Better than average, but be prepared to settle in for the long haul.
First of a new fantasy series from the author of The Dread (2012, etc.), brewed from standard ingredients.
Condemned as a murderer for killing his brute of a father, Blaine McFadden is shown mercy by King Merrill of Donderath; instead of execution, he’s exiled to Velant, a bleak penal colony in the arctic Edgeland. Despite the brutality of the colony’s swaggering governor, Prokief, and his cruel mages, Blaine—calling himself simply “Mick” to conceal his aristocratic background—survives and, in a limited way, prospers, acquiring a “family” of fellow exiles. But when the supply ships from Donderath stop arriving, the colonists face a harsh winter that many will not survive. Back in Donderath, meanwhile, young Connor serves as a go-between, reporting the news from King Merrill’s councils (neighboring Meroven has invaded, and the news is grim) to vampire Lord Penhallow. Finally, Meroven’s mages prepare a mighty blast of magic; Merrill counters but dies in the attempt—and the magic itself is extinguished. In Edgeland, Prokief’s evil mages find themselves suddenly powerless and no match for the vengeful colonists. Luckily, at this point, an abandoned but seaworthy ship sails itself into harbor, so Blaine/Mick and chums prepare to sail back to Donderath to find out what’s going on. There’s plenty of action and plot embroidery, and the pages turn easily enough—although, after nearly 600 of them, Martin still can’t provide even a token resolution.
Better than average, but be prepared to settle in for the long haul.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-09358-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
Imperfect, but well constructed and engrossing nonetheless.
Cerúlia recovers from her wounds and decides it’s finally time to take back her throne in Kozloff’s (The Queen of Raiders, 2020, etc.) penultimate Nine Realms novel.
Badly burned and laid up in a Healing Center, Cerúlia is losing faith in herself. She misses the various friends she’s made along her journey, misses her home, and resents her limitations as she heals from injuries sustained in the previous novel. In the past, her magical “Talent” for talking to animals has helped her make friends with local creatures, but she’s worried that something has happened to her ability and fears using it. As she slowly recuperates and learns from the fellow residents in the healing center, Cerúlia comes to understand that she must face her responsibility to her people and find a way to become the Queen of Weirandale. To that end, she returns home to her nation’s capital, Cascada, only to discover that her long-lost foster sister, Percia, is about to marry the kindly son of the maniacal and power-hungry Regent Matwyck, the very person keeping Cerúlia from her throne. Reunited with her beloved foster family, Cerúlia decides it is time to stop hiding under aliases and disguises. But with no army to support her, how is she supposed to save herself from Matwyck’s clutches? And now that she’s seen more of the world and understands the lives of regular people, does she even believe in the idea of monarchy at all? Kozloff finally brings the action back to Weirandale in a compelling setup to the last novel in her series. Like Book 2, this one struggles a bit with standing on its own, but Kozloff uses these pages to make Cerúlia a more complex and compelling character. Threads following other characters from other nations are easy to follow and add dimension to the world, but as of now they still feel a bit too detached from the main plotline.
Imperfect, but well constructed and engrossing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16866-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Perfectly fine despite second-book syndrome.
Cerúlia must grow up and learn to fight for her destiny in Kozloff’s (A Queen in Hiding, 2020) second Nine Realms novel.
Her mother, the Queen of Weirandale, is dead, and Cerúlia isn’t a child any more. She’s left her adoptive peasant family in order to escape evil Lord Matwyck’s clutches and eventually escapes Weirandale altogether. Using her ability to talk to animals and several bird-related aliases, Cerúlia manages to trek her way over the mountains and into the nation of Oromondo. Cerúlia knows that the Oros killed her mother, and she wants to avenge her death. She’s heard of a group of raiders who work to disrupt the Oros as they invade and pillage neighboring nations. When Cerúlia finally manages to find them and convince them to let her join up, she discovers not only new friends, but a newfound sense of purpose. But is any of that enough to win back her throne or even save herself from the Oro army? Interspersed with Cerúlia’s plotline are various threads centering on the Oro army and people, Lord Matwyck’s kindhearted son, and the raiders themselves. This is the second of a four-part series, and, as such, it falls into the expected pitfalls. The self-contained plot works, but it inevitably feels more like a buildup to further books in the series than its own story. It rises above filler, though, and Kozloff is clearly laying the groundwork for something good, particularly with the very last chapter.
Perfectly fine despite second-book syndrome.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16856-6
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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