A swiftly paced, exhilarating volume in a saga likely to appeal to all ages.
A teen, having trained in combat and magic, treks across the world of Selaras to conquer an evil, powerful being in the third installment of Mugdan’s YA fantasy series.
Keriya Soulstar suddenly awakens in the country of Jidaeln. Her memory slowly returns: She had been in Allentria, on the other side of the world, fighting sinister Necrovar, or “the Shadow.” Uncertain of how she wound up in Jidaeln, Keriya wants to return to Allentria and ensure Necrovar’s defeat. She begins by requesting that elite soldiers, the Xamarai, train her; despite the valuable, ancient sword she received as a gift, Keriya’s blade skills are subpar. She undergoes rigorous training and finds an ally in military leader Viran Kvlaudium, who ultimately joins Keriya’s expedition to Allentria. The dragon god, Shivnath, who for an unknown reason enlisted Keriya to face Necrovar, gave the teenager magic to use—only once—against the Shadow. Since then, she’s displayed no power other than telepathy. But Viran helps Keriya realize she’s capable of much more. The two secure passage to Allentria, already under threat from sorcerers aligned with chimeric creatures known as daemonion. Merely getting to their destination is treacherous, as Keriya, Viran, and companions along the way confront demons and monsters of the sea. Although this is a second sequel, Mugdan (Dragon Child, 2019, etc.) packs it with plot. Keriya, for example, endures bullying, as she’s the only female trainee among the Xamarai, and learns something about the sword she acquired prior to this book. She’s a tenacious protagonist with a discernible physical trait in her purple eyes—which were formerly an indication of great power—courtesy of Shivnath’s magic. The author’s lucid prose and smooth transitions between character perspectives make the occasional battle sequence easy to follow despite the frantic goings-on. As Keriya continues to hone her magic and decipher her enigmatic link to Shivnath, the narrative remains quest oriented. With that in mind, the subtle romance between Keriya and Viran is refreshing, if intermittent.
A swiftly paced, exhilarating volume in a saga likely to appeal to all ages.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5323-8796-8
Page Count: 558
Publisher: Shivnath Productions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
Britisher Swift's sixth novel (Ever After, 1992 etc.) and fourth to appear here is a slow-to-start but then captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request—namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies—insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start, with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does—or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms—including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism—with, in all, the ring to it of the honest, human, and true.
Pub Date: April 5, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-41224-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
© 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
