Although it’s flawed, the potential is there for future installments to salvage this epic tale of retribution.
The first installment in Bado’s fantasy trilogy is set in a realm ruled by a tyrannical dynasty and largely follows two characters as they struggle to survive in a viper pit of political intrigue while also trying to find a way to attain vengeance for atrocities done to their families.
The kingdom of Zenzele has ruled Ahkebulin—and its multiple noble houses—for centuries. But when a Zenzele attack force slaughters the entire noble family of House Mukundi of Madada, Zenzele leaders think they’ve put an end to a prophecy that foretold the fall of their dynasty when the houses Mukundi and Nnamani “become one.” But 10-year-old M’kuru Mukundi somehow survives and, after escaping to a nearby town, begins a new life with a new identity. He never forgets the horrors that he witnessed, however, and sets out to destroy all those who murdered his family. To keep the House of Nnamani in check, the royal family of Zenzele brings 8-year-old Zikora Nnamani, the only daughter of Lord Nnamani, to the capital city to live with them. But once there, the precocious girl—who wants nothing more than to be a warrior—realizes she is a pawn in a brutal game of power and control. While the writing is fluid and almost lyrical in places, the narrative falls short in satisfying reader expectation. Fantasy fans will find the worldbuilding to be a bit disappointing. Giants and iron dwarves are referenced but then all but forgotten, as are creatures like saber-toothed lions (called Liabrein) and elephants; the seemingly Afrocentric realm is only superficially explored, creating a cardboard backdrop. Lastly, the plot takes a long time to gain momentum. The initial slow pacing and low intensity, coupled with the lack of a strong hook in the beginning chapters, may lead more than a few readers to put the book down. Sadly, they will be missing out on what eventually becomes a solid storyline.
Although it’s flawed, the potential is there for future installments to salvage this epic tale of retribution.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780063397606
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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
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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