A young author discovers that a mystical world she thought she created is all too real in Leech’s (The Key to Erebus, 2012, etc.) fantasy.
Océane DuBeauvoir spends her days in a Paris museum, engrossed in the research and writing of a novel titled The Dark Prince. It describes a time when the lives of mortals and supernatural beings called Fae were intertwined and both races traded freely between their respective worlds. It also tells of three royal houses of Fae: the Light Fae, the Dark Fae, and the Elves. The story relates how, after years of peaceful coexistence, the relationship between mortals and Fae fractured, the connection between the worlds was closed, and all evidence of the Fae was destroyed. Océane believes that her book is merely a work of fiction until the day an angry man comes charging into the museum, murders a security guard, and abducts her. Her kidnappers turn out to be two Dark Fae—Prince Laen and his sister, Aleish. They discovered the existence of Océane’s book and are taking her to the land of the Fae to find out more about it. As the young woman learns about the real-life Fae, she becomes caught in a love triangle with two possible suitors: Laen and his best friend, Corin, the crown prince of Alfheim in the Elvish lands. Leech’s briskly paced, compact narrative is bolstered by well-developed characters and richly imagined settings. Océane is a plucky, resourceful heroine who balances writing her book with volunteering and caring for her best friend, Carla, who’s battling cancer. Leech’s descriptions not only give life to the land of the Fae, but to Paris as well. She nicely stages scenes in which Laen, Corin, and Océane journey to the City of Lights and provides some light humor as Laen struggles to adjust to life among the mortals. Although the relationship triangle among Océane, Laen, and Corin follows a predictable trajectory, the author’s attention to the romantic needs and histories of her characters and how they affect their choices keeps the subplot emotionally involving.
An enchanting fantasy with a likable heroine, romantic intrigue, and clever narrative flourishes.
Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5077-8554-6
Page Count: 280
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.
Things are about to get bloody for a group of Charleston housewives.
In 1988, the scariest thing in former nurse Patricia Campbell’s life is showing up to book club, since she hasn’t read the book. It’s hard to get any reading done between raising two kids, Blue and Korey, picking up after her husband, Carter, a psychiatrist, and taking care of her live-in mother-in-law, Miss Mary, who seems to have dementia. It doesn’t help that the books chosen by the Literary Guild of Mt. Pleasant are just plain boring. But when fellow book-club member Kitty gives Patricia a gloriously trashy true-crime novel, Patricia is instantly hooked, and soon she’s attending a very different kind of book club with Kitty and her friends Grace, Slick, and Maryellen. She has a full plate at home, but Patricia values her new friendships and still longs for a bit of excitement. When James Harris moves in down the street, the women are intrigued. Who is this handsome night owl, and why does Miss Mary insist that she knows him? A series of horrific events stretches Patricia’s nerves and her Southern civility to the breaking point. (A skin-crawling scene involving a horde of rats is a standout.) She just knows James is up to no good, but getting anyone to believe her is a Sisyphean feat. After all, she’s just a housewife. Hendrix juxtaposes the hypnotic mundanity of suburbia (which has a few dark underpinnings of its own) against an insidious evil that has taken root in Patricia’s insular neighborhood. It’s gratifying to see her grow from someone who apologizes for apologizing to a fiercely brave woman determined to do the right thing—hopefully with the help of her friends. Hendrix (We Sold Our Souls, 2018, etc.) cleverly sprinkles in nods to well-established vampire lore, and the fact that he’s a master at conjuring heady 1990s nostalgia is just the icing on what is his best book yet.
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68369-143-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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