An intoxicating, top-flight dark fantasy.
A secluded island realm gets raided for its mythical secrets in this fantasy series opener.
Fourteen-year-old Icabus is a villager in Aggersel on the island of Apenninus. He’s been dreaming of ships arriving on the nearby lake and violent men who attack. One day, three ships do appear, and their captain, Furius of Authia, says “chance or fate” led them to the village. He and his small contingent are desperate to visit the Old Kingdom, sealed by the village ancestors. The sorcerer Galen once guarded “healing waters” that are now cursed. Furius nevertheless wants access to help save his homeland, fallen to the savage Arx Caeli imperialists. When the Aggersel Elders agree to vote on the matter, Furius goes behind their backs and insists that Icabus’ father, Atius, take him and his group to the Old Kingdom. The duplicitous sailors do find Galen and, with his consent, perform a swiftly brutal takeover of the village using soldiers hidden on the ships. Icabus flees into the forest, where the monstrous Taker lives. Yet deeper in the wilderness, there is hope. Apenninus is home to many strange, miraculous tribes that aren’t quite human. There’s also Nubis, a “dragon knight,” who explains to Icabus the secret of “mana,” a substance that can change a creature’s form. Agapoff’s tale is an enthralling example of showing the story rather than telling it. A minimum of exposition brings characters and dialogue to the forefront of vivid events that crest over readers. As Furius reveals his evil, the narrative’s dramatic grip tightens. Horror fans will love the surprising moments, as when one villain is eaten alive (“There was so much blood, and still the butcher shrieked, arching his body and flapping what remained of his arms and legs like bloody flippers”). While dragons are legends, missing from the world, readers instead meet the endearing Shrail, a giant talking bat. Yet change is the thematic center here. As Nubis says, “If you resist it, you will always be disappointed....Accept it, and it might be used to your advantage.” A wider world awaits in the sequel.
An intoxicating, top-flight dark fantasy.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-578-26023-5
Page Count: 468
Publisher: Mill City Press, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 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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