A bevy of rich characters, plot twists, and possible paths for future books.
A teenage boy who’s able to summon souls and revive corpses flees with his uncle from those seeking to eliminate his kind in the first installment of debut author Markoff’s fantasy series.
Years ago, people in the Land of Moenda endured the Purging, in which the ruling members of the Ascendancy sent Sanctifiers to kill the powerful Deadbringers, who can bring dead people back to life. But although the Ascendancy has full power in the South, the Bastion controls the North, and its agents have been covertly protecting a surviving Deadbringer: 15-year-old Kira Vidal, who lives in the city of Opulancae, working as a mortician and headstone carver at his uncle Eutau’s funeral parlor. He’s also been helping Bastion agents track down a killer. That assistance, however, leads to an attack from a Kataru, an elite warrior, during which Kira is forced to defend himself by reanimating and commanding corpses. As a result, the Ascendancy gets wind of his existence, so Kira and Eutau go on the run. The Sanctifiers soon figure out Kira’s possible destination: the Southern city of Florinia. Meanwhile, a curious woman named Daemeon visits Kira in his dreams and offers him a guide for his arduous trek—a young girl named Teemo. Along the way, Kira learns several secrets, including a few life-changing ones that his uncle’s been keeping from him. In their travels, they encounter a motley batch of characters, including a wounded man named Lyse. Kira digests new information on Moenda history and the full extent of Deadbringers’ capabilities. Overall, Kira’s journey becomes more about discovery than outrunning Sanctifiers, and the author packs her novel with intrigue; for example, Kira suspects that maybe Teemo may be more than she seems. There are also shocking reveals, such as the fact that Eutau may know more about Kira’s long-gone father than he lets on. Perhaps best of all, Markoff’s setting is engagingly ambiguous—the specific year and exact location are unknown, giving the narrative a timeless quality. That, coupled with an impending Bastion/Ascendancy confrontation, should make the series’ next installment tempting for readers.
A bevy of rich characters, plot twists, and possible paths for future books.Pub Date: May 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9971951-0-1
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Tomes & Coffee Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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