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
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
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
© 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.
