A worthy chapter in Fallon’s satisfying fantasy tale.
The latest installment in Australian fantasy author Fallon’s sprawling Tide Lords quartet (The Gods of Amyrantha, 2009, etc.).
In this, the third of a four-book series, the author continues her fantasy saga concerning powerful immortal beings, and the mortals who aim to stop them. One of these mortals, Arkady Desean, begins this book as a slave after the events of the previous book; she believes that her husband, Stellan, the heir to the Glaeban throne half a world away, is dead, hanged by the evil immortal Jaxyn. In fact, he is alive, and, with Declan Hawkes, the Glaeban spymaster recently made immortal, he forms a plan to save Arkady and to foment royal-court intrigue. Later, Declan and Arkady meet up with Cayal, the Immortal Prince, and a host of other immortals. Fallon delivers a highly complicated tale full of intertwining plots and loads of characters, but brings it all across with a refreshingly straightforward prose style. Though newcomers should definitely read the first two installments of the series first, the author does her best to provide relevant back story along the way, and she ends the book with revelations that will make readers look forward to the next, and final, book in the series.
A worthy chapter in Fallon’s satisfying fantasy tale.Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7653-1684-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
A somewhat fragmentary nocturnal shadows Jim Nightshade and his friend Will Halloway, born just before and just after midnight on the 31st of October, as they walk the thin line between real and imaginary worlds. A carnival (evil) comes to town with its calliope, merry-go-round and mirror maze, and in its distortion, the funeral march is played backwards, their teacher's nephew seems to assume the identity of the carnival's Mr. Cooger. The Illustrated Man (an earlier Bradbury title) doubles as Mr. Dark. comes for the boys and Jim almost does; and there are other spectres in this freakshow of the mind, The Witch, The Dwarf, etc., before faith casts out all these fears which the carnival has exploited... The allusions (the October country, the autumn people, etc.) as well as the concerns of previous books will be familiar to Bradbury's readers as once again this conjurer limns a haunted landscape in an allegory of good and evil. Definitely for all admirers.
Pub Date: June 15, 1962
ISBN: 0380977273
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962
PERSPECTIVES
Sullivan’s world is richly detailed but emotionally threadbare since all the action, bloodshed, magic, and menace lead to a...
In Elan’s ancient past, men were called Rhunes and were treated as less than animals by the long-lived, magic-wielding Fhrey, whom the Rhunes believe to be immortal gods.
With a suspenseful plot and some engaging characters, the first book of a new epic-fantasy series returns Sullivan's (The Death of Dulgath, 2015, etc.) readers to the land of Elan 3,000 years before the events of his previous Riyria Chronicles. One of the five major races of Elan, the Rhunes eke out poverty-stricken lives in clusters of small settlements, or dahls, while the extremely long-lived and well-heeled Fhrey rule as if they were gods. But when Raithe and his father cross the forbidden Bern River, their trespass blossoms into a war between the Fhrey and the Rhunes, in which Raithe earns the name of God-Killer and the Fhrey learn to respect Rhunes as men. Along the way readers will encounter a ferocious, possibly demonic, man-killing bear, Grin the Brown; a mystic child, Suri, who is far more than she seems, and her white wolf companion, Minna; a brave widow, Persephone, who will become the first female chieftain of her dahl; and a host of others, including such genre standards as giants, talking trees, goblins, and woodland spirits, all painted into a vast but familiar fantasy canvas.
Sullivan’s world is richly detailed but emotionally threadbare since all the action, bloodshed, magic, and menace lead to a clichéd conclusion: the good ones win, and the evil ones lose.Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-96533-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
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