An engaging otherworldly thriller with an upstanding hero.
In Mike’s debut urban fantasy, a man learns not only that he’s part-angel, but also that he must go up against a power-hungry demon.
Agent Michael Lieberman’s antiterrorism unit in New York City is working on an arms-dealing case. Things take a frightening turn when a stranger apparently doses him, triggering what appear to be hallucinations of black worms attached to people around him. But he may not be hallucinating at all; according to angel Gabriel, who drops by his apartment, he’s half-mortal and half-archangel and can see things that many others can’t—including demons. These creatures hail from the spirit realm that overlaps the mortal world, and Michael finds out that has little time to unearth the nefarious scheme that archdemon Mammon is cooking up. Meanwhile, Michael joins New York City police detective Sara Wilson’s investigation into a homicide of a notorious billionaire that be related to terrorism. As it happens, this crime links to Mammon’s plan, as does Michael’s complicated past—most notably, his parents’ death when he was young, and his older sister’s disappearance more than a decade ago. The capable agent trains with his newly acquired wings and conjurable flaming sword so he can battle demonic hordes. Mike packs exposition into this first novel in a planned series. This gives the story an initially measured pace as Michael comes to terms with what he is. Things pick up, however, as the mystery deepens and the billionaire’s murder case expands to involve other affluent businessmen. Similarly, several action scenes energize the latter half, and Michael puts his flaming sword and Gabriel’s training to good use. Michael appealingly rolls with the punches, quickly adjusting to such horrific, grotesque sights as creatures “glinting golden” as they writhe around in another character’s mouth. He doesn’t hesitate to put himself at risk protecting the mortal realm, and along the way, he also falls into a smartly understated romance with Sara. There’s surprising resolution for a series opener, though there remain plenty of avenues for sequels to explore.
An engaging otherworldly thriller with an upstanding hero.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2022
ISBN: 9789925786947
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Audere Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2023
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
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
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