A captivating revitalization of Celtic mythology that will resonate with modern readers.
When invaders arrive with violent and destructive intentions, the People of the village of Síraide must fight to save their land and preserve their cultural identity in Griffith’s fantasy novel.
The People of Síraide, led by a clan of shamanistic women known as the Mothers, live peacefully with one another and in harmony with the Land and the music from the Harp that created life itself. From the mane of a horse named Pryderi, a boy named Lámfada—or Long-Arm, as he’s often called—is born. He grows up quickly, reaching the physical and mental age of 14 only seven years after his birth. Long-Arm happily spends his days running in fields with his mother and spending time with his older half-brother, Miach, who was born from sentient mugwort. However, trouble is afoot, as the colonizing force known as the Oceaners, led by the god-king Balor, is preparing to eliminate the People and the culture of Síraide. Following a tragic event, Long-Arm learns that he’s fated to lead the battle against Balor and his army; he receives guidance from a shape-shifting girl from the Mothersclan named Bacharigu, and from Máithrín, the creator of life. Griffith’s novel, narrated by an omniscient Crow-Raven, is a captivating retelling of the Celtic myth of Cath Mag Tuired, or the Battle on the Plain of Pillars. Although the prose sometimes feels overwrought and steeped too deeply in metaphor, the author’s passion for the tale is clear. With compelling characters, intriguing dialogue, and evocative descriptions, he keeps this folkloric tale alive and vibrant: “The Rimmed world of the Síraide was a Land of old moors and networked hills that careened and rose into the rocky face of the bald Mountain. Eternal river valleys and misty mires snaking silently below. Wherever one walked, it was moist and cool, always playing with winter.” Overall, the novel itself feels like a form of resistance against colonization and cultural extinction. “All cultures, ancient or otherwise, have their stories,” the Crow narrates. “All stories, cultured or otherwise, have their power.”
A captivating revitalization of Celtic mythology that will resonate with modern readers.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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