Supernatural high jinks abound in this joyfully flippant tale.
Two agents—one a vampire, the other a werewolf—clash when attempting to stop a rampaging vampwolf in this paranormal comedy.
Vampire Special Agent Samuel Johnson’s latest mission from VATE (Vampires Against the Evil) is fairly routine: capture a vampwolf terrorizing Des Moines, Iowa. There’s just one problem. The vampire’s boss, Beryl, is partnering him with Joseph Butler, a werewolf. Samuel, a typically solemn, calculating vampire, dreads working with an impulsive, unruly wolf. Organizations like VATE were created to keep humans, who’d centuries ago hunted vampires and wolves into near extinction, safe but ignorant of both races. When the vampwolf goes on a Friday night rage at the mall, Samuel and Joseph easily agree on rescuing human shoppers that haven’t yet managed to flee. But Samuel wants a precise plan of attack, while Joseph impetuously strikes, intent on killing the vampwolf. Complicating matters are two groups of the Evil Ones (vampires) and Wild Ones (werewolves), feral versions of each that would rather kill/eat than protect humans. They exchange blows with the vampwolf as well but could target humans at any time—or turn on the agents. If Samuel and Joseph can find the vampwolf in human form, they’ll have a chance of killing him. That, however, would necessitate cooperating with each other, an arduous feat by its very nature. The novel is a quick read with beaucoup action sequences. A large portion of the laughs comes from Samuel’s first-person perspective. The lofty narrator repeatedly disparages humans, whom he considers stupid, and even apologizes for possibly offending werewolf readers before calling them “obnoxious.” Carpenter (A Limitless Policy, 2014, etc.) sets his story apart with some unfamiliar genre traits: vampires and werewolves do not turn humans into their kind, and both agents can transform (Samuel into a mist or bat) while somehow retaining their clothes and weapons. Intermittent, chapter-length flashbacks to Beryl handing out the assignment and Samuel first meeting his furry partner slow down an otherwise steady pace; shorter recaps would have been as effective. Nevertheless, a few genuine surprises in the final act make for a solid ending and potential setup for a sequel.
Supernatural high jinks abound in this joyfully flippant tale.Pub Date: April 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5234-4089-4
Page Count: 168
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2016
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
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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