A smart, pleasing, unpretentious fantasy that is only the opening movement of a planned series.
Cunder’s debut is a fantasy bildungsroman that chronicles the journey of the young Arius and his dragon through a once-happy land.
In the mystical land of Farahdin, before our young hero Arius is born, the evil Contemno, with magical powers that can make any skeptic disappear in a puff of blackness, stages a bloody coup and ascends to the throne. Once in power, the megalomaniac not only instills fear in his subjects, but he installs creepy portraits of himself in every one of his reluctant subjects’ homes. It is in this tyrannical, dystopian environment that young Arius is born. His parents die a mysterious and vaguely heroic death in the prologue, just tantalizing enough to whet readers’ appetites. When the narrative proper begins, Arius is hawking daggers under the care and tutelage of a man named Lodus, a living compendium of local lore and legend. He regales the young Arius with stories of elves and the lost world of the dragons, which Arius takes as only the entertainments of an old man. But there’s not too much exposition before Arius’ greater destiny comes calling. It’s well-trodden territory in the genre, but Cunder’s lively prose and the pleasure of his interwoven narratives—one chapter in Arius’ present and the next charting Contemno’s rise to wickedness—are as sophisticated as they are easily accessible, with only occasional flourishes of purple prose that seem endemic to the fantasy genre. Indeed, it’s really a book tailored to please the pleasure centers of the fantasy addict, and rarely does it diverge from the archetypal steps the genre demands. However, this adherence to convention is the book’s strength as it doesn’t flail about in avant-garde meanderings. Once the plot starts moving, it rarely lets up and the revelations abound. The final (or is it?) denouement might be rushed a bit too vigorously considering all the build up, but the final battle with Contemno and Arius’ new knowledge of his family history sets the stage for continuation.
A smart, pleasing, unpretentious fantasy that is only the opening movement of a planned series.Pub Date: May 4, 2010
ISBN: 978-1452017723
Page Count: 476
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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