A chilling campfire-style thriller.
Disease, freezing cold, unrelenting rain, and a beast lurking in the woods threaten the inhabitants of a small English village in the 14th century in McCarthy’s medieval fantasy novel.
In April 1316, Matilda’s husband of but two years, Galeran, succumbs to “a pestilence.” It’s a time of widespread famine, brought about by a year of horrible weather. Hunger now rules the lives of the villagers, and with starvation come suspicion and madness. Death and perfunctory burial are daily occurrences. The author describes in gruesome detail the deterioration of one young man whom Matilda cared for after he sank into delirium: “[His] mind had soon departed and he screamed at the monsters that were only in his head. His fingers began to darken until they turned black, and one by one, fell off.” In September, a monstrous beast that’s been living in a nearby black pit emerges, shakes himself, and becomes a man. Into the plagued village walks the shape shifter with mystical powers: Finn, who seems young and charming with a gentle temperament. But after storehouses are raided and animals disappear, villagers eye Finn as the source of their misery. The novel tells a supernatural horror story that’s dominated by a persistent tone of danger and bleakness; indeed, the only source of optimism is in the budding romance between Finn and Matilda. She’s a likable lead character who gradually finds her strength even as she faces the condemnation of her friends and neighbors. Overall, McCarthy is a fine wordsmith, and she builds tension with each image of misery and impending doom: “the dark began to press against her door and windows. And the fog’s tendrils sneaked through the spaces in the walls. Maybe there was more than cold and hunger lurking in the fog.” The tale is consistently shrouded in dark mystery, and it will be best appreciated by readers who savor supernatural stories about prowling demons in the dark.
A chilling campfire-style thriller.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-83841-210-4
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
© 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.
