A terrific fast-paced second installment in the story of a strange alternate Wyoming.
In this sequel, Moyer re-creates his fantasy world scenarios in which random people suddenly “splinter” into a strangely altered universe.
In this second entry in the author’s Splintered World fantasy saga, readers are transported to the Red Desert / Great Divide Basin area of Wyoming, which has settlements but no modern cities; there is barter and trade but no technology. It’s a place where some people develop superpowers, exerting control over elements like air or water. These “capabilities” range from very simple to powerfully complex, and Moyer’s main characters in the first volume had to learn how to wield these powers, just as they had to learn all the ways of the splintered world: from human dangers, to animal-world predators, to simple wilderness survival. An element carried over from the first volume becomes even more important in the second: Through a very tricky palm-to-palm process, “simple” capabilities can be transferred. Blending even two capabilities can be dangerous, and in this installment, the main character, a young man named Esah, is somehow balancing three. “You should be dead. Or catatonic,” says Hoda, a veteran of this splinter world and instructor of new arrivals. “Or tearing yourself apart as the capabilities fight for dominance.” Ama’s water-oriented capabilities also set her apart in this new world and eventually make her a valuable member of Esah’s community. Along with other allies and friends, they encounter a sinister Authority that’s trafficking in “simples” and artificially limiting the abilities of everybody within their range.
Moyer neatly avoids both major dangers of second novels in any series: He smoothly handles recapping the first volume, and he infuses this second story with a fresh and intense narrative energy that shows no signs of the dreaded “sophomore slump.” The workings of the splinter world are further explored in detail as the characters increasingly learn about their own abilities as well as the dark secrets of the splinter world itself. The first volume in the series had the inevitable focus on raw survival; Esah and Ama were desperate to learn the rules of their brutal new surroundings and master the basics of how to live with their burgeoning supernatural abilities. In the second volume, Esah and Ama grow increasingly curious to understand how the oddities of this new world actually work. What are capabilities? Why do so many newly splintered people feel biologically tethered to the area where they first appeared? How does splintering itself actually work? Moyer takes on this job of enhanced worldbuilding with adept pacing and a natural unfolding of plot and character. Likewise, this volume’s threat is an organization called the Authority that uses carefully crafted “suppression stones” to control supernatural capabilities and suppress the unbounded people who call themselves Kindling. “The Authority wants you thinking foundation capabilities make you lesser,” one character explains. “Being Kindling makes you free, but they need you believing advancement means combining elements, compounding.” The fact that the characters are working things out piecemeal for themselves draws readers into the story in a natural way. As the main characters’ curiosity intensifies in the story, readers will also be hooked in, eager for the next volume in the series.
A terrific fast-paced second installment in the story of a strange alternate Wyoming.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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