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CHOOSERS OF THE SLAIN

Name: CHOOSERS OF THE SLAIN
Author: Ann Chamberlin
ISBN: 978-1938758034

THE VALKYRIES BOOK 1

by Ann Chamberlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 2014

An action-packed but troubled weaving of historical fiction and fantasy that labors under the burdens of the points it tries...

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Chamberlin’s (The Sword and the Well, 2014, etc.) first book in a new historical series follows a warrior woman’s search for honor and identity.

Brynhild is determined to escape the traditions and deprivations of her Angles tribe after her second cousin and best friend, Uddrun, takes Brynhild’s place as a ritual sacrifice to cleanse the pain, loss and anger that have resulted from a hard winter. Brynhild gets her wish when she’s chosen to become a Valkyrie, a warrior woman who takes the souls of dead fighters to Valhalla. After taking up her mantle as a Valkyrie, Brynhild begins to chafe at yet another set of customs and restrictions, as her increased power can only be used at the direction of Odin. Meanwhile, Signy, the daughter of a warrior formerly favored by Odin, is married to the brutal Ermenaric, king of the Goths. Lonely and pregnant, she struggles to make an acceptable life for herself in the harsh land of her husband. At the same time that Brynhild begins to question more and more of her orders, Signy finds faces from her past that lead her down a new path. An air of mystery hangs over the novel, as magic and storytelling seem to be indistinguishable. It’s never clear if Odin is truly a god or simply a clever, charismatic man who has manipulated mythology to gain power. Though the novel does an excellent job showing many different forms of femininity and highlighting women’s struggles with identity, the story often seems heavy-handed in its focus on gender roles. Actions, occupations and physical features are constantly delineated into categories of male and female, with much discussion of characters fitting into, or rebelling against, their gender roles. Rather than let the details speak for themselves, Chamberlin forcibly connects everything to her dominant theme.

An action-packed but troubled weaving of historical fiction and fantasy that labors under the burdens of the points it tries to make.

Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2014

ISBN: 978-1938758034

Page Count: 282

Publisher: Penumbra Publishing

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
LA BELLE ÉPOQUE & THE TERRIBLE YEAR
by Ann Chamberlin

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LINDEN'S RED PLAGUE (THE VALKYRIES)
by Ann Chamberlin

- BOOK REVIEW
The Book of Wizzy
by Ann Chamberlin

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CARRIE

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1974

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these...

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Figuratively and literally shattering moments of hoRRRRRipilication in Chamberlain, Maine where stones fly from the sky rather than from the hands of the villagers (as they did in "The Lottery," although the latter are equal to other forms of persecution).

All beginning when Carrie White discovers a gift with telekinetic powers (later established as a genetic fact), after she menstruates in full ignorance of the process and thinks she is bleeding to death while the other monsters in the high school locker room bait and bully her mercilessly. Carrie is the only child of a fundamentalist freak mother who has brought her up with a concept of sin which no blood of the Lamb can wash clean. In addition to a sympathetic principal and gym teacher, there's one girl who wishes to atone and turns her date for the spring ball over to Carrie who for the first time is happy, beautiful and acknowledged as such. But there will be hell to pay for this success—not only her mother but two youngsters who douse her in buckets of fresh-killed pig blood so that Carrie once again uses her "wild talent," flexes her mind and a complete catastrophe (explosion and an uncontrolled fire) virtually destroys the town.

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these youngsters who once ate peanut butter now scrawl "Carrie White eats shit." But as they still say around here, "Sit a spell and collect yourself."

Pub Date: April 8, 1974

ISBN: 0385086954

Page Count: 216

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE
by Stephen King & Peter Straub

- BOOK REVIEW
NEVER FLINCH
by Stephen King

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU LIKE IT DARKER
by Stephen King

- PERSPECTIVES
Appreciations: Carrie Turns 40

- SEEN & HEARD
Stephen King Used ‘Carrie’ Advance To Support Mom

- BOOK TO SCREEN
New ‘Carrie’ Series in the Works at Amazon

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.