Ho-hum dialogue and shoddy world-building will turn off all but series fans (who will thrill to former McCaffery...
Alert for SF cat lovers: Acorna, the telepathic teen with the unicorn’s horn, rescues a planet of felines and warring humans, both menaced by a plague. In the McCaffrey franchise fifth volume, Acorna busies herself with repairing Vhiliinyar, the planet of the unicorn people who are Acorna’s ancestors. Vhiliinyar was almost destroyed by the bug-like Kleevi, but after the discovery of a subterranean city and its time machine (Acorna’s Search, 2002, etc.), it will be easier to restore its fragile ecological balance. Some loose ends remain: While Aari, Acorna’s heart-throb, has yet to emerge from the time machine, two Wats—crude unicorn-hunters urped up from the distant past—must be taken somewhere they won’t cause harm. Acorna agrees to accompany the Wats, with Starship Condor’s Captain Jonas Becker; the android MacKenZ; the female security guard Nadhari Kando; and the fiesty tomcat Roadkill to the planet Nirii, where telepathic inhabitants might help them adjust to life in the galactic Federation. But the ship founders and is rescued by a passing vessel that tows it to Makahomia, the homeworld of Nadhari and RoadKill. Populated by worshipped cats and warring humans, Makahomia is protected by the Federation: no new technologies may be introduced that will give any clan an advantage. Roadkill reveals that he sabotaged the ship in order to bring Acorna to Makahomia so that the seemingly magical powers of her horn could stop the plague that’s been killing cats. As the cats inexplicably get better, Acorna finds herself a target of evil forces that want to kill off both cats and humans so as to rob one of the planet’s religiously venerated natural resources. To save the world, Acorna must find a way break the Federation’s rules.
Ho-hum dialogue and shoddy world-building will turn off all but series fans (who will thrill to former McCaffery collaborator Margaret Ball’s tedious appendix about the fake language the characters speak) and cat-fantasy readers, who will adore the cloyingly cute passages about heroic felines.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-380-97899-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Eos/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.
After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.
No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods—but not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don’t believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could return—and soon. “Do you not see? It is a cycle.” The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief system—Queen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tané of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the South—are linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a “chosen one” aspect to the tale, it’s far from the main point. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn’t new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels (The Song Rising, 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63557-029-8
Page Count: 848
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
A new series starts off with a bang.
A queen and her young daughter are forced to separate and go into hiding when a corrupt politician tries to take over the kingdom.
Queen Cressa of Weirandale is worried about her 8-year-old daughter, the “princella” Cerúlia. The people of Weirandale worship a water spirit, Nargis, who grants each queen a special gift called a Talent. Cressa herself is able to meddle with memories, for example, and her mother possessed supernatural strategic abilities that served her well in battle. Cerúlia, however, appears to have none, because surely her insistence that she can talk to animals is only her young imagination running wild. When Cerúlia’s many pets warn her about assassins creeping into the royal chambers, the girl is able to save herself and her mother. Cressa uses her Talent, which actually extends to forcing anyone to tell her the truth, to root out traitors among the aristocracy, led by the power-hungry Lord Matwyck. Fearing for her daughter’s life and her own, Cressa takes Cerúlia and flees. Thinking Cerúlia will be safer away from her mother, Cressa takes the girl to a kind peasant family and adjusts their memories so they believe Cerúlia is their adopted daughter. Kozloff’s debut is the first of four Nine Realms books, and Tor plans to publish them over just four months. Luckily, the series opener is a strong start, so readers will be grateful for the short wait before Book 2. Kozloff sets a solid stage with glimpses into other characters and nations while keeping the book together with a clear, propulsive plot.
A new series starts off with a bang.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16854-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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