A smashing series opener for fans of literary fantasy.
Edlund’s fantasy stars a capable young warrior who seeks more knowledge about a ruinous prophecy she herself is destined to fulfill.
In the kingdom of Limtir lives 19-year-old Breea Banea, the youngest female applicant to the Library in 1,000 years. She’s an expert in woodland survival, hunting, and combat. Breea still has much to learn, however, including the potent magic of weaving and why a priest said that her birth signaled the destruction of Yash, the religious capital city of the distant realm of Yasharn. In the forest, Breea encounters the violent Lupazg, a being out of the Legend Time who can change from a man to a giant white wolf. Lupazg strikes at the Library, placing Breea’s friend and mentor, Ajalay, (and most of the Tomeguard soldiers) in mortal danger. During the chaos, a guard named SaKlu performs a coup at the Library that’s tied to the religious upheaval sweeping nearby lands. He rules in the name of Yash, proclaiming those who stand against him vile Dauthaz. Will Breea survive long enough to discover the truth about her role in the Yasharn prophecies? This first volume in author Edlund’s ambitious new series drops readers into a grandiose realm, filled with forest cats who speak the secret Breowic language and lovers who have “caught the moonstone” for each other. The prose is dense and lyrical, reminiscent of high-fantasy masterminds like M. John Harrison: “The spark hovering above her palm,” we read of Ajalay in battle, “shone like a star brought to ground.” Edlund’s cinematic action scenes feature magic that whips and writhes like a living thing (“Lupazg snarled, and frost rimed her clothing and hair”). Though many of the set pieces are standard fantasy fare—the sea battle and the bustling city—audiences will likely follow the complex Breea anywhere after Edlund’s astonishing cliffhanger.
A smashing series opener for fans of literary fantasy.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4937-2995-1
Page Count: 279
Publisher: Landstrider Press
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Scientific fiction enclosed in a frame — wanderer meets a tattooed man whose images foretell the future, leaving a space to preview the destiny of the viewer. Here is an open circuit on ideas, which range from religion, to racial questions, to the atom bomb, rocket travel (of course), literature, escape to the past, dreams and hypnotism, children and their selfish and impersonal acceptance of immediate concepts, robots, etc. Note that here the emphasis is on fiction instead of science, and that the stories — in spite of space and futurities — have some validity, even if the derivations can be traced. Sample The Veldt, or This Man, or Fire Balloons, or The Last Night In the World for the really special qualities. A book which is not limited by its special field.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1950
ISBN: 0062079972
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1950
Irredeemable in any world, real or virtual.
In this cyberpunk fiction debut, a massively popular online game has real-world consequences.
Ashley Akachi is a mixed-race woman who’s known as “Ashura the Terrible” to millions of fans of Infinite Game, which is watched around the world. In a near-future Florida that’s half drowned by rising sea levels, she sits inside a haptic chamber that converts her movements into gameplay in the ultraviolent competition. Former NFL player Kluwe (Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies, 2013) describes the game’s mechanics at length, at times giving the book the feel of watching someone else play a video game. (The game’s racist and misogynist online message boards also feature prominently.) Eventually, Ash uncovers a vast conspiracy involving not only Infinite Game, but also her love interest, Hamlin, who’s hiding a secret of his own. Unfortunately, there’s not enough space in this brief review to examine everything that’s obnoxious or distasteful in this novel, from its opening bullet-point infodump, lazily passed off as worldbuilding, to its eye-rolling last line. One may wonder if any women were involved in this book’s publication in any meaningful way. Only a male author could believe a woman thinks about “dicks” this often; when facing gender inequality, Ash huffs, “Must be nice to have a dick”; before castrating a would-be rapist, she scoffs, “You thought your dick made you a man? You’ll never be a man again.” Characters' attacks on Ash are all viciously gender-specific; in addition to being threatened with rape throughout, she's repeatedly called “slut,” “whore,” and “cunt.” Meanwhile, Ash herself reads like an unintentional parody of an empowered woman; she leers suggestively at a woman’s behind and then laments her small bust size, at length, before deciding “boobs are overrated.” At the book’s climax, Ash thinks that she’s “so tired of shitty men and their shitty dreams.” After reading this, readers will surely feel the same.
Irredeemable in any world, real or virtual.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20393-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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