It’s impressively easy to become immersed in Marton’s fantasy world.
Marton (Last Spy Standing, 2012) returns with the tale of a woman limited by social expectations who nevertheless stays true to herself.
Born to a legendary healer in peaceful Shahala, young Tera looks forward to her powers manifesting. Before they can, she’s sold into slavery and sent to the warrior nation of Kadar, the same nation that abducted her mother many years ago. Thus begins a journey that will lead Tera to the brink of war and the path of destiny. When High Lord Batumar’s brother, Gilem, is held captive—drugged by concubines Kumra and Keela so they can elevate their social status by becoming pregnant with his child—Tera rescues him. Batumar is charmed and takes Tera as his concubine, allowing her to travel to the Kadar capital and the Forgotten City. There, Tera hopes to unravel the mystery surrounding her mother’s death. Although Tera’s actions occasionally feel forced in order to advance the plot, her experiences and reactions are compelling and honest. The overly long novel is at times predictable, starting out stronger than it ends, but Marton excels at worldbuilding and character development. Tera’s friend, Onra, is particularly memorable; content to accept the role society prescribes her, she never questions the fairness of being born a slave who will become a concubine. Additionally, the romance between Tera and Batumar will appeal to many readers, although the relationship that develops between them would be more credible if it had been built over time, based on deeper interactions. Readers may find it difficult to grasp how much time has passed, which can lend a disorienting feel to the events that occur. Despite the book’s flaws, however, readers will find it impossible not to care what happens next to Tera.
It’s impressively easy to become immersed in Marton’s fantasy world.Pub Date: April 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985346201
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dana Marton
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The gripping pursuit and protection of the love of a lifetime.
The petrifying tale of a chain of reincarnations that can only be broken by finding true love.
Kim is a blind college student who’s in a relationship with her biology teacher. When they get engaged, he urges Kim to contact her estranged mother, Astra, a psychiatrist who didn’t come back after leaving Kim at a school for the blind when she was 6 years old. For Astra, having a child was a failed attempt to feel love—the only way for a Repeater to conclude his or her string of lives. Finding herself incapable of the emotion, Astra abandoned Kim; but over a decade later, Astra finds the motivation to monstrously destroy her life as part of their grisly mother–daughter rivalry. The destruction bleeds into 16-year-old Lucy’s life as well; she’s a new patient who’s been having blackouts and flashbacks from another life. Lucy doesn’t yet understand that she, too, is a Repeater. With prose so poetic, it’s easy to forget this is a horror story: One evil action collides with the next as a cursed Repeater ruthlessly seeks the true love she hasn’t yet found in the hundreds of lives she remembers—love that would finally end her streak of reincarnations. More than a battle of good and evil, Ferencik’s (Cracks in the Foundation, 2008) story is rich with layers, well-developed characters, and moments of gruesomeness and tenderness. The loveless malice contrasts sharply with characters—some Repeaters, some not—who feel love so deeply that they seem to glow from it on the page.
The gripping pursuit and protection of the love of a lifetime.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2011
ISBN: 978-0981574110
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Waking Dream Press
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A take on the future of the Earth that inspires further thought.
In this sci-fi–fantasy blend, Garvey imagines the end of the world as we know it and what might come next.
Amy Marksman has always been a little bit different: She can commune with the Earth and see the little green people who seem to share it with humans, as well as beings that just might be gods. Her role as garden tender for her village carries its own significance as well. Her uncanny ability to understand her environment and what it needs keeps her village healthy and fed. However, Amy doesn’t realize just how important she is until tragedy strikes. An army of marauders rolls into her village, allegedly looking for her, and leaves with her baby, Eliza. With a small group of fellow survivors, Amy sets out to rescue her daughter and learn how to stop the fog before it’s too late for the rest of the world. On her quest, she makes an amazing discovery: The world was once a much different place, where humans and technology functioned codependently. When something happened to wipe out all gadgets, however, many humans escaped into space, and the ones left behind in exile rebuilt the world as Amy knows it. She’ll have to learn about this strange world, the good and bad, and about what it left behind to truly understand her own powers and save everyone she loves. Clearly, there’s a lot going on here, and some plots or attempts at worldbuilding don’t get the attention they deserve. However, the world is an interesting one, and Amy makes a good central figure. With her powers, she functions as a bridge between the old world and the new, and Garvey does an excellent job showing how strong she is while also preventing her from using her abilities to their full extent.
A take on the future of the Earth that inspires further thought.Pub Date: April 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615634852
Page Count: 396
Publisher: garveybooks
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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