A revisionist view of Cinderella’s adoptive family dominates this brilliantly plotted fantasy from Maguire, a popular children’s book author whose first adult novel, Wicked (1995), offered a similar reimagining of the land of Oz. The time is the 17th century, the place Holland. And the story begins when Dutch-born Margarethe Fisher brings her daughters from their native England to the thriving city of Haarlem, where a kindly grandfather’s home promises safe haven. But Grandfather has died; preadolescent Iris (who narrates) is too plain to marry, and elder sister Ruth is an ungainly simpleton scarcely able to speak. A beautiful “changeling” child seen through a window confers a kind of blessing on the astonished Ruth, and the resourceful Margarethe quickly restores their fortunes, installing them as house servants to portrait painter Luykas Schoonmaker (“The Master—) and later marrying Luykas’s widowed and wealthy patron, importer Cornelius van den Meer (whose willful, strangely reclusive daughter Clara is that very “changeling”). As Margarethe seizes ever greater riches and power, Iris begins to blossom into a confident young woman whose artist’s eye earns her the respect of both the Master and his handsome apprentice Caspar, becoming a handmaiden-mentor whom the highborn beauty Clara eventually accepts as a sister. Maguire’s patient re-creation of the world of the Dutch burghers builds a solid realistic base from which the novel soars into beguiling fantasy when its links with the familiar Cinderella story become explicit. The visiting Dowager Queen of France arrives in Haarlem seeking a worthy portraitist. A lavish ball, Clara’s enchantment of a Handsome Prince, a climactic fire, and a wonderfully ironic surprise ending all figure prominently in the superbly woven climax and denouement. A ravishing meditation on the truism that “beauty helps preserve the spirit of mankind.” Maguire is rapidly becoming one of contemporary fiction’s most assured myth-makers.
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-039282-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
This gorgeous novel is a must for more than just Tolkien fanatics.
Christopher Tolkien presents the final piece in a trilogy of Middle-earth stories his father, J.R.R. Tolkien, did not live to see published.
In what he assures us is the last installment, Tolkien returns to edit his father's work (Beren and Lúthien, 2017, etc.), this time with the tale of the secret city of Gondolin. Ulmo, the great sea god, visits a wanderer named Tuor and tells him his destiny: "O Tuor of the lonely heart, I will not that thou dwell for ever in fair places of birds and flowers....Now must thou seek through the lands for the city of the folk called Gondothlim or the dwellers in stone, and the Noldoli shall escort thee thither in secret for fear of the spies of Melko." Tuor makes it to Gondolin, where he marries the king's daughter and has a son, Eärendel. Meanwhile, the evil Melko, whom Ulmo was so worried about, is scheming to find the hidden city and destroy it. When the city's location is given up in "the most infamous treachery in the history of Middle-earth," a great battle ensues, and despite Tuor's valor, Gondolin falls. The history of Middle-earth is so intricately detailed and fully imagined, readers are lucky indeed that Christopher Tolkien is such an excellent editor. With a full glossary, additional notes, a family tree, and a list of names with descriptions, it is easy to keep track of who is whose son (Lord of the Rings fans will be pleased to note that Eärendel is Elrond's father) and which races of elves and orcs and goblins are which and live where. Tolkien also takes great care to explain where each version of the story comes from and pieces together its evolution, giving much-needed context. All this makes it easy to enjoy the tale itself, which is beautifully written, with lyrical descriptions of Ulmo, Gondolin, and even the dragons and Balrogs that devastate the city. Even the battle sequences are somehow lovely. The tone here is more like a fairy tale than the main Ring cycle, which is perfectly suited to its shorter length.
This gorgeous novel is a must for more than just Tolkien fanatics.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-328-61304-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Simply brilliant.
Cat and Griffin continue their quest to bring just leadership to the three realms but must navigate hostile landscapes, magical creatures, and even a gladiator-style to-the-death battle before they can overcome the malevolent ruler of Tarva to unite it with Sinta.
Bouchet’s sophomore title (A Promise of Fire, 2016), the second in a planned trilogy, is as consummately crafted as the first. Cat has found happiness with her love, Griffin—the warrior who overcame the vicious, greedy Sinta royalty, winning his family the right to rule the kingdom—yet has hidden her true identity as the Lost Princess of Fisa, one of the other two realms of Thalyria. But Cat is more than a princess or warrior; more even than the legendary Kingmaker foretold in prophecies. In fact, as the blood heir to Fisa, she is a demigoddess. In Griffin’s mind she is the key to bringing the three realms together under their combined rule. In her mind, she’s the “harbinger of the end. Destroyer of realms.” Cat blames herself for the deaths of her siblings and is unable to see herself as a hero in any way, but when Griffin and his small band of warriors decide to take her advice and travel to find a magical race of creatures to help protect their borders, she refuses to stay behind. The quest leads them to the Chaos Wizard, a world of snow and ice, a maze navigated with magic thread, a classic riddle, and a battle with a Cyclops—with unexpected allies and a few jaw-dropping moments of true deus ex machina that make it clear Cat has some extraordinarily powerful friends in high places and that it looks like the gods are smiling on Cat and Griffin’s plans for a new world order. With breathtaking storytelling, high-octane action and adventure, intense romance, and threads to ancient Greek mythology that both ground the worldbuilding and spin it in new, imaginative directions, Bouchet sets the bar for high-concept fantasy romance.
Simply brilliant.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-2604-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
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