A fast-paced, intellectual fantasy story with lessons about values, greed, and empathy.
In this allegorical tale, debut author Chew creates a magical world of mayhem that’s full of parallels to modern society.
As the story opens, a dragon named Khaajd transforms herself into a young girl with striking green eyes and enters a human village, where she’s named “Lyssa.” She listens, follows, adapts, and her old life fades away as she lives among humans for 22 years. However, a shocking event—the death of her own dragon mother—rips her back into reality. Specifically, it exposes the hard truth that in a war between humans and dragons, she must choose to fight on the correct side. To that end, she shifts back into dragon form and devises a plan to learn the vulnerabilities of the human world, in order to aid the dragons in their fight. An exciting tale of deceit ensues as Khaajd transforms into Lyssa once more and pretends to live among people in order to develop a battle strategy. As the story twists and turns, the war between humans and dragons grows more intense. Chew also infuses the novel with clever social commentary regarding materialism and disparity of wealth in society. For example, Khaajd explains to a fellow dragon, “Give a dragon a promise of good food, clean water, a sheltered cave and the health of his body, and he will be happy....Give a human the exact same but no more, and he will be wretched. Humans seek happiness through things.” These nuances encourage a complex understanding of both sides—the human side, which fears dragons and misunderstands their desire to attack and demolish, and the dragon side, which views humans as the real monsters. The author successfully builds a rich world, fueled by fine dialogue and vivid descriptions, and never lets his high-concept themes overpower the action.
A fast-paced, intellectual fantasy story with lessons about values, greed, and empathy.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-1496999207
Page Count: 222
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Final installment—each entry independently intelligible—of Hobb's stunning fantasy trilogy (Royal Assassin, 1996; Assassin's Apprentice, 1995) about the beleaguered Six Duchies and their Farseer kings. Months ago, King Verity vanished into the far mountains in search of the semi-mythical Elderlings, whose help he must have in order to defeat the rampaging Red Ship Raiders, leaving his murderous, venal, and insanely ambitious brother, Prince Regal, to dispose of Verity's last few loyalists at his leisure—including narrator, spy, and assassin FitzChivalry. Poor Fitz, unable to contact his beloved Molly (she thinks he's dead) and daughter (by Molly) for fear of exposing them to Regal's attentions, uses his magic Skill to locate Verity and receives an imperious summons: ``COME TO ME!'' So, abandoning his plan to assassinate Regal, Fitz enters the mountains with a small band of helpers. Eventually, having evaded Regal's minions, Fitz comes upon Verity Skill-carving a huge dragon out of black rock; nearby stand other lifelike dragon-sculptures that, to Fitz's animal-magic Wit, seem somehow alive. Are these eerie sculptures what remain of the Elderlings? Yet, for all his Skill, Verity cannot bring the dragons to life; and soon Regal will arrive with his armies and his Skilled coterie. An enthralling conclusion to this superb trilogy, displaying an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama.
Pub Date: March 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-553-10640-6
Page Count: 668
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1997
The indomitable, quick-on-the-draw Lizbeth remains an irresistible heroine, and Harris proves she still has the magic touch.
In the second installment of Harris’ weird Western series set in an alternate former United States (after An Easy Death, 2018), gunslinger/bodyguard for hire Lizbeth “Gunnie” Rose must accompany a mysterious crate to its destination, but things go terribly wrong.
A long train ride east to the country of Dixie isn’t 19-year-old Lizbeth’s idea of a good time, but it is a job, and she needs it, especially since her last job left her with a long recovery and no crew. Her new troupe, the Lucky Crew, seems competent enough, and when Lizbeth spots some suspicious folks on the train, she’s pretty sure they’re about to be tested. A shootout precedes an explosion that engulfs the train. Someone must really want the Lucky Crew’s cargo. Lizbeth has been shot, her crew has been decimated, and the contents of the crate are gone, but she’s still got a job to do. When a blast from Lizbeth’s past—Eli Savarov, a grigori, or Russian wizard—shows up, Lizbeth discovers that he’s in search of whomever hired the Lucky Crew to deliver the crate. Lizbeth agrees to take a job as his bodyguard, and the two, posing as a married couple (it’s only proper) poke around the Louisiana town of Sally for clues that will lead them to the chest. They quickly realize the town is in racial turmoil: Slavery doesn’t technically exist, but it might as well considering the backward attitudes of the townsfolk and their shabby treatment of Sally’s black citizens. It all seems to lead to a powerful family that holds the town in its thrall, and, of course, the explosive contents of that troublesome crate. Lizbeth and Eli spend quite a bit of time on old-fashioned sleuthing (and, delightfully, between the sheets), but the action ratchets up exponentially in the surprising last half. Lizbeth is a no-nonsense, dryly funny narrator, and while this installment lacks a bit of the spark of the first book, it’s still a shoot’em-up, rollicking ride.
The indomitable, quick-on-the-draw Lizbeth remains an irresistible heroine, and Harris proves she still has the magic touch.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9495-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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