bookshelf

DRAGON’S EYE

Name: DRAGON’S EYE
Author: James A. Hetley
ISBN: 0-441-01328-7

by James A. Hetley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2005

An unexceptional story that may appeal to teens and fans of contemporary magic and witchcraft.

bookshelf

Middling urban fantasy pitting a family of thieves against a powerful drug lord/sorcerer, from Hetley (The Winter Oak, 2005, etc.).

For generations, the Morgan family has lived in the town of Stonefort, Maine, a place where “[f]ew things…are exactly what they seem.” After his father's funeral, Gary Morgan receives a graveside visit from his uncle—a man who supposedly died over 20 years ago—and learns that his father is not dead after all, and that the tower at Morgan Point houses a powerful being known as the Dragon, who can imbue the men of the Morgan family with certain supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, a formidable brujo is holding Gary's father hostage, aiming to learn the Morgan family's secret so that he can harness the power of the Dragon for himself. In order to stop him, Gary will have to master his newfound abilities very quickly, and join forces with Stonefort's other mystical family—the Haskells. Gary is likable, but the silly plot, convoluted mythology and the characters' unfailing acceptance of even the most bizarre facts combine to destroy credibility.

An unexceptional story that may appeal to teens and fans of contemporary magic and witchcraft.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2005

ISBN: 0-441-01328-7

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Ace/Berkley

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005

Categories:

FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

bookshelf

Awards & Accolades

Likes

613

Our Verdict

GET IT

New York Times Bestseller

DEVOLUTION

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

bookshelf

Awards & Accolades

Likes

613

Our Verdict

GET IT

New York Times Bestseller

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.