A slow but steady introduction to an indelible world.
Many years after a devastating battle, Clans on a distant planet may be preparing for another conflict in this launch of a fantasy series.
There are eight Clans on the planet Jahanet. This opening installment zeros in on four of them, all residing on Jahanet’s largest Domain, Icka. In the present day, three members of Clan Adeian—Draka, Yar, and Scarra—ride separately to the ruins of Lord Matoca’s Kazar (castle). Years ago, Matoca, in an apparent power play, initiated an attack against Clan Veloian. But when Clans Dekam and Arkarian aligned with Veloian, the Adeians lost what came to be known as the Great Battle. Though Matoca called the current meeting with Draka, Yar, and Scarra, no one has seen him since the Great Battle and most people even assume he is dead. Draka first joined Clan Adeian as a bondservant (slave) but has since become a warrior. He has a fondness for Scarra, a woman who’s always shown him kindness, but abhors Yar, who calls him “half-breed” (Draka evidently has the face of an Adeian and build of an Arkarian). But once it’s clear that Matoca is planning to ignite a second battle among the Clans, Draka wonders whether he’ll be able to trust anyone. Smellie (David and the Wizard, 2011) scrupulously details life on Jahanet in this novella. This sets an unhurried pace, with comprehensive descriptions of geography, customs, and terminology, such as cycles (years) and high rock (mountain). Recurrent flashbacks to the Great Battle, however, are often exciting and intense, even if they’re too brief. There are likewise captivating creatures, from Lentars, giant flying beasts with sharp teeth and tails, to the six-legged Zaruses that people ride like horses. While the dialogue is a mix of contemporary and archaic (primarily “thou” or its variations), it’s occasionally stilted. For example, Draka wonders, “What art thou up to, Matoca?” while in some instances “thou” is grammatically incorrect (“What happened to thou?”).
A slow but steady introduction to an indelible world.Pub Date: March 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4974-1910-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.
The third installment of this fantasy series (The Bone Season, 2013; The Mime Order, 2015) expands the reaches of the fight against Scion far beyond London.
Paige Mahoney, though only 19, serves as the Underqueen of the Mime Order. She's the leader of the Unnatural community in London, a city serving under the ever more militaristic Scion, whose government is based on ridding the streets of "enemy" clairvoyants. But Paige knows the truth about Scion's roots—that an Unnatural and immortal race called the Rephaim, who come from the Netherworld, forced Scion into existence to gain control over the growing human clairvoyant community. Scion’s hatred of clairvoyants now runs so deep that Paige is forced to consider moving her entire syndicate into hiding while she aims to stop Scion's next attack: there are rumors that Senshield, a scanner able to detect certain levels of clairvoyance, is going portable. Which means no Unnatural citizen is safe—their safe houses, their back-alley routes, are all at risk of detection. Paige’s main enemy this time around is Hildred Vance, mastermind of Scion’s military branch, ScionIDE. Vance creates terror by anticipating her opponent’s next moves, so with each step that Paige and her team take to dismantle Senshield, Vance is hovering nearby to toy with Paige’s will. Luckily, Paige is never separated for long from her Rephaite ally, Warden, as his presence is grounding. But their growing relationship, strengthened by their connection to the spirit world, takes a back seat to the constant, fast-paced action. The mesmerizing qualities of this series—insight into the different orders of clairvoyance as well as the intricately imagined details of Paige’s “dreamwalking” gift, with which she is able to enter others’ minds—fade to the background as this seven-part series climbs to its highest point of tension. Shannon’s world begins to feel more generically dystopian, but as Paige fights to locate and understand the spiritual energy powering Senshield, it is never less than captivating.
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63286-624-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
