An ambitious and intriguing religious conspiracy tale that lacks convincing characters.
In this debut novel spanning two millennia, a retired professor unearths an alternate history of Christianity.
Mackellan Kirby, professor emeritus of ancient religious studies, spends his retirement translating the Dead Sea Scrolls. He discovers that parts of the text have been redacted and believes the missing sections are in an earlier document, the “Testament of Ephes,” the contents of which would “rock Christianity to its foundations.” Kirby enlists his niece Fiona, a CIA agent, and nephew Joe to travel to Santiago de Compostela to find the item. They are followed by the Vatican and Sam Wardell, an ex–CIA agent and now a consultant for the Congregation of the Holy Baptism; both organizations want to stop Kirby from making the discovery public. Murphy weaves this present-day narrative with two historical plots. One, set at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, reveals the “conspiracy” at the heart of the novel: Jesus did not die on the cross. His brother James, with help from Judas and other Apostles, died in his place so that the Messiah could live. Jesus then traveled to Santiago, where he had children with Mary Magdalene. Ephes recorded these details in letters to his cousin. The second historical plot, set in the 11th century, concerns Darda, the bishop charged with constructing a new cathedral in Santiago. Darda uncovers, translates, copies, and conceals Ephes’ writing. Murphy’s story is elaborate and thoroughly researched. Through the fictitious collusion, she delves into myths and facts surrounding the Holy Grail, the Templar Knights, the Rosicrucians, pilgrimages to Santiago, and many other aspects of Christianity. The author also has her characters discuss books such as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, perhaps pre-empting readers from making similar links. Plausibility is compromised, however, by flat characters. In particular, Kirby, Fiona, and Joe often seem mere vehicles for history lessons, delivered through long monologues. The few attempts at introspection seem forced; for example, Fiona “secretly hated how she always became verbally abusive when angry, but could just not stop herself.” As such, the story is pushed by plot points rather than pulled by emotional connections.
An ambitious and intriguing religious conspiracy tale that lacks convincing characters.Pub Date: May 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5320-1760-5
Page Count: 390
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2017
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
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.
After 1,000 years of peace, whispers that “the Nameless One will return” ignite the spark that sets the world order aflame.
No, the Nameless One is not a new nickname for Voldemort. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. The leader of these creatures, the Nameless One, has been trapped in the Abyss for ages after having been severely wounded by the sword Ascalon wielded by Galian Berethnet. These events brought about the current order: Virtudom, the kingdom set up by Berethnet, is a pious society that considers all dragons evil. In the East, dragons are worshiped as gods—but not the fire-breathing type. These dragons channel the power of water and are said to be born of stars. They forge a connection with humans by taking riders. In the South, an entirely different way of thinking exists. There, a society of female mages called the Priory worships the Mother. They don’t believe that the Berethnet line, continued by generations of queens, is the sacred key to keeping the Nameless One at bay. This means he could return—and soon. “Do you not see? It is a cycle.” The one thing uniting all corners of the world is fear. Representatives of each belief system—Queen Sabran the Ninth of Virtudom, hopeful dragon rider Tané of the East, and Ead Duryan, mage of the Priory from the South—are linked by the common goal of keeping the Nameless One trapped at any cost. This world of female warriors and leaders feels natural, and while there is a “chosen one” aspect to the tale, it’s far from the main point. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head. Shannon isn’t new to this game of complex storytelling. Her Bone Season novels (The Song Rising, 2017, etc.) navigate a multilayered society of clairvoyants. Here, Shannon chooses a more traditional view of magic, where light fights against dark, earth against sky, and fire against water. Through these classic pairings, an entirely fresh and addicting tale is born. Shannon may favor detailed explication over keeping a steady pace, but the epic converging of plotlines at the end is enough to forgive.
A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63557-029-8
Page Count: 848
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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