Steeped in period detail and political backbiting in a richly imagined world, but needs a more engaging narrative.
An epic fictional Norse saga set in the ninth century, featuring royalty, repressed love, battles, and the raw appeal of untrammeled nature.
Rich with Viking lore and fact, this compelling family saga involves royalty, territorial battles, and the fraught tensions of the love that dare not speak its name. The tale begins by outlining the relationship between the newly minted king and queen of Herius, who are sailing to an unknown territory. The eye-poppingly named scout Cnut is sent to check out the new land, leaving the king and queen to some rather clunky exposition. Indeed, the entire book tries hard to evoke the great weight of history, which makes for plodding reading: “ ‘Oh Abriel, it is such a curse!’ exclaimed Edwin with a wave of effeminate emotion. ‘To punish me, Padraic whips me mercilessly whenever I show the slightest interest in another man. Yet, I cannot help it. It is who I am! Who would have thought a father could be so cruel to his son?’ ” Not all is well in the kingdom, and tensions simmer among all characters. Oddr, the most poignant and developed character, serves as the book’s emotional backbone. First described as an Angel of Death, Oddr experiences a full and satisfying character arc throughout the story. Ultimately, the book pleasingly wraps up loose ends with an elegant symmetrical narrative. Indeed, structurally and factually, the book is engrossing; however, the prose, especially dialogue, could use an injection of humanity. One warrior describes his cherished weapon: “It was taken from me by Bjorn Kormaksson. There was a time when I could not defeat him. As such, he took my prized sword from me.”
Steeped in period detail and political backbiting in a richly imagined world, but needs a more engaging narrative.Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0989929189
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Voyageur Books, LLC
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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