A richly imaginative fable that’s hampered by one-dimensional characterizations and glib brutality.
A craving for the narcotic meat of goblins causes gory upheavals in this fantasy.
Vanhaverbeke sets his yarn in Unction, a folksy village (apart from the gallows in the town square) where modern technology coexists with magic and unusual sentient races, including ogres, fairies, and, especially, goblins. These last, who live in the nearby settlement of Watusi, are an inoffensive sort: slow-witted, timid, and only a few feet tall in their warty green skin. Unfortunately, eating goblin meat sends Unctionites into a trancelike ecstasy, followed by agonizing withdrawal pangs; addicts become soulless sociopaths who will commit any atrocity to score a hit. Alas, a group of 10-year-old boys, including Little Timmy, Billy, and Joe Bob, becomes addicted and sets off for Watusi hoping to capture more goblins to devour using cinnamon- and clove-spiced porridge as bait. They are tracked by Coach Mayfield, who intends to kill the boys to end their marauding. Meanwhile, Watusi is taken over by the dictator Kafclack and his clique of genetically engineered supergoblins, who prepare to attack the Unction goblin eaters with the help of a strength serum and an amnesia drug. These devices insert another wild card into the proceedings when they are accidentally ingested by Plukfluf, a nebbish goblin who acquires unnatural strength and intelligence and launches a crusade to make peace between Unctionites and goblins. Presiding over the fray is the deity Jobo, a celestial goblin who rides a flying unicorn and injects Hindu-ish philosophical ruminations—“Your souls are getting megawatt jolts of karma”—into the chaos. Vanhaverbeke imbues his sardonic tale with a lively plot, cutting satirical wit, and occasional flights of poetic introspection. (“ ‘A butterfly would be nice, to come back as a butterfly,’ muses a dying troll. ‘Anything, I guess, would be better than a troll.’ ”) Unfortunately, it’s hard to get invested in the characters because of their cartoonishness and the sadistic violence the narrative casually metes out even to children. (“First, the internal organs had been taken out with all the piping still attached so they were nonetheless functional. This involved great pain, but nothing compared to when Jobo had spread their ribs, removed their hearts, and laid them beating on their chests pumping outside of their bodies.”) The novel’s farcical tenor and gratuitous bloodshed make it feel callow rather than captivating.
A richly imaginative fable that’s hampered by one-dimensional characterizations and glib brutality.Pub Date: June 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-983226-33-5
Page Count: 253
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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
© 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.
