Though many of the same charming characters return from the series debut (The Accidental Alchemist, 2015), the plot this...
An alchemist doing research on a visiting magician suspects he may share her talent, though with less pure motives.
Now that she’s grown accustomed to life with a French-accented, gourmet-cooking, living stone gargoyle named Dorian Robert-Houdin (yes, brought to life by Robert-Houdin, the famous French magician), Zoe Faust is ready for anything. Well, nearly anything, since she’s had the last 330-odd years to prepare, thanks to the Elixir of Life and her longtime practice of alchemy. What Zoe’s not ready for is the strange distance her boyfriend, Max, has kept from her since he returned from visiting his family in China. Zoe’s used to being the partner with secrets, but she’s willing to try to relax with Max on a well-earned night out at a magic show. The visiting performers, billed as Prometheus and Persephone, seem to be regular stage magicians, though Zoe’s neighbor Brixton thinks Prometheus looks familiar. Zoe puts his suspicions out of her head, since she needs to concentrate on learning the secrets of Dorian’s mysterious alchemy text, Non Degenera Alchemia, not listen to the conspiracy theories of a teenage boy. Dorian is counting on Zoe’s dedication to the text. Lately, he hasn’t been able to turn back from his stone state, and he’s worried that one day he’ll become confined within his own body. Both Dorian and Zoe, convinced that the book holds the secrets they need to save Dorian, hope that another alchemist might help Zoe plumb those secrets. When Zoe attends a second showing by the magicians, just to be sure, disaster strikes. Now she knows that there’s something afoot with the out-of-towners, even if it involves murder rather than alchemy.
Though many of the same charming characters return from the series debut (The Accidental Alchemist, 2015), the plot this time is little more than an excuse to trot them out again. Pandian hints that the next installment will focus once more on her main characters, which is what she does best.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7387-4235-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Midnight Ink/Llewellyn
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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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