While it seems like there should be something for everyone in this mashup of dragons, faeries, librarians, Holmes, and...
In the second installment of her Invisible Library series, Cogman (The Invisible Library, 2016) chronicles the exploits of Irene Winters, an interdimensional Librarian seeking rare books across alternate worlds.
Irene (she named herself after Irene Adler) is Librarian-in-Residence in a Victorian London not quite our own, as it boasts a Fae Embassy and werewolf gangs. Here, Irene and her apprentice, a dragon named Kai, acquire rare volumes for the mysterious Library—with the aid of Peregrine Vale, a Sherlock Holmes analogue. When Kai is kidnapped, the potential retribution from his family must be averted. Irene and Vale discover the abduction to be the work of the Fae—the dragons' ancient foes—and Irene must bargain with the scheming Lord Silver in order to track Kai to a Fae-ruled alternate Venice, leaving Vale behind. Irene must assert her own will against the Fae-dominated reality of Carnival Venice and the machinations of Kai's kidnappers. She is helped by the surprising reappearance of Vale (surprising only to Irene; one would expect a Holmes-loving Librarian to be more genre savvy!) and her own power of "Language," an ill-defined magical system by which Irene can change reality through words alone. (Language has few limits; using it is exhausting, but conveniently, Irene never becomes tired enough for this to actually impact the plot.) An epic prison break and a final showdown on an archetypal train add memorable visuals to the story...but these visuals have more impact than the characters themselves. Irene is competent, adventurous, and—that's about it; Kai fares little better than eye candy.
While it seems like there should be something for everyone in this mashup of dragons, faeries, librarians, Holmes, and masked mystery, the end result is more a stew of “wouldn't it be cool...” than a tightly plotted tale.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-98866-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: ROC/Penguin
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and passionate depiction of one woman’s struggle to discover her truest self.
A young politician confronts affairs of state, the dark secrets of the past, considerable emotional turmoil, and the weather in this follow-up to the World Fantasy Award–winning Witchmark (2018).
The country of Aeland reels after the events of the previous volume, in which Dame Grace Hensley’s brother Miles discovered that the aether network (a magical equivalent of electricity) was being powered by the souls of the dead, the brutal war with neighboring Laneer was trumped up to grab Laneeri souls for the network, the Laneeri retaliated by possessing the returning Aelander soldiers and forcing them to murder innocents, and their father was complicit in most of it. The people are angry about the loss of aether, and they would be angrier still if they knew that many of the nobles were secret witches who thrust common witches into asylums to exploit their powers. As the country’s new Chancellor, Grace is supposed to calm the people, maintain the status quo, and mollify the Amaranthines, the faerylike psychopomps who condemn the aether network’s abuse of souls. As the Voice of the Invisibles, Grace must lead a cabal of unwilling mages to quell the worst storms that Aeland has seen in centuries. But she has no support from her scheming peers, and her imprisoned father, the former Chancellor and Voice, is clearly manipulating events behind the scenes. Grace would like to free the witches and finally be honest with Aeland’s people, but she fears it will cause mass riot. However, others are forcing her hand, including Miles’ friend Robin, a medical student and secret witch, and Avia Jessup, an astute and dangerously attractive former heiress–turned-reporter who’s nearing many explosive truths. Grace is an intriguing contrast with her brother Miles, protagonist of Witchmark, who has a much more black-and-white sense of morality. Grace was the designated heir to her father’s several types of power; and while she now despises him, freeing herself of his influence and ruthless love isn’t easy for her. She has good intentions toward the people of Aeland, but she has no idea about how the other half lives. She takes her comforts for granted even as she neglects her own desires in the service of others, exemplified by the narrative’s emphasis on the many meals she misses in the course of her duties.
A thoughtful and passionate depiction of one woman’s struggle to discover her truest self.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7653-9899-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Final installment—each entry independently intelligible—of Hobb's stunning fantasy trilogy (Royal Assassin, 1996; Assassin's Apprentice, 1995) about the beleaguered Six Duchies and their Farseer kings. Months ago, King Verity vanished into the far mountains in search of the semi-mythical Elderlings, whose help he must have in order to defeat the rampaging Red Ship Raiders, leaving his murderous, venal, and insanely ambitious brother, Prince Regal, to dispose of Verity's last few loyalists at his leisure—including narrator, spy, and assassin FitzChivalry. Poor Fitz, unable to contact his beloved Molly (she thinks he's dead) and daughter (by Molly) for fear of exposing them to Regal's attentions, uses his magic Skill to locate Verity and receives an imperious summons: ``COME TO ME!'' So, abandoning his plan to assassinate Regal, Fitz enters the mountains with a small band of helpers. Eventually, having evaded Regal's minions, Fitz comes upon Verity Skill-carving a huge dragon out of black rock; nearby stand other lifelike dragon-sculptures that, to Fitz's animal-magic Wit, seem somehow alive. Are these eerie sculptures what remain of the Elderlings? Yet, for all his Skill, Verity cannot bring the dragons to life; and soon Regal will arrive with his armies and his Skilled coterie. An enthralling conclusion to this superb trilogy, displaying an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama.
Pub Date: March 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-553-10640-6
Page Count: 668
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1997
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