This exceedingly intricate fantasy will delight seasoned genre fans.
Mortals of various races engage in battle under the direction of deities in this fantasy series opener.
In the Five Kingdoms, near the Wasted Land, is the Stronghold. It’s the home of the Scorpion Men, who are humanoid from the chest up and arachnid below. The Immortal patron of the Scorpion Men, Blademon, has chosen Vardak as his apprentice. After much training and the gift of esoteric knowledge (via their mental bond), Blademon tasks Vardak with the mission of retrieving the Moon’s Eye relic. Vardak must accompany and protect Janna, the Fire Maiden Flariel’s human daughter, on this quest. Only the Moon’s Eye can counter the power of the Shalin Stone, already in the possession of a mad wizard who raises a Murkor army to threaten the Kingdoms. Further, the wizard Shan’tar plans to release the Nameless, a dread enemy of the Immortals, whom they imprisoned. To quicken his goal, Shan’tar summons the Soulless, magical thralls of the Nameless able to bend the Kingdoms to their will. Meanwhile, Tavesin Drondes, an apprentice mage in the Shining Tower, has found himself able to enter the Aetherium, a magical realm created by the Immortal Solsticia and used as a medium of transport by the Soulless. Can heroic forces act in time to save the Kingdoms? Calvin’s engaging epic tale opens with a dense and emotionally complex narrative. While laying the foundation for multiple novels, she offers crisp, nuanced characterizations, like that of Dranamir, the Soulless who brings Princess Tamarin Serales, murderer of her own parents, to heel. Nonhuman races, like the reptilian Drakkon, invigorate the plot, as do the enigmatic and beautiful Murkor, who never remove their hoods for strangers. Vardak, who speaks little and bristles at being a pawn of the Immortals, is a protagonist with great potential, especially as spurred on by the naïve Janna, whose ultimate decision regarding the Moon’s Eye shocks him. The author rewards patient action fans when the city of Jennavere falls with the aid of Scherok, a sea serpent. Many intriguing characters await the chance to grow in the next installments.
This exceedingly intricate fantasy will delight seasoned genre fans. (map)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73792-040-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
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