Book Two of the trilogy begun with The Summer Tree (1984); alas, like its predecessor, hard-working but overwrought, overcomplicated, and dourly unengaging. Once again the five young people from Toronto—muscular Dave, soulful Kevin, hero Paul, seer Kim, and sweet Jennifer—return to Fionavar to battle the evil minions of Rakoth Maugrim. This time they bring along some high-powered help: King Arthur and (also from British legend) the occupants of the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. Fionavar, you see, is being threatened by a bitter, unceasing winter sent by the renegade mage Metran, who, allying himself with the supreme evil, has occupied death's Spiral Castle; here, Metran is using the magical Cauldron of Khath Meigol (via some bloodcurdling rites) as his power source. The plotting is furiously complicated but not too convincing. Various good gods lend a helping hand even though it's against the rules. Arthur isn't given anything much to do. Jennifer turns out to be Guinevere. Lancelot makes a belated appearance. Like Paul in volume I, Kevin dies heroically (and, doubtless, equally impermanently). And Rakoth Maugrim's son by Jennifer—will he choose to be good or evil?—lurks in the background ready for volume III. Gnarled prose, heavy-handed proceedings, lots of mythological borrowings and not too much originality: the recipe as before, in short, and thus only for enthusiasts.
Pub Date: June 27, 1986
ISBN: 0451458265
Page Count: 404
Publisher: Arbor House
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1986
Satisfying on all levels of the reading experience: thrilling, emotionally resonant, and cerebral. Escape to Witch Mountain...
The product of a long-running alchemical experiment, twins Roger and Dodger struggle to understand their unique circumstances and gain control over them.
In the late 19th century, ambitious young alchemist Asphodel Baker tried to rewrite reality to create a better world. She set in motion a long-range plan to incarnate the alchemical Doctrine of Ethos, encoding her scheme in a series of children’s books destined to become classics. In the present day, the considerably more ruthless James Reed, who is her creation and her killer, breeds twins designed to each incarnate half of the Doctrine; once they have fully matured, united, and manifested as “the living force that holds the universe together,” he will seize their power to control everything. Failed experiments are terminated. Roger Middleton, brilliant with languages, develops a strange telepathic connection with Dodger Cheswich, a math genius living across the country from him. Despite all of Reed’s brutal and covert efforts to keep the pair apart so their abilities will flower fully, they cannot help re-encountering each other and then separating in the wake of tragedy. Their attempts to avoid becoming one of Reed’s failures force them to draw upon their more arcane powers: Roger can persuade people—and reality itself—to bend to his wishes, while Dodger can actually reverse time back to a certain fixed point. With the help of Erin, the living incarnation of Order, they must craft the timeline that allows them to survive long enough to realize their potential. Books that include magic range across a spectrum that puts rules-based, logical magic on one end and serendipitous magic with no obvious cause or structure on the other. This book falls intriguingly far on the logic end; with its experiments and protocols, it redefines what is typically meant by science fantasy. If there’s a flaw in McGuire's (That Ain’t Witchcraft, 2019, etc.) gripping story, it’s that it isn't clear how Reed could really gain complete control over the Doctrine long term, nor why Reed’s followers actually believe that he would cede any of the Doctrine’s power were he to gain it.
Satisfying on all levels of the reading experience: thrilling, emotionally resonant, and cerebral. Escape to Witch Mountain for grown-ups.Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19552-4
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A somewhat fragmentary nocturnal shadows Jim Nightshade and his friend Will Halloway, born just before and just after midnight on the 31st of October, as they walk the thin line between real and imaginary worlds. A carnival (evil) comes to town with its calliope, merry-go-round and mirror maze, and in its distortion, the funeral march is played backwards, their teacher's nephew seems to assume the identity of the carnival's Mr. Cooger. The Illustrated Man (an earlier Bradbury title) doubles as Mr. Dark. comes for the boys and Jim almost does; and there are other spectres in this freakshow of the mind, The Witch, The Dwarf, etc., before faith casts out all these fears which the carnival has exploited... The allusions (the October country, the autumn people, etc.) as well as the concerns of previous books will be familiar to Bradbury's readers as once again this conjurer limns a haunted landscape in an allegory of good and evil. Definitely for all admirers.
Pub Date: June 15, 1962
ISBN: 0380977273
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962
PERSPECTIVES
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