A murky world filled with unrealized narrative and thematic potential.
Set in a richly imagined realm that fuses various elements of urban fantasy and science fiction, this grand-scale fantasy adventure revolves around a young man on a quest to understand and fulfill his mysterious and potentially world-changing destiny.
Rhyus Delmar, a 22-year-old somn—a race of people with powerful paranormal abilities—shows up on the shores of Lux Lemetia, the City of Light, with no memory of how he got there or where he came from. Taken in and cared for by the brutish Venn and his charge, a beautiful young woman named Marion, Rhyus tries to get his bearings while staying at Venn’s opulent Umbra Halls but is haunted by a dream of a robed man telling him to leave. Amid prophecies and rumors that a Calling has been awakened who will determine the “balance of realms,” Rhyus sets out for the sea, beyond the ominous Darkness, on a course that follows the mythical Rafters. But not fully understanding who or what he is, Rhyus must navigate a world filled with strangers with veiled intentions, some who may want to exploit his singular abilities for their nefarious purposes. Powered by a cast of intriguing characters and an impressively serpentine storyline, the story can make it difficult for readers to swallow the contradictory and ill-conceived realm in which the action unfolds. In what initially appears to be a relatively conventional fantasy world saturated with magical energy and inhabited by knife-wielding assassins, Montgomery adds to the mix refrigerator, dryers with dryer sheets, flying robotic beetles, highly advanced holographic screens, memory chips and more. Additionally, some characters have a decidedly urban fantasy feel with lip rings, eyebrow barbells and magic tattoos and wearing denim and leather jackets. And although the mystery of the somns—their history, beliefs, culture, abilities, etc.—is what fuels the storyline in the beginning, readers will have to wait until the seonc book in the series to learn anything substantial about them.
A murky world filled with unrealized narrative and thematic potential.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0982922354
Page Count: 537
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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