Retains the attention for now, but it would be great if the author explored other issues in subsequent volumes.
In the third installment of a blood-soaked political fantasy series (A Dance of Cloaks, 2013; A Dance of Blades, 2013), the carnage moves from the capital city of Veldaren to bustling, corrupt Angelport.
Haern, the King’s Watcher, has threatened the thieves’ guilds and the nobles of the Trifect into an uneasy peace in Veldaren. But in Angelport, another vigilante called the Wraith is slaughtering prominent citizens—and marking the bodies with the Watcher’s former symbol of an open eye. Haern, Lady Alyssa of the Trifect, and her bodyguard, Zusa, investigate, becoming embroiled in a three-way struggle among Lord Ingram, Angelport’s putative ruler; the Merchant Lords, who seek control of the nearby forest, the sole source of a powerfully addictive herb; and the elves, who regard the forest as sacred. The series was actually self-published before it was picked up by a major publisher, freshly edited and re-released. For those interested in the craft of writing, the author’s notes about how each book in the series changed during this process are illuminating. This novel’s former title was A Dance of Death, and it remains apt: The body count is considerable, nearly drowning the plot’s political intrigue in blood. The author is clearly trying to make a point about the wages of vigilante justice and the difficulty in determining the validity of one’s cause when so many must die to further it. It’s an interesting point, but one must hope that Dalglish considers the point sufficiently established after three books.
Retains the attention for now, but it would be great if the author explored other issues in subsequent volumes.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-24245-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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