Stirring sci-fi action that should appeal to fans who applaud the introduction “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”
A space princess tries to halt a terrible war—seemingly prompted by her father—while facing an appointment with execution at the hands of the mysterious Green Knight.
The first in a Space Lore series by prolific sci-fi author Dietzel (The Theta Prophecy, 2015, etc.), this novel brings a Lucasfilm vibe to select bits of Arthurian romance and legend (with a few character names and themes from Shakespeare thrown in—for good measure-for-measure). For six years, Vere CasterLan, princess in a space monarchy, has dwelled in self-exile with rogues and thieves, far away from her treacherous royal family. She fled a Hamlet situation in which her father, King Artan of the CasterLan Empire, remarried unwisely—and commanded Vere to wed the heir to the rival Vonnegan Empire soon after the curious disappearance of her true love. Now the king is dying, and he has apparently ordered an unprovoked attack in Vonnegan territory, resulting in war. Vere and her motley crew of frenemies and allies (including a giant reptile, a sort of Chewbacca figure) race to sort out what she considers a dreadful misunderstanding; meanwhile, bounty hunters from all over the galaxy seek her death. Threatening to overstuff the narrative, though, is the title figure, the enigmatic Green Knight (borrowed from the medieval tale of Sir Gawain), who was beheaded by Vere in a tavern confrontation yet survived. He now embraces her vow that she will seek him out on her home planet within seven days to receive a return blow. Perils gradually whittle down Vere’s band of loyalists, and Dietzel proves a master at the larger-than-life ensemble swashbuckling of Joseph Campbellian–infused space opera. The switch in traditional leadership roles, with strong heroines trading places with male heroes, comes off painlessly, and a forceful space-battle climax is worthy of author E.E. “Doc” Smith himself. Celtic-myth flavor seldom seems forced or mashuplike, and further installments in the Space Lore books promise to bring additional bits of Camelot into the exciting universe Dietzel has created.
Stirring sci-fi action that should appeal to fans who applaud the introduction “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”Pub Date: June 7, 2016
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 418
Publisher: Watch the World End Publications
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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