Superior in nearly all respects, just lacking that authentic spark of true originality.
The second, independently intelligible, entry in the Shattered Sea trilogy, following Half a King (2014).
In the previous volume, Prince Yarvi of Gettland—he was born with a withered hand to warrior folk (they resemble Vikings) who value only strength—survived great challenges to become Father Yarvi, now minister (counselor) to King Uthil. But the ancient High King, prodded by the wicked, conniving Grandmother Wexen, has formed a grand alliance against Gettland. In secret, Yarvi evolves a scheme to break the High King’s ring of steel by forming alliances with the powerful but distant Empress of the South. Meanwhile, young Thorn Bathu yearns desperately to become a warrior (the first female such) in order to avenge her father. During her trial of passage she defeats fellow hopeful Brand, but unsatisfied, Master Hunnan orders her to fight three men at once. Thorn accidentally kills one, and Hunnan names her a murderer. To save her from execution, Brand courageously tells Yarvi the truth of what happened. Seeing Thorn’s potential, Yarvi takes her under his wing and, along with Brand, assembles a crew of cutthroats and desperados to make the long, harrowing trip south. They’ll be joined by Skifr, a deadly woman fighter who steals forbidden elf-relics for a living. Skifr will train Thorn to be the most lethal combatant in the entire crew—but Thorn, Brand, Yarvi and the rest will need all their formidable talents merely to survive. Again, well-handled for the most part—the thrillingly implausible action, nearly all sword, very little sorcery, is a given, with the intriguingly delicate scheming woven into the backdrop. More predictable are the romantic complications.
Superior in nearly all respects, just lacking that authentic spark of true originality.Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8041-7842-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
Butch Cassidy territory—ignore the tumbleweeds and enjoy.
Sanderson returns to planet Scadrial (The Hero of Ages, 2008, etc.) where, 500 years later, the scenario is a fantasy Wild West where the largest city, Elendel, despite its unpredictable mists, boasts railroads, electric street lighting and nascent skyscrapers.
Though lesser beings than their godlike ancestors, certain citizens gain magic powers from an ability to metabolize metals. Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, can both attract and repel metals using Allomancy and gain or lose bodily mass via Feruchemy. Having spent 20 years in the Roughs—Tombstone in the 1880s, with every day a bad day—expunging evildoers, Wax has learned that House Ladrian, complete with supercilious butler, is all but bankrupt thanks to a profligate uncle. Sadly he returns to Elendel to do his duty and marry a rich heiress. Lord Harms presents his rather too well-organized daughter Steris, who arrives for introductions complete with a 20-page pre-nuptial agreement. Accompanying father and daughter is penniless cousin Marasi, more intelligent and personable and vastly more attractive. Meanwhile, strange crimes are afoot: mysterious thieves, "Vanishers," have stolen consignments from railroad cars, raided parties and taken hostages. It’s eventually deduced that the hostages may be the Vanishers' real targets: all are descended from the same ancient family, and all have specific magic powers. And, at the first social event Wax attends with Lord Harms and the two girls, the Vanishers strike again. Sanderson's fresh ideas on the source and employment of magic are both arresting and original—just don't expect rigorously worked out plot details, memorable characters or narrative depth. Think brisk. Think fun.
Butch Cassidy territory—ignore the tumbleweeds and enjoy.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3042-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Featuring 21 charming illustrations by David Palladini, this is an adventure fantasy for young adults—or very old prepubescents—and among King's most accomplished works (though readers who groan at King's unremitting vulgarity in his adult novels will again have a few quarrels to pick). Prince Peter, 17, is the elder son of Roland, beer-drinking king of Delain who had managed to stay unwed until 50. Father Roland's not much for sex and manages it only about six times a year, with the aid of an aphrodisiac from court magician Flagg—despite the fact that his Queen Sasha was only 17 when he married her. Roland is renowned for having killed a dragon With his famed arrow Foe-Hammer and eaten its nine-chambered heart, which keeps his heroic aspect alive under his beer fat. After Sasha dies giving birth to their second son Thomas, the demonic magician Flagg, who is apparently 400 or more years old, desires chaos in the kingdom and fears that young Prince Peter, when crowned king, will bring good sense instead; and so Flagg wants the inferior, bumbling, manipulable second son Thomas to be king. With this aim in mind, he poisons King Roland with dragon sand, blames the murder on Peter and has him imprisoned in the 300-foot-tall prison called the Needle. The boy Thomas is crowned, but becomes a winebibber and beer. drinker and as round-gutted as his father. During his five years in the tower, Peter has his mother's fabulous doll-house to play with, but is secretly spinning an escape rope with threads from dinner napkins he weaves on the small doll-house loom. What Flagg does not know is that Thomas, hidden in a secret passage and looking into his father's room through the eyes of the stuffed dragon's head on the wall, saw Flagg give the king the poisoned wine. And so the time comes when Foe-Hammer must again be brought to bear on tho dragon. But which brother can actually slay Flagg? Some of King's smoothest writing and slickest effects, with the usual supercosmic horror scaled down to reasonably familiar villainy—though the sales, one assumes, will be supercosmic.
Pub Date: Feb. 2, 1986
ISBN: 0451166582
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
