An enjoyable, somewhat overlong fantasy of clashing beliefs.
In Glickman’s (Aura, 2004, etc.) third novel, two princes face a threat that is both physical and philosophical.
Prince Talland meets the alluring, dangerous daughter of the Godlians (religious fanatics driven to control the world), and Prince Orland must hold fast against the mandated destruction of elder wisdom on Nef Island, where it’s all too easy to let old insights die. For Talland, the risk is of allowing others to assume control while he’s growing into his role as an active ruler. Orland must do more than merely escape; he must lead the world to wisdom. For both brothers, there is a daunting learning curve. Can they navigate the Godlian tyranny sufficiently to bring the people truth, whatever the price? Or will they sell out and abandon the heritage of humanity? Even the most enlightened are willing to burn ancient knowledge to save themselves, and there is always the matter of the spirit of “The One”—do they serve it, or do they defy it? For Orland, Talland and the reader, these issues remain foremost as the nations of their world are drawn into the two brothers’ destiny and move forward. And the story does not end there—as in the real world, every great clash has its aftermath. The novel is deeply political, and readers can embrace or ignore this as they wish. It is also extremely long, with a word count equivalent to three standard novels. The characters are well fleshed out (of the two princes, the stuttering, troubled Talland is the more interesting, but the story is told from Orland’s perspective); the dialogue is serviceable and often lighthearted (“stories require bathed bodies, and dinner”); and the pacing acceptable. Every point of view is addressed, and there is more than enough magic to keep readers engaged. Where it falls short, the reader will enjoy the deep philosophical disputes that the ambling, anecdote- and song-driven story—in part a New Age narrative—demands. More a fictional memoir of a troubled period in a fantasy world’s history than a battle-driven adventure.
An enjoyable, somewhat overlong fantasy of clashing beliefs.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9720718-9-5
Page Count: 650
Publisher: Hand to Hand Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these...
Figuratively and literally shattering moments of hoRRRRRipilication in Chamberlain, Maine where stones fly from the sky rather than from the hands of the villagers (as they did in "The Lottery," although the latter are equal to other forms of persecution).
All beginning when Carrie White discovers a gift with telekinetic powers (later established as a genetic fact), after she menstruates in full ignorance of the process and thinks she is bleeding to death while the other monsters in the high school locker room bait and bully her mercilessly. Carrie is the only child of a fundamentalist freak mother who has brought her up with a concept of sin which no blood of the Lamb can wash clean. In addition to a sympathetic principal and gym teacher, there's one girl who wishes to atone and turns her date for the spring ball over to Carrie who for the first time is happy, beautiful and acknowledged as such. But there will be hell to pay for this success—not only her mother but two youngsters who douse her in buckets of fresh-killed pig blood so that Carrie once again uses her "wild talent," flexes her mind and a complete catastrophe (explosion and an uncontrolled fire) virtually destroys the town.
King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these youngsters who once ate peanut butter now scrawl "Carrie White eats shit." But as they still say around here, "Sit a spell and collect yourself."Pub Date: April 8, 1974
ISBN: 0385086954
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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