A lively, offbeat novel.
California man Jeffy Coltrane and his 11-year-old daughter, Amity, discover the wonders and horrors of multiverse travel after an inventor entrusts them with a special device.
The inventor, on the run from dark government forces, instructs Coltrane to put this $76 billion "key to everything" into safekeeping and never use it. But when Amity's pet mouse strolls across its controls, the device activates, whisking father and daughter—and mouse—off to an alternate Earth. Danger greets them in the form of a nasty creature that is half boy and half chimp, and there are other threats. But Amity is in no rush to return to normalcy after Googling her long-missing mother and determining she is alive and well on Earth 1.13. However, re-connecting with Mom, who walked out on her family seven years ago, saying she felt "empty," proves problematic: In this parallel world, Jeffy and Amity were both run over by a car—seven years ago. For all the other scary things there are across the multiverse, including genocidal robots marching up the Pacific Coast Highway, none is more frightening than the neo-fascist enforcers now operating back home on "Earth Prime." As heavy-handed as Koontz is in nailing down this timely theme, it's disappointing to see him pull back from its broader implications and invest his villainy in a rather predictable sociopathic bad guy who will do anything to lay his hands on the special device. And it is not always easy to keep all the multiple Earths and versions of people straight. But otherwise, this is a colorful, imaginative spin into SF by the prolific, wide-ranging writer.
A lively, offbeat novel.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1985-9
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A character-driven fantasy story that doesn’t waste readers’ time.
Dymitr, a monster hunter turned monster, must return to face his family when he’s called home for a funeral in the second of Roth’s Curse Bearer series.
Baba Jaga, the great sorceress of Slavic folklore, has something that belongs to Dymitr: his bone sword, a magical weapon that comes from his own spine. As a Knight of the Holy Order, Dymitr was meant to use it to kill magical creatures, whom he was taught to regard as inhuman. After learning that everything he was taught about monsters was a lie, that they are in fact just as human as he is, and after Baba Jaga turned him into a magical monster himself, Dymitr has no interest in hunting them anymore. Baba Jaga made Dymitr a zmora, a magical being that feeds on human fear, and he’s only interested in figuring out what to do with his new life. But his bone sword is also made of a piece of his soul, and being separated from it will cause him to go mad. Luckily, Baba Jaga is happy to give Dymitr his sword back—so long as he kills 33 fellow Knights, starting with his own grandmother. Horrified at the thought of killing the woman who raised him, Dymitr hears more awful news from his sister. His uncle has died, and the family is gathering to perform the Knights’ burial rituals. Dymitr hopes that he can use the trip home to steal his family’s book of Knight curses and offer it to Baba Jaga as a bargaining chip for his sword. As in the first installment in the Curse Bearer series, Roth’s fantasy worldbuilding is efficient and effective. Most of the short—for fantasy, anyway—novel is dedicated to tense action sequences, expanding the fantasy world in ways that directly impact the plot, and to compelling character development as Dymitr faces his violent family.
A character-driven fantasy story that doesn’t waste readers’ time.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781250855503
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
A Sherlock Holmes–esque novel that truly breaks the mold.
An alternate-world fantasy that adds a few welcome twists to the famous Holmes and Watson archetypes.
Addison’s novel begins with an injured army doctor returning to London from Afghanistan and taking up residence with an eccentric detective in a flat on Baker Street. Readers don’t have to be mystery aficionados to guess what’s going on here, but this is no ordinary take on Sherlock Holmes. Addison’s 1880s London is populated with werewolves, vampires, and angels alongside its serial killers and common thieves. The Watson figure, here called Dr. Doyle, turns into a hellhound at night due to a supernatural injury, which Doyle must keep secret or risk being punished for not having registered with the government as an occult creature. The Sherlock figure, here called Crow, is an angel who helps Scotland Yard (Lestrade is still Lestrade, as useless as ever) solve its trickiest cases. Recognizable Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries and characters have new life in this sturdily built fantasy universe, making it fun to read even such familiar tales. All the while, the detectives watch the papers for more news on the grisly Whitechapel murders, committed by the all-too-human Jack the Ripper. As Doyle and Crow explore London’s seedy occult underground, Addison doesn’t shy away from discussing the era’s racism. It would be a spoiler to be too specific, but what really makes this title stand out among a sea of Sherlock Holmes stories is its straightforward criticism of gender roles and the gender binary itself.
A Sherlock Holmes–esque novel that truly breaks the mold.Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7653-8739-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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