McClellan’s design and construction grow steadily more impressive with each fresh installment.
Second entry in McClellan’s Gods of Blood and Powder fantasy series (Sins of Empire, 2017), in which the land of Fatrasta has been invaded by the armies and sorcerers of the vast Dynize empire.
To cement their recent reunion after a civil war, the Dynize want to create a new god and so seek godstones, ancient monoliths infused with magic powerful enough to achieve this. Taniel Two-shot, a former powder mage who killed a god in McClellan's previous trilogy, acquiring near godlike powers, and his companion, the enigmatic Ka-Poel, a mute bone-eye sorcerer, are utterly determined to prevent them. Because Taniel and Ka-Poel alone can detect the godstones, which are concealed by potent magic, Taniel joins up with Gen. Vlora Flint and her Riflejack mercenaries, previously hired by Lady Chancellor Lindet to defend the capital and now shepherding a mob of refugees away from Dynize attacks, while Ka-Poel accompanies Col. Ben Styke and his Mad Lancers, who, deprived of their magic armor, are still a formidable but no longer invincible fighting force. Meanwhile, in the now occupied capital, former Blackhat spy Michel Bravis worms his way into the good graces of the occupying Dynize bureaucracy in order to make contact with the mysterious informant promised by Taniel. McClellan continues to add depth and richness to his characters and backdrop, swirls in some intriguing plot twists and complications, and sprinkles enough desperate fighting to satisfy the most insistently sanguineous readers. Possible cavils include excessive length, a dearth of truly jaw-dropping moments, and no claim to independent intelligibility—although many fans will account these as strengths.
McClellan’s design and construction grow steadily more impressive with each fresh installment.Pub Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-40726-7
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.
The third installment of this fantasy series (The Bone Season, 2013; The Mime Order, 2015) expands the reaches of the fight against Scion far beyond London.
Paige Mahoney, though only 19, serves as the Underqueen of the Mime Order. She's the leader of the Unnatural community in London, a city serving under the ever more militaristic Scion, whose government is based on ridding the streets of "enemy" clairvoyants. But Paige knows the truth about Scion's roots—that an Unnatural and immortal race called the Rephaim, who come from the Netherworld, forced Scion into existence to gain control over the growing human clairvoyant community. Scion’s hatred of clairvoyants now runs so deep that Paige is forced to consider moving her entire syndicate into hiding while she aims to stop Scion's next attack: there are rumors that Senshield, a scanner able to detect certain levels of clairvoyance, is going portable. Which means no Unnatural citizen is safe—their safe houses, their back-alley routes, are all at risk of detection. Paige’s main enemy this time around is Hildred Vance, mastermind of Scion’s military branch, ScionIDE. Vance creates terror by anticipating her opponent’s next moves, so with each step that Paige and her team take to dismantle Senshield, Vance is hovering nearby to toy with Paige’s will. Luckily, Paige is never separated for long from her Rephaite ally, Warden, as his presence is grounding. But their growing relationship, strengthened by their connection to the spirit world, takes a back seat to the constant, fast-paced action. The mesmerizing qualities of this series—insight into the different orders of clairvoyance as well as the intricately imagined details of Paige’s “dreamwalking” gift, with which she is able to enter others’ minds—fade to the background as this seven-part series climbs to its highest point of tension. Shannon’s world begins to feel more generically dystopian, but as Paige fights to locate and understand the spiritual energy powering Senshield, it is never less than captivating.
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63286-624-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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
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