Duncan leaves no doubt about his commitment to the intellectual and the bestial traditions of werewolves and vampires, for...
Werewolves and vampires are again at each other’s throats.
This sequel to Duncan’s The Last Werewolf (2011) follows the life of Tallula Demetriou, one of Jake’s lovers. Her mother had always told her she’d been a “Very (pause) Bad (pause) Girl,” and in this story she continues to follow her wicked ways, for after all, she’s a self-acknowledged “agent for the forces of darkness.” Early in the novel she discloses that she’s pregnant and being cared for by her friend Cloquet. For convenience, they’re keeping Kaitlyn, a young woman, in the basement for when “the Hunger” strikes, but on the night of a vampire attack, Kaitlyn finds herself freed in the confusion and Tallula gives birth to a son, quickly stolen and whisked away by the vampires. But wait...Tallula unexpectedly has a second child, a fraternal twin she names Zoë. In a bow to the plot of his previous novel, Duncan again resurrects the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena, a group that is once more realizing that they’ll be putting themselves out of business if they do in fact track down and kill all the werewolves. Walker and Mikhail, a couple of rogue agents formerly with WOCOP, introduce Tallula and Cloquet to a mythic book of vampire lore that predicts the return of Remshi, a kind of vampire deity who’s expected to return and inaugurate an age of vampire ascendancy. The Age of Remshi seems prophetic indeed when rumors spread that vampires are now beginning to walk in daylight. Through Tallula and her ilk, Duncan reacquaints us with the extreme notion of the Hunger, which is inextricably linked to both sex and violence, libido and id.
Duncan leaves no doubt about his commitment to the intellectual and the bestial traditions of werewolves and vampires, for he sustains a tone both brainy and vicious.Pub Date: July 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-307-59509-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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
Shannon’s prose style is serviceable, but her legion of fans will once again be here for the propulsive plot rather than...
Paige Mahoney, the Pale Dreamer of The Bone Season (2013), returns in this second volume of a projected seven-volume fantasy/science-fiction epic.
The novel begins with Paige’s escape to London as she eludes pursuers of all stripes and becomes public enemy No. 1. On the plus side, she’s with a gang of clairvoyants, and her cohort is headed by Jaxon Hall, one of the mime-lords of the title. (Mime-lords and mime-queens are leaders of clairvoyant gangs who form a subgroup within the various cohorts.) London becomes the main setting of the novel, and it assumes various guises, some comforting but most harrowing. Cohorts inhabit spaces that seem vaguely familiar (Covent Garden, Camden Town, Soho) yet remain mysterious and sinister. Readers of the first volume might also remember the emphasis on a specialized and arcane vocabulary applicable to the alternative universe the author creates. The glossary is again a welcome necessity. The prime mover of action here is Paige’s relentless pursuit by Scion, a governmental organization that sees her as a threat to its status and power. Eventually Paige meets up again with Arcturus Mesarthim, her Warden and a Rephaite—a physically immortal being. He has some advice for her—to be wary and to “manipulate [her] mime-lord…as he has spent his life manipulating others”—good advice for a world that is arcane, complex, multilayered and at times almost incomprehensible.
Shannon’s prose style is serviceable, but her legion of fans will once again be here for the propulsive plot rather than lyricism.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62040-893-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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