An imaginative, entertaining, sometimes over-the-top mash-up of Paradise Lost and The Clan of the Cave Bear.
Primitive hominids get caught up in a titanic war between heaven and hell in this bombastic fantasy.
Gordon’s novel centers on Adam, the son of African Homo Erectus parents, who sports a Homo Sapiens-ish prominent chin, bulging forehead, hairless body, and mechanical aptitude that lets him invent a nifty spear thrower. He also has the marks of a Chosen One: His birth is attended by apocalyptic fireballs; he gets bitten by a demon-headed snake; and he has visions of a flying dragon. Growing up, Adam weathers starvation and cannibalism, a diet rich in bugs and bats, the loss of loved ones to a lion, and a blood feud with his domineering stepfather, Hanok, that leads to violence and estrangement from his clan. Adam then heads eastward to a land called Eden with a demon named Mephistopheles, who promises him knowledge of all the world’s secrets and, more importantly, an introduction to a beautiful woman who shares Adam’s physical traits. Unfortunately, Eden proves to be a sulphureous labor camp where hominid slaves are ruled by preening devils, from Moloch to the winged scorpion Beelzebub. On the bright side, Eve is indeed pretty and nice. After a harrowing tour of Hell, Adam and Eve get an audience with Lucifer himself, who tells them that they will play a leading role in his plan to bring God to the bargaining table—after they undergo a torturous “cleansing” that will remove all love and compassion from their souls. Gordon’s yarn shines in its first part, which paints a gritty portrait of Stone Age life, from the constant search for food and fire to Hanok’s campaign to usurp clan leader Kren, which is told in shrewdly psychological prose (“He would bide his time and lay the groundwork by assuming a self-important bearing, and began to undercut Kren’s authority with a questioning look, or a sad shake of his head, to Kren’s every decision”). The book’s Dantean second part feels less original, with overblown demonic caricatures chortling at their own villainy and a climactic battle of thunderous superpowers. Still, Gordon’s vigorous writing and rich evocation of a Paleolithic world make for an absorbing read.
An imaginative, entertaining, sometimes over-the-top mash-up of Paradise Lost and The Clan of the Cave Bear.Pub Date: May 27, 2023
ISBN: 9798396189256
Page Count: 316
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An engrossing, action-packed sequel with a compelling cast.
A woman must undergo fearsome trials to free the imprisoned Titans of Greek myth in Owen’s fantasy novel, the second in a series.
Advancing from minor office clerk in the Order of Thieves to Queen of the Underworld, Lyra Keres’ star should be rising. But thanks to Cronos, King of the Titans, she and her longtime friend and fellow thief Boone have been ensnared in a new challenge beneath the earth: Hot on the heels of winning the twisted Crucible Games, Lyra—who has recently been granted goddess powers—finds herself trapped in Tartarus. Separated from her beloved Hades, she must liberate the fearsome Titans from seven Locks to restore the cosmic balance. As Lyra progresses through the Locks engineered by the Gods—each as tricky and lethal as the last—the pressure mounts as the Titans repeatedly remind her, “You will be our savior.” Rhea, the wife of Cronos, reveals that Lyra began this quest “a hundred and fifty years ago,” adding further devastation to the task at hand; the knowledge is helpful, but also painful, as Lyra reflects, “Suddenly, I don’t want to know that it’s real. Because then I have to contemplate how many times I might have ended up in Tartarus already.” As she materializes in and out of time pockets, Lyra sees Hades’ troubled childhood unfold and struggles not to intervene to save the man she loves. In this second entry in the author’s Crucible series, following The Games Gods Play (2024), Lyra’s cynical quips continue to make her an engaging protagonist. Her inner monologues are balanced with hope, love, and longing for Hades as she meets various versions of him. While resilient, Owen’s heroine is also vulnerable (“Was I his pawn in more ways than I ever realized?”). Her introspection effectively contrasts with the simmering rage and restraint in Hades’ chapters. The supporting Titans are given more depth than the traditional myths allow, weaving a knotty family fabric for the reader to navigate alongside Lyra.
An engrossing, action-packed sequel with a compelling cast.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781649378538
Page Count: 500
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: yesterday
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
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