This raucous fantasy is a jubilant celebration of kid humor.
With the help of his late uncle’s possessions, a man may be going crazy or becoming a wizard in DuBay’s fantasy debut, the first installment of a series.
Quin Cunningham is a graphic designer for the Brain Jug ad agency in Los Angeles. His Great Uncle Emmet died recently and left him a trunk full of memorabilia from his time as a Deadhead, or devotee of the Grateful Dead band. For the last few weeks, Quin has been smoking the “bright green herb” from Emmet’s bong. Certain that Emmet was a wizard, Quin wants to activate his own “shamanic DNA.” The problem is, after all of his herb consumption, his wife, Laura, now looks like a “bulgy-eyed demon.” With the help of Imogen Gibbons, a local baker, Laura gets Quin to see a psychiatrist. After an evaluation by Nurse Jarvis, who has fuzzy bear ears, Quin is placed on a 72-hour hold, which is later extended to a two-week hospital stay. His hallucinations continue, and Dr. Hayes informs Quin he’s likely bipolar. Quin visits a parallel dimension called the “inner lair” where he finds Hayes teaching aikido and energy manipulation to acolytes and learns that he can wield White Magic (rare magic of the ether). Once he leaves the inner lair and the hospital, however, he discovers that someone doesn’t want him to master his newfound abilities. DuBay’s skill in deploying pop-culture references (he calls the 1985 film The Goonies“ the Citizen Kane of my generation”) makes his novel a delight for readers who grew up in the 1980s or anyone with a twisted taste in adventure and romance. The novel’s first line, in which Quin sees “a ghost fly out of [his] dog’s butt,” sets the pace for juvenile wackiness. Comic book fans especially will adore a hero who quotes The Amazing Spider-Man line, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Occasionally, the references feel like a comedic crutch, but once DuBay’s villain emerges, the narrative gains true momentum.
This raucous fantasy is a jubilant celebration of kid humor.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 297
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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