by Dennis Frank Macek ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 6, 2006
A multifaceted meditation on the ephemeral nature of existence, doubling as an equally intricate espionage thriller.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
GET IT
A couple decides to become clandestine couriers for shadowy U.S. government agencies in a metaphysically charged spy tale involving black-market nukes and a mad general’s dream of creating a perfect Chinese state.
Charlie and Marie were simply meant to be. Both possess almost preternatural skills and abilities, along with a burning need to experience a kind of hyperreality at all times, all of which makes the globe-trekking duo uniquely suited to execute the specialized “errands” that they are regularly assigned. They also can’t keep their hands off each other. Problems soon arise, however, when the star-crossed lovers in this absorbing but overly long thriller begin to doubt whether their otherwise lucrative international missions are truly in the service of good. At one point, Marie explains, “It’s really kind of abstract. We want to contribute to justice in the world; we try to make a difference. Plus, we need challenges, stimulation.” When the high-powered husband and wife do, indeed, start systematically undermining certain missions they deem suspect, they open themselves up to the fiendish machinations of Chang K’ung and his zeal to secure and detonate a spate of football-sized nuclear bombs in the U.S. Astonishingly, the truly explosive element in the whole affair remains the ethereal relationship between Charlie and Marie. In fact, others, including a beautiful and enigmatic covert agent named Suzy Wu and a charming and good-hearted intelligence officer named Sam Wallaby, crave the couple’s happiness as much as K’ung craves world domination. After Charlie and Marie do their level best to unravel K’ung’s terrorist plot, Wu and Wallaby set their sights on undermining Charlie and Marie’s singular union.
A multifaceted meditation on the ephemeral nature of existence, doubling as an equally intricate espionage thriller.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4196-4765-9
Page Count: 504
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2023
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
More by Rebecca Yarros
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Awards & Accolades
Likes
138
Our Verdict
GET IT
New York Times Bestseller
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More by Max Brooks
BOOK REVIEW
by Max Brooks
More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.