A great YA fantasy follow-up that ably develops its plot and characters.
In Hansen’s (Monster’s Children, 2017) second installment of the Tricksters’ War series, Jamie and the Chosen set out into the desert, where they engage in spectacular battles as they hunt for a stolen spear.
Before diving into the action, the story begins with background regarding the Chosen’s teacher, Hempel, and how the battle between the forces of Order and the Tricksters came about. Jamie and her crew then gather together with a variety of allies for celebrations and contests. The Chosen’s previous exploits are famous, earning them great respect from their fellow attendees. During the celebrations, there are a number of competitions, ranging from friendly to lethal; the latter will decide who will wield the signature weapons of the gods. When the Raven Spear, won by a Middle Eastern member of the Spear Clan named Katlyn, is stolen, Jamie sets out to retrieve it with Katlyn, Russ, and Maria. Nettle, bearer of the Raven Sword, stays behind. Along the way, the group encounters Garaks, giant flying creatures with octopus-like faces that eventually befriend the Chosen, due to their affinity for Maria, who rescues them. The group also confronts various enemies, including the Magi, a skeletal creature, dressed in yellow, that moves like the wind and throws bolts of lightning; Dev, a stone giant; and Nakata, a Champion who’s rumored to have trained with the Queen of Order. Ultimately, when the group attacks a city held by the forces of Order, Hansen doesn’t disappoint, providing some magnificent battle scenes, including a vivid description of Jamie charging into the fray on the back of a griffon: “She laughed and raised one dagger in the air as she roared in unison with the beast. The creature turned and charged into warriors like a bowling ball through pins.” But perhaps the author’s greatest talent lies in drawing out the emotions of his characters; Jamie, for example, experiences bloodlust and nostalgia, moons over Nettle, and muses on the contradictions that she observes within herself and among others. Readers will likely be spoiling for the next book.
A great YA fantasy follow-up that ably develops its plot and characters.Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-982060-28-2
Page Count: 314
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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