Memorable and deeply satisfying—a fitting tribute to those who serve.
New military fantasy—imagine the Vietnam War fought with medieval weaponry, magic and dragons—from the military historian and author of the Iron Elves trilogy (Ashes of a Black Frost, 2011, etc.).
Evans’ scenario is vividly portrayed and, for the most part, well worked out. Despite turmoil and political uncertainty at home, the Kingdom intends to pacify the jungle-covered continent of Luitox. Opposing the Kingdom’s occupation, the Forest Collective operates from concealed positions deep in the jungle, has powerful magic, and its fighters, or “slyts,” are far more numerous than the Kingdom’s leaders will admit. The soldiers of Red Shield—Carny, Big Hog, Listowk, the Wraith and many others—face not only the Collective, but also searing heat, suffocating humidity, the seductions of drugs or religion, superiors who care only about body counts, an enemy that refuses to stand and fight, and a lack of clear objectives, yet remain determined to do their jobs, and we come to care deeply about their fates as they struggle through a series of confusing and unpleasant engagements. Formerly slaves, dwarves may serve in support roles but not in actual combat, and they represent the racial element in the mix. Instead of helicopters, the Kingdom has dragons, or “rags.” Rag driver Vorly Astol, his rag, Carduus, and a RAT, or Royal Academy of Thaumology, Breeze—one of the few women serving—have been chosen to help field-test a new communications and navigation system based on thaumic crystals. Jawn Rathim, a naïve junior officer and powerful RAT, proves surprisingly useful despite his lack of familiarity with the system. And then there’s mysterious “crowny,” Crown Service, officer “Rickets” Ketts, who may well be a secret agent. It all adds up to an ugly and utterly compelling narrative, the one possible drawback being uncertainty about how magic works and what its organizing principles are.
Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4516-7931-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
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
A new edition of the by now classic collection of affiliated stories which has already established its deserved longevity.
Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1963
ISBN: 055338256X
Page Count: -
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1963
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