Shekleton’s worldbuilding is impressive and the ideal backdrop for further adventures.
In Shekleton’s fantasy / SF adventure, a princess finds herself at the center of a world in tumult.
This story begins on the planet Bellosio, where a young deity known as the Cognoscens Wayfarer (from whom the universal energy “Cog” derives its name) has overseen the development of three intelligent primate species (the Wati, the Crivien, and the Vidogs) before leaving them (in a pivotal period known as the “weaning”). After some millennia, the narrative shifts to follow Princess Danaba, who has become the heir to the Wati throne after her two brothers died ten years earlier in a skirmish with the Crivien. Due to the poor health of her father, Emperor Gazidja, she prepares for her upcoming role as empress and must choose a suitor that will serve her people, but this process is interrupted by an assassination attempt. Readers are then introduced to Portic, who leads theanti-Cog breakaway faction called the Inviate Abbey of Druman. He reflects on the news of the assassination attempt; political unrest could affect his plans to dismantle belief in the Cog and end imperial rule. Readers also learn about Sorofor, the son of Duke Natin and heir to Clan Candulo; Sorofor is both an ally and a romantic interest for Danaba. As things become more dangerous for her, Gazidja orders Danaba to flee to her family’s clan, the Libungu, where she gains their support. Meanwhile, Undiro, the abbot of Pitreya Abbey, prepares to secure the monastery from the growing threat of Jochar and the Crivien forces. All the while, Tantur (an initiate of the Cog) has been undergoing an intense ceremony that deepens his connection to the Cog, and he gains special powers. Count Selwin is an advisor to the emperor but secretly manipulates information about the assassination attempt to control the city’s denizens. Sorofor assists Danaba in a covert mission to attack Wati’s capital city of Zinzerod after it is taken over by the corrupt Count Selwin. The spiritual interventions by the Cog remain mysterious, but they influence key moments and hint at divine guidance as Bellosio heads toward an uncertain future. The book concludes on a note of transformation, with the various factions and characters poised at the threshold of change, reflecting the larger theme of the “weaning” of the Bellosian civilization.
Overall, Shekleton succeeds in creating a fully fleshed-out universe in which SF and fantasy themes pair beautifully with the political and dramatic plots. However, even with the appendices detailing the roles of principal, secondary, and tertiary characters, a glossary, and a geographical guide, readers may struggle to keep track of all the details. The narrative is sometimes mired in the worldbuilding, but the action scenes provide sufficient pacing, particularly in the opening assassination scenes; the battle in which Sorofor goes missing; the encounter between Emperor Gazidja, his guards the Gold Shields, Undiro, and Duke Natin; and Sorofod and Danaba’s joint efforts against Zinzerod’s defenses. Readers should be wary of the many overlapping timelines and actions of the large cast of characters, which, if not followed precisely, may leave them completely lost.
Shekleton’s worldbuilding is impressive and the ideal backdrop for further adventures.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9798991455800
Page Count: 484
Publisher: Mo Keijuk Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2024
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
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
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