A mere introduction to a strange but undoubtedly enticing world, and one that readers should happily return to.
In this sci-fi outing, a 15-year-old boy may hold the key to an ancient prophecy foretelling the possible doom of planet Spearca.
It’s akin to the medieval period on Spearca, a world of kingdoms and castles. But there’s at least some advanced technology, including aircraft and telephonic communications. The Unified Kingship monitors people across the realm with the Great Eyes, perpetually hovering orbs always recording. This is to make certain kingdoms abide by the Treaty of Eximius, which limits enhanced weaponry. A king known as the Father initiates battles not for land, but for information. He targets the Keepers, who hold knowledge of the Numas, overseers of the realm who ensure a level “playing field.” The Father’s convinced the Numas have hidden technology that he wants, and he soon learns about young Petro, ward to King Amerstall of the kingdom Dugual. The boy may be part of a prophecy, a special being who will bring forth death and destruction as a blue fire covers Spearca. Petro, meanwhile, undergoes training as a Numa recruit. He doesn’t know whether the Numas are aware of his unique ability: he experiences random episodes of precognition. As the Father devises a plan of attack against Dugual, Petro sees what looks to be a harrowing future. The novel boasts action with shades of sci-fi and fantasy. Rigsby (The Broken Christmas Tree, 2014) aptly develops the setting, clearly detailing Spearca and its inhabitants without a surplus of exposition. And there’s a slow-building mystery: the Father, for example, suffers from an unknown disease, hoping the equally enigmatic Numa tech will help. On a grander scale, no one’s gone farther than the White Sea’s horizon, an apparent stopping point. This is unmistakably the start of something bigger, as the story ends with a cliffhanger in lieu of a climax. Notwithstanding, Rigsby delivers a smashing sword duel, and Petro and fellow recruits even embark on a potentially dangerous wild boar hunt. Technology, too, is incorporated intelligently; for readers it’s both old, like your basic landlines, and new—viddons manage video/audio links via surgical implants.
A mere introduction to a strange but undoubtedly enticing world, and one that readers should happily return to.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5177-8894-0
Page Count: 251
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.
The third installment of this fantasy series (The Bone Season, 2013; The Mime Order, 2015) expands the reaches of the fight against Scion far beyond London.
Paige Mahoney, though only 19, serves as the Underqueen of the Mime Order. She's the leader of the Unnatural community in London, a city serving under the ever more militaristic Scion, whose government is based on ridding the streets of "enemy" clairvoyants. But Paige knows the truth about Scion's roots—that an Unnatural and immortal race called the Rephaim, who come from the Netherworld, forced Scion into existence to gain control over the growing human clairvoyant community. Scion’s hatred of clairvoyants now runs so deep that Paige is forced to consider moving her entire syndicate into hiding while she aims to stop Scion's next attack: there are rumors that Senshield, a scanner able to detect certain levels of clairvoyance, is going portable. Which means no Unnatural citizen is safe—their safe houses, their back-alley routes, are all at risk of detection. Paige’s main enemy this time around is Hildred Vance, mastermind of Scion’s military branch, ScionIDE. Vance creates terror by anticipating her opponent’s next moves, so with each step that Paige and her team take to dismantle Senshield, Vance is hovering nearby to toy with Paige’s will. Luckily, Paige is never separated for long from her Rephaite ally, Warden, as his presence is grounding. But their growing relationship, strengthened by their connection to the spirit world, takes a back seat to the constant, fast-paced action. The mesmerizing qualities of this series—insight into the different orders of clairvoyance as well as the intricately imagined details of Paige’s “dreamwalking” gift, with which she is able to enter others’ minds—fade to the background as this seven-part series climbs to its highest point of tension. Shannon’s world begins to feel more generically dystopian, but as Paige fights to locate and understand the spiritual energy powering Senshield, it is never less than captivating.
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63286-624-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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