A measured but riveting tale of the wonders and potential dangers of unknown worlds.
In Konrad’s SF/fantasy novel set thousands of years in the future, a soldier struggles to maintain peace on a colonized planet.
Senior Militus Matt Heraclius, a combat veteran, arrives on Helivran via a quantum transmatter (teleporter). Helivran is a Gem-world—one of 18 “pre-terraformed” Earth-like worlds discovered by humans—and its colony’s mayor has requested help with the “creatures” there. The creatures, it turns out, are vulps: sentient, genetically modified human/wolf hybrids whose ancestors were abducted by aliens, and who’ve lived on Helivran much longer than the colonists have. The mayor wants to eradicate the vulps, but Heraclius opts for a peaceful resolution and gets to know such vulps as Scotwulf Primas, leader of the Mountain Claw tribe. Heraclius has plenty of time to immerse himself in the culture; the colony can’t power its own transmatter, which means he’ll have to wait a few years for a ship to pick him up. In the meantime, someone on Helivran is cooking up a nefarious plan, and it turns out that the planet is home to numerous Claw tribes, some of whom may not be friendly. Konrad’s novel, which kicks off a prospective series, boasts dense worldbuilding with myriad scenes involving characters discussing politics, religion, history, and more. Although this material generates minimal action, it also suits the narrative, in which Heraclius attempts to pinpoint the source of a severe culture clash. The characters’ backstories are also enthralling, particularly that of Heraclius, whom readers follow as he matures during his time at a military academy and War College. Genre fans will find the technology familiar, but it’s well incorporated into the story. Humans and sentient AIs, for example, have a curious relationship; although they both abide by a peace treaty, humans know very little about AIs, who’ve discovered nearly all 100 planets in the “Known Universe.” Surprises are abundant, including how Heraclius wound up on Helivran. Most of the mysteries are solved in the book’s latter half, but there’s no doubt that the author is saving some details for sequels.
A measured but riveting tale of the wonders and potential dangers of unknown worlds.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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