Capes’ fictional universe expands slowly but compellingly in this latest installment.
In this new-adult fantasy sequel, the immortal Aion clan threatens to use the captured Dalia against her allies in the Decagon.
The year is 2046. The immortal Dalia used to visit the realm called the Dreaming to locate wandering souls and return them to the Waking world. Those she’s saved form a group called the Decagon, and the events of Capes’ previous novel have left Dalia in the hands of their enemies, the Aion. Rourke, the Aion’s leader, keeps Dalia in his Glass Estate and calls her “Ambra,” the name she used as an Aion member 200 years ago. She has no idea how long she’s been in Rourke’s clutches, and injections of a special serum keep her from traveling to the Dreaming or contacting the Decagon. After Ambra meets Six, the newest member of the Aion, she also realizes that Rourke will cross any boundary to increase his power; he even creates a sleek exoskeleton, Baphomet, for Ambra to wear—but not always control—in battle against the Aion’s enemies. These include Iridian, who’s abandoned Rourke to build an army to overthrow him. Rourke also believes that Ambra is the key to “smuggling” things from the SubDream, the subconscious level beyond the Dreaming. Eventually, Ambra will face her former allies in the Decagon—but will she have control over what happens? Capes smoothly juggles several mysteries in this second volume of her series, and the truth about Six gives the narrative a surreal tone. Flashbacks to the 18th century continue, with each segment moving readers further backward in time until they meet a young Delia. The descriptions of locations are frequently gorgeous, such as the Glass Estate’s garden, “hung with fog blown down from the looming mountaintops.” Capes brings the Aion’s actions to life with fine historical details; for instance, in 1737 Vienna, beautifully dressed women wear “tiny gems dotting their hair and jewelry” that “twinkled like shy galaxies.” The violence ranges from sadistic to relatively comical, as when Six mentions dispatching an enemy with a simple “hairdryer in the bath.” The time-twisting finale sets up fresh mysteries for the next volume.
Capes’ fictional universe expands slowly but compellingly in this latest installment.Pub Date: June 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73437-764-4
Page Count: 426
Publisher: Capas LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
