An entertaining adventure with complex characters and downright cool concepts for advanced technology and metaphysical...
In Queen’s debut sci-fi novel, a man whose powers come from the souls of the departed must figure out why masses of people are vanishing before there’s no one left to save.
Cade Elegy is a member of the Bearers of Phantoms, a special force that make pacts with the dead to gain special abilities—the ability to “encode,” or transform their bodies into various substances, such as diamond, tungsten, and wood. It aids him in the fight against the Wraiths, an alien species that’s invaded the planet. Cade fought in a war against them a year ago, and although humans were victorious, some Wraiths still remain—and now entire cities of humans are disappearing. Cade has a mystery to solve, in addition to a desire to avenge those he lost in the war, but there’s one problem: His power comes at a price. Bearers of Phantoms who bear too many souls run the risk of destroying their own minds. The stakes are high. Will Cade be able to hold onto his sanity long enough to make a difference, or will he succumb to the phantoms that reside within him? He’s aided by a princess, an archaeologist, and an ancient artificial intelligence built by an extinct people who left technology behind that humanity barely knows how to use. Queen’s thorough worldbuilding paints vivid portraits of Cade’s home, its cities, its technology, and its threats, although there’s too light a touch when exploring the motives of the Wraiths and, at times, overly complicated detail regarding belief systems or abilities. That said, the narrative “encodes” different genres effortlessly, drawing on elements of traditional sci-fi, steampunk fantasy, Westerns, and political dramas. Each character is a delight to follow, motivated by distinct drives and desires. It would be easy for secondary players around Cade, such as rebel princess Ashlyn Winshire and bookish archaeologist Jace Exile, to be overshadowed by Cade’s lone-ranger heroism, but they’re given their own independent agency, and it’s made clear that Cade’s desire to save the world alone is unsustainable.
An entertaining adventure with complex characters and downright cool concepts for advanced technology and metaphysical abilities.Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9998474-1-1
Page Count: 247
Publisher: Encoded Press
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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