An engaging, SF–enriched tale with striking fantasy elements and diverse characters.
A ragtag crew searches for the fragments of an ancient wonder in this dystopian novel.
In a future Florida that includes augmented reality and biowarfare and is run by mega-corporations, Nagash “Gash” Jensen is a jaded veteran and ex–private investigator. He’s on the run from WalCo, a mega-corporation he angered after a botched job. He becomes the personal bodyguard of expert hacker Selina Kan, an aspiring archaeologist turning to less than legal means to gain access to the conflict-ridden island of Rhodes, a former Greek territory “with no major corporate interests to keep the peace.” Chasing down her father’s mysterious research into the missing pieces of the Colossus of Rhodes, the ancient statue of the sun god Helios, she believes there is more to the legend than meets the eye. Selina and Gash are joined by her assistant, Frederick Almond, a young man off the streets of Detroit, fresh, tough, and ready for the improbable. Their covert operation is funded by the mysterious, mob boss–like Hemmingway. Meanwhile, Interpol agents Sage and Hiroyuki are investigating a parallel ancient world mystery: that of international crimes and violence involving the Knights Hospitaller and the White Lotus gang—with Rhodes as the site of the action. As Selina faces sinister forces warning her away from the Colossus mystery, she and her group face WalCo on its hunt for Gash and get caught in the crossfire of the Knights Hospitaller and White Lotus. In the process, Selina and her cohorts encounter technological advances beyond their imaginations while the secrets they learn shake their understanding of humanity itself. The book’s prominent themes are found family, identity, and belonging; the dangers of technologically advanced mega-corporations; good versus evil; and humans versus mystical beings. Featuring parallel perspectives and storylines through various character viewpoints, the plot connects different pasts and presents together neatly. The story presents rich worldbuilding details without meandering and is consistently suspenseful. The focus on deliberately inclusive characterizations in the predominantly cis, White, male SF genre is masterful and commendable. Leunig seamlessly creates the voices of a gender-androgynous person (Sage) and a young woman of color (Selina), addressing issues of racism and heteronormativity without preaching or reducing the players to identity politics.
An engaging, SF–enriched tale with striking fantasy elements and diverse characters.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022
ISBN: 978-1951393175
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Spaceboy Books LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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