A visceral fantasy series opener that ultimately squanders an intriguing premise.
A god strives for cosmic and familial balance in this fantasy series starter.
Elysium is the throne planet where the angelic Order dwells—a group that seeks to guide mortals to enlightenment. Sitting upon the throne is El, the Almighty, whom the goddess Aphrodite calls “Big Cranky.” He’s rebooted the universe numerous times in an attempt to create balance between good and evil. His angelic House includes his son, Lucifer; his daughter, Calliope; and Lucifer’s wife, Lilith. When sentient life is mysteriously eradicated from six planets, El sends warriors Gabriel and Muerte to investigate. They encounter Cthulhu, the Tentacle King, and his army of shape-shifting minions; he’s been devouring souls to take revenge on El for a past betrayal. Lilith, meanwhile, has a vision in which Lucifer defeats his father for the throne. Members of the House of Cronus also covet power, including Poseidon, who was recently rejected by his wife, Posedia. As the angels take to the battlefield against Cthulhu, Poseidon and his father, Cronus, decide to stir up further chaos. El decides to personally deal with the Tentacle King, but doing so ages him noticeably; he steps aside to rest, allowing Lucifer to lead. Pyne paints his generational saga of deities in broad emotional strokes, mimicking tales from Greek and Norse mythology. The notion of placing many of humanity’s gods into a single epic is ripe with potential, and the novel’s first section builds great momentum toward a showdown with Cthulhu. Its often wry tone is enjoyable, as when El tells Lucifer, “I'll spank you over my knee, then flip you into Hell.” However, Pyne switches from grand to personal stakes abruptly, giving play to violent relationships (such as that between Calliope and Poseidon) and checking in with newly created humankind in short episodes. Various plot threads showcase familiar secondary characters, such as Apollo and Hercules, but they add to a sense of sprawl, dissipating the urgency established earlier in the work. The conclusion promises further confrontations in a sequel. Black-and-white illustrations by Spooner effectively add to the grimness of the proceedings.
A visceral fantasy series opener that ultimately squanders an intriguing premise.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77739-551-3
Page Count: 518
Publisher: ISBN CANADA
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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