An enchanting mystery that will engage readers’ senses and capture their imaginations.
A young, magic-using baker is falsely accused of murder in Luana’s (The Confectioner’s Exile, 2018, etc.) YA fantasy series entry.
Wren is an incredibly talented confectioner. She’s also capital-G “Gifted,” meaning that she imbues all her tasty treats with a magical component. In the country of Alesia, every Guild uses its own type of magic, although each keeps it a well-guarded secret. Wren, an orphan, was plucked from the streets and eventually whisked away to the Confectioner’s Guildhall to be instructed in its particular enchantments. But before her lessons can start, someone murders the Head of the Confectioner’s Guild, and newcomer Wren becomes the prime suspect. Grandmaster Sable and her artisan, Hale—Wren’s newly found “tribe” within the Guild—assure her that they’ll protect her from harm. Inspector Lucas Imbris also vouches for Wren and swears to find the true killer. However, Wren isn’t sure whom to trust, so she undertakes her own investigation to clear her name and assure herself a permanent place in her new world. Along the way, she must also navigate complicated Guild rivalries and secrets; soon, she finds herself in the middle of political maneuverings involving king and country. She also finds herself falling in love with someone. Author Luana whips up a sweet and savory novel that’s full of delightfully descriptive prose. The Guildhall’s library, for example, cleverly resembles a kitchen that “felt worn and real, like catching a glimpse of the guild waking up in the morning before it had washed and put its face on.” Wren is a sympathetic protagonist who’s vulnerable enough to be relatable but tough enough to be admirable. In this novel, cooking is a form of love, and love is a form of magic all its own, which makes for an excellent fantasy premise. Mix in an excellent murder mystery with well-developed characters, a twisty plot, and unexpected resolution, and it’s a recipe for success.
An enchanting mystery that will engage readers’ senses and capture their imaginations.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9977018-9-0
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Live Edge Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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