Another trademark romp in the otherworld, and a lot of fun.
Marcus Wester and company return to work their magic and mischief among the Firstbloods, Kurtadam and Southlings.
Whether you’re a fantasy buff or not, you have to admire ace storyteller Abraham’s skill at building plausible alternate worlds, a trade much practiced, but not often so well, ever since the days of Tolkien and the Shire. Picking up where The Dragon’s Path (2011) left off, Abraham reintroduces us to his mixed-bag company of heroes and villains, inserting some timely touches in his aoristic universe—for one thing, fiscal troubles that the assembled kings of his European-ish landscape seem disinclined to solve together, and for another, a struggle between the forces of reason and an entrenched priesthood, “Palliako and his Keshet cultists,” as one of the good guys puts it. Or are they good guys? One of the many strengths of Abraham’s storytelling is that he allows a little moral ambiguity to curl around the toes of his characters; the heroes aren’t 100 percent virtuous, while the bad guys sometimes have a few redeeming qualities. Good thing, too, for it’s a mixed-up, violent world in which Cithrin bel Sarcour, “voice of the Medean bank in Porte Oliva,” now finds herself, and a smelly and unsanitary one at that; she’s inclined to appreciate differences of cultural tendency as long as the bottom line isn’t harmed, whereas others are more keenly aware that she is a “half-Cinnae girl in a well-tailored dress,” less so that Cithrin has perforce been playing hanky-panky with the books. Did we say that the bad guys had their good sides? True enough, but there is evil aplenty for Wester and his merry band to battle, even if others are inclined to let such things sort themselves out; as one says, “Bring swords to the border, and a few men’s follies become a tragedy for thousands.” Indeed, and you never can tell what sorts of follies the Haaverkin and the Tralgu and such are going to cook up.
Another trademark romp in the otherworld, and a lot of fun.Pub Date: May 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-08077-4
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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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