A satisfying follow-up that sticks to the comforts of familiar fantasy elements but still offers an entertaining, swiftly...
In a return to the steampunk-flavored world of her first novel, Cato (The Clockwork Dagger, 2014) sends her likable cast of characters on a more tightly written, higher stakes fantasy adventure.
After evading the dangers, both magical and political, of The Clockwork Dagger, Octavia Leander finds herself fleeing from assassination and in search of an explanation for the sudden, frightening intensification of her powers as a healer. Her traveling companion is the handsome, devoted Alonzo Garret, a former assassin and spy–turned–diligent protector who provides Octavia with a bluntly appealing romantic interest and bantering partner. Their search for safety and knowledge takes them from the familiar but conflict-ravaged country of Caskentia to the southern nation of Tamarania, where education and invention are prized and magic is looked upon with distaste. Unsurprisingly, danger and intrigue soon follow, and Octavia and Alonzo run an engaging, if predictable, series of adventures that involve murder attempts, kidnapping, battling mecha matches, and a host of the endearing, human-created chimeras known as “gremlins.” Octavia’s powers continue to change, growing ever stronger, stranger, and more unsettling. Her reaction to the transformation of her magic, and her fear of what it means for herself and her beliefs, gives the pleasant entertainment of the novel a welcome jolt of human disquiet. The story often rides on the appeal of well-trodden territory—the characters and magic system feel like variations on familiar fantasy types; the trappings and accessories of steampunk serve as unexamined decoration—but its ingenuous fondness for those comfortable elements and the occasional sacrifice it requires from its characters gives it a charming energy that keeps the pages turning.
A satisfying follow-up that sticks to the comforts of familiar fantasy elements but still offers an entertaining, swiftly moving adventure in the company of Cato’s appealing characters.Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-231398-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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
© Copyright 2026 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.
