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A DREAM OF DARKNESS

From the Norick Saga series , Vol. 1

A slyly engrossing tale that deftly combines fantasy and horror elements.

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A town becomes beset by evil forces in this debut fantasy.

Norick is a place apart. A thousand leagues north of civilization, the town sits alone in a vast wilderness—and its inhabitants like it that way. They’ve grown rich off the resources of the land, though in time they’ve forgotten to keep an eye on the shadow-filled woods that surround them. As they begin celebrating the centennial of the town’s founding—a one-night festival of free food and beer—something untoward is unfolding on the fringes of the community. A magistrate finds a blackmail letter affixed to his door, demanding that he meet someone in a grove in one hour. A fisherman discovers that some of his tools have been stolen. The town’s oldest resident, a woman present at its founding, is behaving strangely, warning of a coming storm. A mother suffering from a vision tells her 10-year-old daughter: “It’s coming” and “You need to run.” Norick’s only defense is the Town Guard, a less-than-professional police force run by Capt. William Breeve. William has been a barely functional alcoholic since the death of his wife and child. Does he have it in him to save Norick from the enemy who is coming? Unfortunately, neither William nor Norick has much of a choice. In this series opener, Kruse’s prose is tight and brooding, summoning suspense out of Norick’s nighttime alleyways and forests: “The hour of chaos had come. William felt the horror of it then, but also the thrill. The world itself had gone mad—suddenly, irreparably mad. Everything was coming undone, loosening, the order of things cleaved apart.” The blend of horror and fantasy is an appealing one, and the author hops effectively among his large cast of characters. The story takes its time revving up, but once it gets going, it becomes a true page-turner. Since more books in the series are planned, perhaps inevitably readers will be left with the sense that Kruse has saved a lot of the good stuff for later. Even so, Norick is a fun place to visit for a while.

A slyly engrossing tale that deftly combines fantasy and horror elements.

Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-73306-941-0

Page Count: 380

Publisher: Fire's Edge Publishing

Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2020

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ONE FOR MY ENEMY

Reasonably involving while you’re reading it but ultimately disappointing and incomplete feeling.

A feud between two powerful witch families heats up, thanks to two pairs of star-crossed lovers and an ambitious middle son, in this stand-alone by the author of The Atlas Six (2022).

In New York City, Lazar Fedorov, aka Koschei the Deathless, trades in illicit magical items, fantastical creatures, and expensive favors extended to the desperate. His three sons—Dimitri, Roman, and Lev—aid him in his dealings. Meanwhile, Marya Antonova, aka Baba Yaga, and her seven daughters sell high-end beauty products and illegal magical hallucinogens. As Yaga prepares to extend her drug sales to nonmagical buyers and her eldest daughter, Marya, also called Masha, discovers that the Fedorovs are interfering with their business, both sides plot to finish off their rivals. Matters head toward a tragic direction as Masha and Dimitri reignite the embers of their long-ago love, Masha’s youngest sister, Sasha, becomes romantically entangled with Lev, and Roman makes his own violent plans to gain his father’s approval. What appears to be an unholy magical cross between The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet leads to an expected high body count—and that’s only halfway through the book. Since this is a fantasy novel, Blake throws in a twist that initially feels like a shocking swerve, but we’re soon headed in a similar, but potentially even more destructive, direction. Several characters exhibit deep and interesting emotional growth (some based on a clever use of magic drawn straight from the Russian fairy tales the book references), but others are never fully fleshed out. In addition, the plot unfortunately coalesces predictably (and not nearly as intricately as the scheming characters, and probably the author, imagine it does), and the denouement seems less inevitably tragic than sadly pointless. Meanwhile, many opportunities for intriguing worldbuilding (how magic works, how witches govern themselves to hide their magic from nonwitches, where magical creatures come from, what non–New York witch societies are like) are never picked up.

Reasonably involving while you’re reading it but ultimately disappointing and incomplete feeling.

Pub Date: April 4, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-25-088485-5

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Tor

Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023

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THE HEMLOCK QUEEN

From the Nightshade Crown series , Vol. 2

Dark magic, romance, and divinity.

What do you do when the voice in your head is real?

Lore, Bastian, and Gabe are all still alive following the events in The Foxglove King (2023), despite a ritual meant to take Lore’s life and usher in a new age for the god Apollius. But Lore, determined to live despite—or perhaps because of—her deep and unyielding connection to the magical death force Mortem, is unwilling to be used as a tool. Now that Bastian is no longer prince but Sainted King, Gabe is Priest Exalted, and Lore is the king’s deathwitch, her safety should be secure. The court, however, distrusts Lore and her uncanny powers, and even more dangerous are the gods, leaning ever closer and perhaps not so separate from the world as a thwarted ritual might imply. Bastian has been changing, able to control Spiritum, Mortem’s mirror image, in new and powerful ways, but also acting more erratic and strange. Meanwhile, the voice in Lore’s head is growing louder. To make matters worse, Gabe and Bastian can hardly look at each other, while Lore feels torn between the two of them and in need of both. In the second volume of the Nightshade Crown series, things go from bad to much worse, while a familiar gothic atmosphere looms oppressively around the characters. As Lore strives to keep as many people as safe as possible, others scheme with sinister forces and powerful magic. In a tense and atmospheric installment, Lore moves quickly between heart-pounding romantic encounters and adrenaline-filled moments facing danger and death.

Dark magic, romance, and divinity.

Pub Date: April 9, 2024

ISBN: 9780316435291

Page Count: 480

Publisher: Orbit

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

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