Another mix of action, adventure, teen angst, and literary allusion, although the results are less satisfying than before.
The latest installment in Hiatt’s (Hidden among Yourselves, 2015, etc.) Spell Weaver fantasy-adventure series.
After braving the Underworld on a seemingly impossible quest to obtain the lyre of Orpheus, fighting a stunning array of otherworldly and mythical beings along the way, Taliesin “Tal” Weaver and his allies could be forgiven for wanting a break. But this latest installment continues the frenetic action. Titania, queen of the English faeries, seeks Tal’s help to prove the innocence of her husband, Oberon, the faerie king who tried to kill Tal by sending him on the lyre quest. Despite this fact, Tal is willing to investigate, but his attention is soon diverted by the malignant machinations of Nicneven, the queen of the Scottish faeries. She’s allied herself with the forces of darkness and therefore wields tremendous power. There’s also a traitor in Tal’s midst whose identity will shake the adventurer to his very core. This latest novel adds more overt references to religion, particularly Christianity, as St. Brendan and St. Sebastian join in the action. The novel bounces between different characters’ points of view, which adds welcome depth, although their voices are sometimes too stridently different from one another. Overall, though, Hiatt’s engaging style remains strong, and his sharp wit continues to shine. Unfortunately, as in the previous novel, this installment sacrifices emotional complexity to plot twists and new adventures; as a result, romantic couplings and uncouplings among the team members provide little heat or interest. However, one beautiful scene, in which parents take time to secretly watch their resurrected son play baseball, stands as a reminder of how skillful Hiatt can be with nuanced interactions.
Another mix of action, adventure, teen angst, and literary allusion, although the results are less satisfying than before.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5171-2143-3
Page Count: 472
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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