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 Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
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by Hannah Kaner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2024
A bold series continuation from a fantasy author to watch.
In a world where old gods can pass away, new divinities may be born.
Hseth, the fire god whose cult murdered Kissen’s family in Godkiller (2023), is no more. However, problems continue to mount for the intrepid young warriors who managed to kill her. The orphaned Inara and her minor-god companion, Skedi, persevere on a seemingly unending search for answers—she to the questions surrounding her paternity, he to an illustrious past he cannot recall. In the aftermath of the climactic battle, King Arren has chosen a path that his best friend, Elo the baker-knight, cannot bring himself to follow, and Elo must reckon with the ramifications of turning his back on his liege. Just as Arren stokes the fires of his own illicit cult—with himself as figurehead—a resistance movement to save what remains of the world’s outlawed gods begins to heat up. Unable to come to terms with Elo’s desire to keep her away from the dangers of war, Inara makes a rash decision that ultimately sets the stage for mass unrest shortly before Arren’s victory tour arrives at their doorstep. Meanwhile, a presumed-dead Kissen fights her way back from the shores of the god who saved her life, only to find herself at odds with her friends’ and family’s goals. You see, Elo, Inara, and the rest have forgotten one very simple rule: Dead gods can always come back. Tested alliances fuel this tightly plotted found-family thrill ride. The worldbuilding is complex, but the reader never feels bogged down beneath its weight. As with the previous installment, queerness and disability are woven into the fabric of the narrative; Kissen and her sisters are queer and disabled, a prominent secondary character is transgender, and several tertiary couples are gay and lesbian. Although the pacing does become a little too frenetic in the novel’s final chapters, as the point of view switches rapidly among protagonists, Kaner has penned another page-turner in this projected trilogy.
A bold series continuation from a fantasy author to watch.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780063350106
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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