughout the kingdom—which is why Prince Devon Drake insists on tackling the Dark Lady himself. Lawson rests his new YA series upon pillars that will be familiar to fans of the medieval fantasy genre, including a humorous sidekick (Sherbit the imp), a march into treacherous mountain terrain, and an all-powerful Lord of Darkness who remains deep in the background. (Also, Jason’s father is dead, his mother has vanished, and his aunt treats him resentfully.) And yet, when Elindril speaks to Jason “as though he was worthy of attention, as though he mattered,” it adds emotional thrust to Jason’s heroism. Lawson’s prose is geared toward younger readers, but a stronger edit might have helped at times (“Several woman were plotted around the room”). Occasional religious commentary, via an organization called the New Order, lends the narrative a more adult slant.
A bouncy adventure that threatens to darken in later volumes.Pub Date: July 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5148-5102-9
Page Count: 338
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2023
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
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