Assertive Bree and uncertain Kael are likable teenagers, but their trials and triumphs are so predictable that it’s hard to...
Twins Breanna and Kael Skyborn live in a hierarchical, corrupt civilization, comprised of six holy islands, aloft above the Endless Ocean.
Inhabited by a remnant of humankind, five islands are governed by an Archon, who answers to the sixth island, named Center, from which the Speaker for the Angels, his knights, and sinister theotechs rule. Since only theotechs can repair and dispense the technologies that keep the islands floating, they dictate a system of justice. Each island is protected by its own army of seraphim, warriors who don mechanical wings, use elemental weapons of fire, ice, and rock, and wage aerial battles to maintain social order. Orphaned in battle, the twins are chosen by Center to train as seraphs for their homeland but soon discover that the Speaker for the Angels is power-hungry, intent upon disabling local seraphim and becoming a dictator. As the twins learn to fly, they also learn to question authority, especially fire-throwing Bree; meanwhile, a reformed theotech sows dissent. Epic fantasist Dalglish (Dance of Chaos, 2015, etc.) begins his fast-paced Seraphim trilogy with a predictable plot that recycles a number of old standards: feisty, talented twins; a boarding school where loyalties are made and lost; religion and magic undercut by conflicted ethics. During the repetitive, video game–like battles the action is lively, but to quote Dalglish, although there appears to be a lot going on, “the actual meat is frustratingly thin.” While Dalglish’s prose is lean, it lacks style and is littered with slang such as “no can do” or “no worries,” which not only ill-suits a society of knights and thanes, but also invites an unflattering comparison to the Samaria series.
Assertive Bree and uncertain Kael are likable teenagers, but their trials and triumphs are so predictable that it’s hard to care about them, the carnage they inflict, or the civilization they protect.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-30268-5
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
Sequel to Harrison's tremendous alternate-world saga (The Hammer and the Cross, 1993) set in the turbulent northern Europe of the late ninth century. One-eyed Shef, ex-slave and ironsmith, now co-king of England with Alfred of Wessex, seeks peace, stability, and wealth for his people. But, though the ranks of Shef's followers—enlightened priests, brilliant inventors, fearsome warriors, doughty sea-captains—continue to swell, the marauding Danes pose a dreadful threat to his dreams. And soon, after a naval battle off the Frisian islands with his sworn enemies, the Ragnarsson brothers, Shef is tricked into running his ship aground. He flees across the sandbanks and marshes to Hedeby, whose king, recognizing Shef, sells him to the priest of the Way in distant Norway. The Way's leaders are divided over whether Shef is the messianic leader they seek. So, as a test of his luck, they arrange for Queen Ragnhild to first beguile, then betray him; but here, as in further adventures among furry trolls (Neanderthals?), hostile Finns, and bloodthirsty Swedes, Shef proves his ability not only to survive but to persuade his antagonists to support his cause. In Germany, meanwhile, the Christians seek a powerful holy relic behind which to unite the tribes and renew Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire. More pounding, evocative history as it might have been, into which—notwithstanding the unabashedly contrived plotting—Harrison has poured his heart and soul.
Pub Date: April 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-85691-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sequel to The Fourth Guardian (1994). The original guardians of the four Stones of Power are dead—in the present, that is; but in the past they're still plotting and squabbling, their rivalries stimulated by Ketoko, a demon, sort of, who's master of time, or something. In a plot of inordinate complication, the new guardians- -Elena, old Corbo's protÇgÇ; her young son, Raphael; and the weird youngsters William and Violet—face a double threat, from mafioso bigwig Frankie and his assistant, Raymond, and also from Igor (he has three personalities) and his psychic-whizzes, Tippi and Thaddeus. Unprepared and unwary, the guardians succumb swiftly to the assault. Elena dies. William, though helped by Raphael to battle demons in the jungle, is also killed, sort of. Raymond easily romances away Violet's Stone, then relents, returns the Stone, and helps her battle Igor. Tippi and Thaddeus, launching a psychic attack against Violet, are betrayed by their assistant, whom Ketoko sends into the past to warn Corbo. Violet disposes of Tippi, Thaddeus switches sides, and the Stones acquire a new set of guardians. Wild, weird, and unconvincing. Still, fans of the first volume will probably enjoy this one; readers who demand plot rigor and logic before special effects, though, will find it more often annoying than stimulating.
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-85862-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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