A satisfying start to a new series about two royal brothers confronting a dark lord.
Evil returns and siblings reunite to defeat a common enemy in this debut fantasy novel.
When a foreboding piece of parchment is discovered in King Richard Bymoor’s Kingdom of Driniri, it sets in motion a chain of events that leads to emotional reunions and terrible loss. Sensing a dark force in the document, King Richard seeks his estranged brother, Lord Markus of Seth, who abandoned the realm and his claim to the throne of Driniri many years ago. The men soon realize that the parchment is a piece of the evil Nalal’s legacy and “the origin of dark magic.” Lord Gamil of Raimar plans to reconstruct the parchment, access the source of Nalal’s power, and take over the realm. The brothers form an alliance and plan to marshal their forces against Gamil (“War is coming, Richard, and it’s coming your way,” Markus tells the king. “The hows and whys are not important now. We must prepare…There is no way I will let that madman get his hands on this knowledge”). They journey toward Raimar, accompanied by a group of faithful companions including the steadfast William, the magical Juvich, and Guthru the Ogre. An eerie forest, a massive wall, and a seemingly abandoned city offer clues to the origins of Nalal and his abilities. Terrifying creatures provide insight into Nalal’s past and hint that more potent and destructive secrets are hidden in the archives at Raven City in Raimar. This novel fulfills the promises of the genre; it features magic and otherworldly beings in a well-constructed, imaginary world. Atkins offers a cast of likable characters, led by the endearing Richard and the mysterious Markus. The plot tension builds nicely with every corpse and eerily abandoned dwelling leading to a gratifying standoff between his two heroes and their sinister prey. The brothers’ storyline is by far the most engaging. While the duo leads a small force toward Gamil, Atkins’ parallel plot focuses on the military and the outmanned forces of Seth and Driniri. Here, the author gets bogged down in strategy and troop movement. The ultimate battle between Raimar and the armies of Driniri and Seth feels superfluous following the climax at Raven City. Yet the book recovers nicely at the end. Narrative threads are resolved, though Atkins strategically leaves a few loose ends.
A satisfying start to a new series about two royal brothers confronting a dark lord.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5146-2258-2
Page Count: 342
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.
After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.
No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods—but not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don’t believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could return—and soon. “Do you not see? It is a cycle.” The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief system—Queen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tané of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the South—are linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a “chosen one” aspect to the tale, it’s far from the main point. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn’t new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels (The Song Rising, 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63557-029-8
Page Count: 848
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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