Audiences will be guessing not just who the murderer is, but what kind of craziness lurks around the corner.
The latest from Alberts (Photographic Memory, 2014, etc.) sees a motley collection of detectives, special operatives, and imaginary beings investigate a murder that has displeased Death itself.
Jules Sallie, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, can’t keep a job. He’s just been fired from his tech-support position with MyTronix, and his friend Billy at the temp agency Kronos & Associates doesn’t have a new job for him. Jules gets drunk and wanders into a homeless camp where he samples a strange concoction. After passing out, he wakes up feeling enlightened—he’s also made friends with a garbage troll named Billabong Willie. Meanwhile, in Madison, Death seeks the help of Ed and Phil, of the Unseen Detective Agency; they investigate crimes in the world of gods, demigods, and other fantastic beings invisible to normal society. Dedun, the Nubian God of Incense, has been killed, but he wasn’t on Death’s list—someone else is responsible. The link between Jules’ newly found wisdom and Dedun’s murder may lie with the Map Watchers. Hal and Calvin watch over Madison, keeping track of individuals both mortal and immortal using a sophisticated live map. When an anomaly pops up in Sun Prairie, they wonder if the Replacement has arrived. But who is the Replacement, and what is the connection to Dedun? Author Alberts has once again delivered a vigorous whirlwind of ideas, this time in the shape of a fantasy whodunit. His knowledge of classical and popular deities is put to work, and the result is so colorful that readers may wish for him to trim the cast (Santa Claus, Destiny personified, and a leprechaun among them). Alberts’ prose is swimming in puns, most of which are entertaining—though some feel forced (one chapter title is “The Garage Band is Garage Banned”). Longtime sci-fi fans will enjoy the references sprinkled throughout, including those to Star Wars and Stranger in a Strange Land’s “grokking.” Ultimately, readers should strap in for a bizarre, though warm adventure.
Audiences will be guessing not just who the murderer is, but what kind of craziness lurks around the corner.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1508668398
Page Count: 330
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quiet tale that considers the way small, human connections can disrupt the callous powers of authority.
A novelist tries to adapt to her ever changing reality as her world slowly disappears.
Renowned Japanese author Ogawa (Revenge, 2013, etc.) opens her latest novel with what at first sounds like a sinister fairy tale told by a nameless mother to a nameless daughter: “Long ago, before you were born, there were many more things here…transparent things, fragrant things…fluttery ones, bright ones….It’s a shame that the people who live here haven’t been able to hold such marvelous things in their hearts and minds, but that’s just the way it is on this island.” But rather than a twisted bedtime story, this depiction captures the realities of life on the narrator's unnamed island. The small population awakens some mornings with all knowledge of objects as mundane as stamps, valuable as emeralds, omnipresent as birds, or delightful as roses missing from their minds. They then proceed to discard all physical traces of the idea that has disappeared—often burning the lifeless ones and releasing the natural ones to the elements. The authoritarian Memory Police oversee this process of loss and elimination. Viewing “anything that fails to vanish when they say it should [as] inconceivable,” they drop into homes for inspections, seizing objects and rounding up anyone who refuses—or is simply unable—to follow the rules. Although, at the outset, the plot feels quite Orwellian, Ogawa employs a quiet, poetic prose to capture the diverse (and often unexpected) emotions of the people left behind rather than of those tormented and imprisoned by brutal authorities. Small acts of rebellion—as modest as a birthday party—do not come out of a commitment to a greater cause but instead originate from her characters’ kinship with one another. Technical details about the disappearances remain intentionally vague. The author instead stays close to her protagonist’s emotions and the disorientation she and her neighbors struggle with each day. Passages from the narrator’s developing novel also offer fascinating glimpses into the way the changing world affects her unconscious mind.
A quiet tale that considers the way small, human connections can disrupt the callous powers of authority.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-101-87060-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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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