When his father publicly shames him, Jebel Rum takes the brand of quester and seeks the blessing of the fire god to obtain strength and invincibility. Guided by his sacrificial slave, Tel Hasani, Jebel encounters a fanatical cult, grave robbers and secretive regimes along the way. When he finally encounters the god, Jebel must decide if his quest goal has changed in the course of his journey. Shan works to blend action with social education and occasionally misses both. Readers will find less gore than in previous novels—though the corporeal mortification scenes are intense and disturbing—which tamps down the former, and the exploration of justice, fairness, morality and religion are at times oversimplified. Hasani’s annoyance with his spoiled charge is perfectly fitting, though, and Jebel’s character development arcs nicely. Readers familiar with Huckleberry Finn may recognize parallels between Hasani and Jebel and Jim and Huck, a deliberate echo that is perhaps this book's greatest success. Heads roll at the start, but by the end, Shan reaches for the heartstrings. (Fantasy/horror. 10-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-316-07865-8
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2010
The sequel to Sphinx's Princess (2009) is an ancient Egyptian soap opera starring Nefertiti as a mouthy, gutsy teen. Accompanied by her trusty slave Nava and her gentle swain Prince Amenophis, she must prove her valor and cunning in a series of adventures outwitting her beloved’s brother, the malicious Prince Thutmose. In florid prose, Friesner draws Thutmose as a duplicitous villain whose evil deeds are both violent and cruel, aided and abetted by his formidable mother, the Queen. Nefertiti’s nemesis is somehow redeemed when, despondent over the failure of his nefarious plots, he takes to his bed to starve himself and Nefertiti is inspired to forgive him. Her whiplash-inducing reversal tests the bounds of credulity but provides a feel-good tool for wrapping up loose plot threads. The dialogue is stiff and self-conscious, and the characters have distinctly anachronistic attitudes toward issues like slavery and feminism, but readers with a predilection for ancient mythology viewed through the lens of modern mores may enjoy this fantastical read, once they've tied an extra knot or two in the rope that suspends their disbelief. (map, afterword) (Historical fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-85657-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
The third and weakest episode in Delaney’s Last Apprentice series takes narrator Tom Ward, his secretive master Old Gregory and canny young witch Alice to winter quarters on bleak Anglezarke Moor where, thanks to massive contrivances, they survive encounters with three blood-sucking witches, a boggart or two and a necromancer out to raise one of the old gods. Along with offering supernatural threats that are both fewer and less dangerous than in previous volumes, Delaney injects his plot with artificial peril by repeatedly having his protagonists inexplicably lie or refuse to impart important information to one another. He then sets up the climax with a cruel deception that is not only ludicrously complicated, but out of character for the gruff but fundamentally decent Gregory, and closes with Tom’s newly widowed mother showing him chests of magic secrets that he’s forbidden to open for several months. Arrasmith’s dark chapter-head illustrations and appended “notebook” pages add atmosphere but not vitality to this limp, overlong outing. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-076624-5
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2007
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