A deliciously edgy plot and lingering mysteries will leave readers eager for the sequel.
Kitchen helper Kurara, who works in the floating castle Midori and has memories she can’t unlock, finds herself on a quest to restore her best friend’s body following a disaster.
In this Japanese-inspired fantasy, the sky-dwelling Sorabito people and the groundlings (who form the middle strata of society) live under the rule of the Emperor, whose throne is being fought over by Prince Ugetsu and Princess Tsukimi. The princess is obsessed with Crafters, those who can control shikigami, or sentient animal beings made of folded paper; some Crafters serve the imperial family. Kurara’s world is shattered when, shortly before the Midori is destroyed, a stranger named Himura tells her she’s a Crafter just like him. Following the crash, Haru, Kurara’s best friend, is revealed to be a rare human shikigami. Although most of Haru burns up, Himura saves his core, informing Kurara that if she impresses the princess, she’ll be able to access records available only to the royal family that will allow her to rebuild Haru’s body. Kurara trains with Himura aboard the Sorabito ship the Orihime. Working with her challenges Himura’s ingrained belief that shikigami exist merely to serve Crafters. Engrossing revelations are interspersed throughout this debut, which deftly toggles between multiple viewpoints, exploring Kurara’s position as she’s caught between a Sorabito rebellion, an assassination plot, and a predatory princess, all while trying to decipher her own fragmented memories.
A deliciously edgy plot and lingering mysteries will leave readers eager for the sequel. (map, glossary) (Fantasy. 12-17)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781774883983
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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