Superior blend of gutsy action and dreamy magic in a well-wrought, darkly sinister medieval setting.
Chamberlin’s provocative, 15th-century fantasy series continues, with just enough sex, sorcery, and brutally realistic swordplay for the young Jehannette d’ Arc to emerge as the powerful culmination of all three. Gilles de Rais, the historical Bluebeard, has come into his own as a terrific fighter, though he is continually frustrated by the treacherous betrayals and shifting alliances that turn his hard-won victories for France into embarrassing routs. After ransoming his corrupt cousin from a Loire Valley fortress, he capriciously saves the life of a young boy. That boy dies, but, in liberating his spirit, the crippled sorcerer priest Père Yann, who was raised with de Rais in Chamberlin’s The Merlin of St. Gille’s Well (1999), learns the identity of the young girl La Pucelle, the fabled figure who will unite France and get rid of the English usurpers (known throughout as the “goddams”). Of course, young Jehannette d’ Arc is confused to hear the boy’s spirit whisper to her of destiny. One of three daughters born to the second wife of a peasant, she hates weaving, and would rather ride bareback and spin staff as a weapon, all to the consternation of her mother. Fortunately, the kindly Père Michel, a member of Père Yann’s magic sect of Good Neighbors, assures Jehannette that she will one day discover herself to be the right person in the right place at the right time. At the siege of a Bretagne castle, teams up with Hamish Power, a Scottish mage, just in time to give the skeptical de Rais a talisman that miraculously saves him when a move to storm the battlements seems to go awry. In jumping from Yann to de Rais to young Jehannette, Chamberlin shows how the arts of enchantment and the arts of war can be combined to create an irresistible, bisexual energy in her young heroine. At the close, Jehannette, having discovered that she is France’s savior, gathers an army around her to raise the siege of Orleans.
Superior blend of gutsy action and dreamy magic in a well-wrought, darkly sinister medieval setting.Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-87284-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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