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
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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