A sunny, swashbuckling creaturefest ripe with pithy characterizations.
In this historical fantasy, Christopher Columbus hunts for the mythical Atlantis.
The year is 1492, and Spain has just defeated the Moors at Granada. After an excursion to Istanbul, Columbus, the renowned rake and explorer, returns to Córdoba. There, he reunites with his royal patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. During a clandestine meeting between Columbus and Isabella in her bed chamber, the captain of the Santa María acts on his knowledge that Plato knew the location of the fabled city of Atlantis. He tilts a copy of Plato’s Timaeus on a bookshelf and reveals a secret treasure room. Within is a bronze disc that may lead to the lost city and Poseidon’s Trident, which can turn anything into gold. Then Ferdinand and his toady, Amerigo Vespucci, discover the pair. The adultery exposed, Columbus races from the palace to the docks. He and his crew immediately set sail west, but not before a shadowy figure sneaks aboard the Santa María, and Vespucci determines to follow with the Niña and Pinta. When nearly a month passes with no leads on Atlantis—and after the revelation that a 12-year-old named Nyx has stowed away—the ship suddenly faces off against a giant, tentacled monstrosity. In his latest novel, Robinson (Robinson Crusoe 2246, 2016) imagines a playful left turn for the controversial figure who brought ruin to several Indigenous societies. This Columbus fights dirty like Indiana Jones and is a caddish goof (“I do like the smoldering types,” he replies to Isabella’s mention of Joan of Arc). On his greedy quest, the explorer encounters hideous, birdlike sirens but also the beautiful Princess Elara. Time-tested fantasy components like quick-healing potions, an ancient prophecy, and magic keys are sublime in juxtaposition with historical figures. Young Nyx blossoms under readers’ eyes, acting as a foil for the cynical Columbus and teaching that human bonds matter more than material gain. The author’s agile creativity will leave audiences itchy for a sequel.
A sunny, swashbuckling creaturefest ripe with pithy characterizations.Pub Date: Dec. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-79087-598-6
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 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.
