While the fantasy worldbuilding often goes heavy on magical argot, this series kickoff makes a decent foundation for...
After her archaeologist uncle and his associate are slain by mystery fiends, Boston teenager Norah goes on the run; she is both hunted and protected by more-than-human warriors in this young adult novel.
The best conceit of author Clark’s fair opening to a planned YA fantasy series sort of lurks in the background scenery and takes a while to catch the viewer’s attention: Imagine a modern world in which fantasylands such as Atlantis and Hyperborea (Conan the Barbarian’s realm) were accepted historical facts. Thus, in the present day, intrigue surrounds their lost relics and lingering power. Except Clark focuses on her own mythic MacGuffin, an Icelandic civilization from 280 million years ago called Cobbogoth. There, the natives possessed mystic-crystal technology and enhanced cell structures giving them long lives and superpowers, and a sort of werewolf-bat-demon species called Dogril lurked. Norah Luken, 17, is a chosen-one type living in modern-day New England. Her uncle Jack, an archaeologist, explored the Cobbogothian ruins, even making scientific history by unearthing a Dogril skeleton. When Jack is brutally slain and his closest colleague ends up likewise, stunned Norah becomes the cops’ prime suspect. With her photographic memory and fragments of knowledge that Jack had, in fact, met with real, live Cobbogothians and found the great subterranean Cobbogoth city, Norah careens from one mysterious guardian-type to another (“I’m one of the last three qualdrine-wielding Naridi,” explains one Nordic hunk). The action (some of which causes pretty ghastly wounds, but the good guys invariably bounce back via crystal EMT) gets further and further from the mundane, human world and into the Cobbogothian one; amid all the nomenclature, shape-shifting characters and teleportation into TARDIS-like environments (ones that are bigger on the inside than the outside), Norah has a tough time telling up from down and friend from foe. Readers may be equally confused, though appreciable thought has gone into the author’s dense system of “elementalist” magic and pantheon of gods and demigods, more so than the typical dragons/Vikings stew. Stylized illustrations and marginalia are handsome touches, resembling the art of illuminated manuscripts more so than comic-book literal renderings.
While the fantasy worldbuilding often goes heavy on magical argot, this series kickoff makes a decent foundation for forthcoming mystic crystal revelations.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463732318
Page Count: 336
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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