A rampantly over-the-top saga of vampire royalty, tyranny and treachery with bite.
A tormented teenage boy is both pawn and Messiah in the centuries-old feud between powerful vampire clans ruling the world.
Author and filmmaker Amaret forgoes half-measures in this global vampire epic. Human history has been shaped by the long-living nocturnal bloodsuckers, whose origins date back to ancient Atlantis (and, it’s unsubtly suggested, to aliens before that). Empires, corporations, religion, the media—the vampires control it all, and they’re violently rushing toward the apocalyptic culmination of their bloody, ancient battle. Julian, a smart, sensitive but disadvantaged Hispanic teen in modern-day New York City, is a “chosen one” type; after his single-mom’s scheduled slaying, he’s abducted into an elite “rookery” that schools potential young vampires for future domination. But inconsolable, suicidal Julian fails to realize how high the stakes are until it’s nearly too late. In the looming vamp-Armageddon, Julian gets an unlikely rescuer in the rebel retinue of Vlad Tepes—aka Dracula. There, the narrative takes one of its few deep breaths during Julian’s intense training. Like Robert Anton Wilson’s Illuminatus! trilogy—but without the apparent satirical bend—the story appears to occur on an alternate Earth where every conspiracy theory holds true: the Bermuda Triangle is a cloudy, quasi-military experiment; Queen Elizabeth II controls the illegal drug trade and had a hand in Princess Diana’s assassination; most Jews aren’t true Jews, but the real ones used the Holocaust to eradicate the false ones. Some amendments to reality are in questionable taste. Aside from the brooding, self-doubting hero, the rest of the predatory nosferatu ensemble all seem to come in two flavors—bad guys and really, really bad guys—each more sinister and brazenly sadistic than the last. Yet the sheer audacity of Amaret’s blood-soaked plotting carries the book, all the way to a climax hinting at a sequel stirring restlessly in the grave.
A rampantly over-the-top saga of vampire royalty, tyranny and treachery with bite.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0983197195
Page Count: 530
Publisher: Creative House Int'l
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.
Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.
The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three. Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-307-88743-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A new series starts off with a bang.
A queen and her young daughter are forced to separate and go into hiding when a corrupt politician tries to take over the kingdom.
Queen Cressa of Weirandale is worried about her 8-year-old daughter, the “princella” Cerúlia. The people of Weirandale worship a water spirit, Nargis, who grants each queen a special gift called a Talent. Cressa herself is able to meddle with memories, for example, and her mother possessed supernatural strategic abilities that served her well in battle. Cerúlia, however, appears to have none, because surely her insistence that she can talk to animals is only her young imagination running wild. When Cerúlia’s many pets warn her about assassins creeping into the royal chambers, the girl is able to save herself and her mother. Cressa uses her Talent, which actually extends to forcing anyone to tell her the truth, to root out traitors among the aristocracy, led by the power-hungry Lord Matwyck. Fearing for her daughter’s life and her own, Cressa takes Cerúlia and flees. Thinking Cerúlia will be safer away from her mother, Cressa takes the girl to a kind peasant family and adjusts their memories so they believe Cerúlia is their adopted daughter. Kozloff’s debut is the first of four Nine Realms books, and Tor plans to publish them over just four months. Luckily, the series opener is a strong start, so readers will be grateful for the short wait before Book 2. Kozloff sets a solid stage with glimpses into other characters and nations while keeping the book together with a clear, propulsive plot.
A new series starts off with a bang.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16854-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
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