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
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.
This debut novel, the first of a projected trilogy, blends science fiction, fantasy, gothic chiller, and classic house-party mystery.
Gideon Nav, a foundling of mysterious antecedents, was not so much adopted as indentured by the Ninth House, a nearly extinct noble necromantic house. Trained to fight, she wants nothing more than to leave the place where everyone despises her and join the Cohort, the imperial military. But after her most recent escape attempt fails, she finally gets the opportunity to depart the planet. The heir and secret ruler of the Ninth House, the ruthless and prodigiously talented bone adept Harrowhark Nonagesimus, chooses Gideon to serve her as cavalier primary, a sworn bodyguard and aide de camp, when the undying Emperor summons Harrow to compete for a position as a Lyctor, an elite, near-immortal adviser. The decaying Canaan House on the planet of the absent Emperor holds dark secrets and deadly puzzles as well as a cheerfully enigmatic priest who provides only scant details about the nature of the competition...and at least one person dedicated to brutally slaughtering the competitors. Unsure of how to mix with the necromancers and cavaliers from the other Houses, Gideon must decide whom among them she can trust—and her doubts include her own necromancer, Harrow, whom she’s loathed since childhood. This intriguing genre stew works surprisingly well. The limited locations and narrow focus mean that the author doesn’t really have to explain how people not directly attached to a necromantic House or the military actually conduct daily life in the Empire; hopefully future installments will open up the author’s creative universe a bit more. The most interesting aspect of the novel turns out to be the prickly but intimate relationship between Gideon and Harrow, bound together by what appears at first to be simple hatred. But the challenges of Canaan House expose other layers, beginning with a peculiar but compelling mutual loyalty and continuing on to other, more complex feelings, ties, and shared fraught experiences.
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31319-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With every new work, Jemisin’s ability to build worlds and break hearts only grows.
In the first volume of a trilogy, a fresh cataclysm besets a physically unstable world whose ruling society oppresses its most magically powerful inhabitants.
The continent ironically known as the Stillness is riddled with fault lines and volcanoes and periodically suffers from Seasons, civilization-destroying tectonic catastrophes. It’s also occupied by a small population of orogenes, people with the ability to sense and manipulate thermal and kinetic energy. They can quiet earthquakes and quench volcanoes…but also touch them off. While they’re necessary, they’re also feared and frequently lynched. The “lucky” ones are recruited by the Fulcrum, where the brutal training hones their powers in the service of the Empire. The tragic trap of the orogene's life is told through three linked narratives (the link is obvious fairly quickly): Damaya, a fierce, ambitious girl new to the Fulcrum; Syenite, an angry young woman ordered to breed with her bitter and frighteningly powerful mentor and who stumbles across secrets her masters never intended her to know; and Essun, searching for the husband who murdered her young son and ran away with her daughter mere hours before a Season tore a fiery rift across the Stillness. Jemisin (The Shadowed Sun, 2012, etc.) is utterly unflinching; she tackles racial and social politics which have obvious echoes in our own world while chronicling the painfully intimate struggle between the desire to survive at all costs and the need to maintain one’s personal integrity. Beneath the story’s fantastic trappings are incredibly real people who undergo intense, sadly believable pain.
With every new work, Jemisin’s ability to build worlds and break hearts only grows.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-22929-6
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
