An action-packed story trying hard to be edgy; hard-core supernatural action fans will eagerly grab hold.
Greek mythology, vampires and strange spiritual energies forge an unholy mix in this second installment of a ruthless tale of blood, murder, power and betrayal.
Johnny is Primordial, an incredibly powerful being capable of manipulating Flow—various kinds of spiritual energy—to devastating effect. He’s also a foulmouthed misogynist bound and determined to rescue Nikki, the woman he allegedly loves, from the subterranean stronghold of Olympus, home to ancient, malicious primordial gods (once known to mankind as the Greek Gods). Artemis keeps Nikki as a slave, but a rebellious faction among the Olympians, led by Apollo with assistance from Merlin and others, has different plans for her. Meanwhile, something dark and ancient stirs beneath Olympus, beings of primal fire rise to terrorize New York City, and Johnny finds himself allied with a number of strange bedfellows, including the Scottish firebrand Teagan, who can control fire, and the enigmatic swordsman and chi-master Bei Di. It’s going to be one bumpy ride as ancient powers rise and New York City becomes a battleground aflame with explosions, gunfire and strange, eldritch energies. The print equivalent of an action movie, Shawn’s (Primordial, 2011) novel aspires to the status of an unapologetic, no-holds-barred blockbuster. There’s action aplenty, well-described, well-paced and deftly interspersed with story. Some of the prose tends toward the purple, but as often as not it works with the story’s cinematic feel. Unfortunately, this also leads to almost incomprehensible arrangements of letters when the narrative attempts to convey a given character’s accent: “Where ‘re those two evil cows o’ yerrs?” says Teagan, who suffers most from this. In terms of characterization, Johnny is a passable antihero, albeit a particularly unsympathetic one. The main flaw in the story is its coarseness, which all too often crosses the line from rough-and-tumble fun into misogynistic, gratuitous and crass: “Woman, if I wanted any lip from you, I’d scrape it off my zipper. Now shut the fuck up.”
Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-1477562710
Page Count: 558
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A promising page-turner from a poised newcomer who’s well worth keeping tabs on.
This doorstopper epic fantasy and trilogy opener was originally self-published in 2014.
The details that give this ingeniously plotted yarn its backbone emerge gradually—and are not always entirely clear. Twenty years ago, a war swept away and annihilated the tyrannical Augurs when their formidable magic inexplicably faltered. Their servants, the Gifted, whose lesser magic derives from Essence (Islington has an irritating habit of capitalizing things), were forcibly constrained to obey the Four Tenets, meaning they can no longer use their magic to cause harm even in self-defense. At a school-cum-sanctuary-cum-prison for the Gifted, three 16-year-old friends, Davian, Wirr, and Asha, face their final tests. Though an excellent student, Davian cannot use Essence and faces a cruel exile. He decides to abscond. Wirr believes Davian’s an Augur whose higher-order magic blocks his ability to channel Essence, and he insists on joining him. Ilseth Tenvar, a seemingly sympathetic Elder, gives Davian a mysterious magic box to guide his progress. The next morning Asha wakes to a nightmare of her own. On the road Davian encounters the strange, scarred Gifted Taeris Sarr, who three years ago saved his life (Davian doesn’t remember the incident) and supposedly was executed for his pains. In the far north an ancient evil stirs, while in a related development, Caeden wakes in a forest to find himself covered in blood and with no memory of anything. So, in time-honored fashion, nobody is what they seem to be, everybody has a secret agenda, and the key players all lack pivotal memories. And while there’s nothing much new here, Islington’s natural storytelling ability provides incessant plot twists and maintains a relentless pace. The characters have well-rounded personalities and don’t make decisions or errors merely to advance the plot, even if they all sound and act the same youngish age.
A promising page-turner from a poised newcomer who’s well worth keeping tabs on.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27409-8
Page Count: 704
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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