Sometimes long-winded but always in motion.
Debut author Franklyn’s fantasy novel examines a kingdom at war.
“Raaj” Raajanaar is the Master of Forbidden Magic. Raaj’s “maiggii,” or apprentice, is a youth of 16 by the name of Yron. Yron shows great promise with magic, but the problem with forbidden magic is of course that it’s forbidden. While there is plenty of regular magic for Yron and Raaj to practice, the banned forms refer to “warrior magic” that can be used for violent purposes. The prohibited nature of this type of mystical skill dates back 1,000 years to the signing of a document called “The Carta.” Desperate times, though, call for desperate measures. Raaj and Yron receive a message: Prince Purstar, a son of King Timon, has been wounded and needs a difficult and forbidden spell to save him. King Timon is currently at war with the Shakarine, and he can use just about all the help he can get. Yron and Raaj agree to rescue the prince, although the task before them is a formidable one. So begins an epic adventure that rages with spells, battles, warriors, and a range of characters. The setup is intriguing: Magic is all well and good (and spells in the book range from teleportation to “silence” spells), but what if certain spells are illegal? Of course the storyline goes well beyond this initial conundrum and occasionally goes too far, as with infodumps on different types of bows used in battle or the implementation of a “sewage waste management system.” At one point, we learn that a character’s day “was uneventful.” Still, this fantasy is continually exciting. As cast members meet and separate and reunite, the plot constantly morphs. Battles are fought; spells are cast; and the fates of many individuals hang in the balance for what is ultimately a lengthy though imaginative adventure.
Sometimes long-winded but always in motion.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9994505-1-2
Page Count: 530
Publisher: Carbynarah Chronicles
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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