A standout fairy-tale retelling.
An unlikely princess is driven by a secret political mission in Soria’s take on “Cinderella.”
Lady Aislinn and Prince Everett’s whirlwind romance was an instantaneous legend. An unknown noblewoman forced into servitude by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters sneaks into the prince’s birthday ball, they fall in love, he finds her by using the shoe she left behind, and so on and so on. Everyone in the kingdom of Solis knows the story. But stories so rarely tell the whole truth. In Lady Aislinn’s case, the truth is that she and her stepfamily schemed up the whole fairy tale, missing shoe and all, in order to get Aislinn married to the prince. That same wicked stepmother, Seraphina, has been training her stepdaughter and two daughters all their lives to be expert con artists and also to be so skilled in illegal magic that Aislinn knows how to cast a little spell to manipulate Prince Everett into falling for her. Seraphina’s goal is to secure wealth and security, but Aislinn has plans Seraphina doesn’t know about. Her motivation to secure her place in the Solisti royal family has little to do with money and jewels and more to do with a notorious political prisoner and the welfare of a downtrodden neighboring nation that Aislinn—supposedly—has no reason to care about. Soria effectively spins several layers of conspiracy here, and once the twists start coming they only keep building. While there is a somewhat perfunctory romance, far more interesting are Aislinn’s relationships with the many finely drawn female characters, including Seraphina, her daughters, Aislinn’s palace maid, and Mariana, the queen of Solis. And unlike fairy tales, which have clean moral lessons, this book is unafraid of the deep complications and compromises people in positions of real power and influence sometimes have to make in order to do what’s right.
A standout fairy-tale retelling.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780593358054
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
bookshelf
