A thoroughly engrossing and involving entry that no series fan will want to miss.
Fourth in the independently intelligible series (A Plunder of Souls, 2014, etc.) about magic (“conjuring”) in the turbulent and increasingly rebellious pre-Revolutionary Boston of 1770.
With British redcoats occupying the city and crown loyalists clashing with rebellious anti-tax mobs, thieftaker Ethan Kaille—he’s a conjurer, a practice many consider akin to witchcraft, tracking down stolen goods for reward—finds it impossible to compete with his archrival Sephira Pryce and her gang of thugs. Having no leanings in the rebel cause, Ethan takes other jobs protecting the businesses of stubborn loyalists. But when one endangered crown loyalist brandishes a musket and then kills a young boy, if accidentally, it touches off a riot, forcing Ethan to magically quell the violence. Curiously, a spell seems to have triggered the killing, even though Ethan can’t locate the conjurer. Even more ominously, other violent incidents caused by conjuring occur when Ethan is on the scene. He begins to suspect that a conjurer has discovered a way to use Ethan’s own magic against his will, to set rebels and loyalists at each other’s throats and ensure Ethan gets the blame. Finally, when Ethan’s longtime love interest, tavern-keeper Kannice Lester, is stabbed, Ethan becomes certain of the hostile conjurer’s identity. Sheriff Greenleaf, hitherto antagonistic to Ethan’s profession and uncanny abilities, agrees to help Ethan track down and destroy the troublemaker. As usual, Jackson’s intimately detailed historical backdrop is a major advantage. So, with the genuine Latin spellcasting and sturdy characters, the plot, or lack of it, matters little.
A thoroughly engrossing and involving entry that no series fan will want to miss.Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7114-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
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 charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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