An enthralling coming-of-age story that unfolds in a land both strange and recognizable.
In this epic fantasy by the author of The Sword of God (2009), a boy ascends into adulthood in a world tarnished by others’ bigotry and thirst for political power.
The 12-year-old Olei (who eventually uses his full name, Ologrin, instead of that nickname) lives in Halrin’s Spur, a herding village in the land of Lhosa. When hideous creatures with “twisting masses of horn growing from their disfigured heads” suddenly raid the village, the boy survives, but many, including his mother, do not. Under the tutelage of Tobin, a man who makes cheese for trading, Ologrin is shocked by a bladed attack by a woman he later learns is named Thania. “I know what you are,” she cryptically tells him. Years later, as an apprentice priest in the city of Antola, he nearly succumbs to another assault with lethal intent. Ologrin encounters a friendly soul in Vireo, a woman who’s a Polfre, one of the humans who, according to legend, had lived on Lhosa first and wielded magic. Based on Ologrin’s tanj (a knifelike object from his long-ago vanished father) and subtle physical traits, Vireo determines he’s half Polfre and, as an outsider, is a probable threat. This makes it especially challenging when Ologrin is unavoidably embroiled in politics: Can he change Lhosa for the better when powerful men want to kill him? Krause packs this bulky tale with fully developed themes involving topics such as religion and discrimination. Ologrin, for example, whom some call by the Polfre slur, “maleugenate,” has brown skin, unlike the pale-skinned citizens in other cities. The cast of characters, however, is relatively small. The author concentrates more on relationships than on accumulating characters, so he develops Tobin as a convincing paternal figure and allows a delightfully complex romance between Ologrin and Vireo to unfold. Dialogue throughout is sharp and generally contemporary, which is perfectly suited to the largely familiar world and people of an unspecified time. While Krause leaves room for a sequel or even a spinoff, this novel is wholly gratifying as a stand-alone fantasy.
An enthralling coming-of-age story that unfolds in a land both strange and recognizable.Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73454-260-8
Page Count: 534
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A deep and grimly whimsical exploration of what it means to be a son, a father, and an artist.
A retelling of Pinocchio from Geppetto's point of view.
The novel purports to be the memoirs of Geppetto, a carpenter from the town of Collodi, written in the belly of a vast fish that has swallowed him. Fortunately for Geppetto, the fish has also engulfed a ship, and its supplies—fresh water, candles, hardtack, captain’s logbook, ink—are what keep the Swallowed Man going. (Collodi is, of course, the name of the author of the original Pinocchio.) A misfit whose loneliness is equaled only by his drive to make art, Geppetto scours his surroundings for supplies, crafting sculptures out of pieces of the ship’s wood, softened hardtack, mussel shells, and his own hair, half hoping and half fearing to create a companion once again that will come to life. He befriends a crab that lives all too briefly in his beard, then mourns when “she” dies. Alone in the dark, he broods over his past, reflecting on his strained relationship with his father and his harsh treatment of his own “son”—Pinocchio, the wooden puppet that somehow came to life. In true Carey fashion, the author illustrates the novel with his own images of his protagonist’s art: sketches of Pinocchio, of woodworking tools, of the women Geppetto loved; photos of driftwood, of tintypes, of a sculpted self-portrait with seaweed hair. For all its humor, the novel is dark and claustrophobic, and its true subject is the responsibilities of creators. Remembering the first time he heard of the sea monster that was to swallow him, Geppetto wonders if the monster is somehow connected to Pinocchio: “The unnatural child had so thrown the world off-balance that it must be righted at any cost, and perhaps the only thing with the power to right it was a gigantic sea monster, born—I began to suppose this—just after I cracked the world by making a wooden person.” Later, contemplating his self-portrait bust, Geppetto asks, “Monster of the deep. Am I, then, the monster? Do I nightmare myself?”
A deep and grimly whimsical exploration of what it means to be a son, a father, and an artist.Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-18887-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
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
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