A suspenseful, intriguing, and highly original fantasy tale from a promising new author.
Bailey’s debut dark-fantasy novel offers a tale of old grudges, forbidden magic, and gruesome monsters.
As the story opens, the Unified Tribes that rule the lands are fractured, and the many different magical Realms of existence, including the Ethereal Realm and the Soul Realm, are no longer accessible to the denizens of the Terrestrial Realm. A tyrannical chief known as the Sachem has enslaved and slaughtered many innocent people in a reign of terror, with a supposed aim of keeping the peace, while his wife, Jalice, lives in cloistered indulgence in his fortress. Some whisper that the chief has been possessed by a dokojin, an otherworldly demon that feeds off pain. Jalice’s royal decoy, Delilee, and the assassin Annilasia have hatched a plot to kidnap Jalice and use magic to install Delilee in her place as part of a plan to uncover the truth behind the Sachem’s rise to power. But Annilasia gets more than she bargained for as she and Jalice are beset by hitmen, bloodthirsty abominations, and hungry dokojin, while also dealing with their bitter distrust of each other. Is Jalice truly the Sachem’s accomplice, and if so, why are there gaps in her memory? And what awaits them in the Black House, where an infernal bargain was struck many years ago? Overall, Bailey’s story, set in a distinctly non-Western fantasy world with an engaging mix of magic, spiritualism, and post-apocalyptic lore, is a tightly paced and exciting adventure. It occasionally succumbs to common pitfalls of high concept fantasy—namely, an overabundance of in-universe terminology and long-winded prose. However, the author manages to organically reveal important details of the world and its inhabitants along the way, while constantly heightening the stakes for his central characters. The book’s scenes of action and eldritch horror are especially well handled, but its greatest strength is Bailey’s commitment to developing the nuanced cast.
A suspenseful, intriguing, and highly original fantasy tale from a promising new author.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73436-161-2
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A satisfying, powerful conclusion.
The conclusion to the Raven Rings trilogy sees the brewing of a war 1,000 years in the making.
Hirka crossed over from contemporary Earth into Dreysíl and hopes to finally meet her blood family in the land of her father, Graal. In the place where the deadborn live in a strict, hierarchical society, she must once again carve a place for herself while her relatives plot an invasion of her home world in search of the Might. Meanwhile, Rime makes his way back to Ym only to find everything changed, his position as Ravenbearer compromised, and his few allies diminished in number and power. As Rime struggles to stop Graal and his invading horde and Hirka seeks a peaceful solution as well as a way to save Rime’s life, they desperately forge a path toward one another. This fantastic follow-up to The Rot (2021), translated from the original Norwegian, delves further into the mythology of its parallel worlds, the power of the Might, and a character-driven exploration of the intersections of power, identity, and belonging. Moments of repetitive internal monologue seep into an otherwise strong narrative in which the two protagonists experience significant growth as they find their footing in an unforgiving world during their search for answers, peace, and, ultimately, love. The main characters are White.
A satisfying, powerful conclusion. (glossary) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64690-002-2
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Arctis Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.
Self-assured, entertaining debut novel that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic.
The world’s not big enough for two wizards, as Tolkien taught us—even if that world is the shiny, modern one of the late 19th century, with its streetcars and electric lights and newfangled horseless carriages. Yet, as first-time novelist Morgenstern imagines it, two wizards there are, if likely possessed of more legerdemain than true conjuring powers, and these two are jealous of their turf. It stands to reason, the laws of the universe working thus, that their children would meet and, rather than continue the feud into a new generation, would instead fall in love. Call it Romeo and Juliet for the Gilded Age, save that Morgenstern has her eye on a different Shakespearean text, The Tempest; says a fellow called Prospero to young magician Celia of the name her mother gave her, “She should have named you Miranda...I suppose she was not clever enough to think of it.” Celia is clever, however, a born magician, and eventually a big hit at the Circus of Dreams, which operates, naturally, only at night and has a slightly sinister air about it. But what would you expect of a yarn one of whose chief setting-things-into-action characters is known as “the man in the grey suit”? Morgenstern treads into Harry Potter territory, but though the chief audience for both Rowling and this tale will probably comprise of teenage girls, there are only superficial genre similarities. True, Celia’s magical powers grow, and the ordinary presto-change-o stuff gains potency—and, happily, surrealistic value. Finally, though, all the magic has deadly consequence, and it is then that the tale begins to take on the contours of a dark thriller, all told in a confident voice that is often quite poetic, as when the man in the grey suit tells us, “There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict.”
Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-53463-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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