An inconsistent, blood-spattered fantasy that features several strong characters.
A pure-hearted soldier gets drawn into a violent battle between good and evil in this sword-and-sorcery epic.
The novel’s protagonist is Gideon Halcyon, an orphan adopted by a knight, who dreams of becoming a hero. In this tale set in the world of Sinai, where humans have been overrun by demonic races, Gideon’s opportunity comes too soon when his hometown is overrun by raiders. They enslave many of the residents, including Gideon’s pregnant foster mother, Talia. Gideon is rescued when the slavers get savaged by Ashkelon, a sorcerer of the Everlasting Dark and the only survivor of the ruined world of Avalon. The two reunite a few years later when Ashkelon again saves Gideon, now a soldier. Ashkelon proposes taking on the earnest but raw-skilled Gideon as his apprentice. Years of training follow. Then they cross paths with the Viking-like Wolves, one of the last protectors of humankind, including the chief’s daughter, Anya Helsdottyr. The town in which they meet is attacked by spiders and mutants. The sorcerer, Gideon, and the Wolves drive off the intruders, and the duo gets invited to the group’s fortified compound. Gideon and Ashkelon help the Wolves defend the compound against increasingly more dangerous threats, including a god’s consort, giants, and more spiders and mutants. But the biggest challenge seems to involve getting Gideon and Ashkelon to agree philosophically on anything. In this first installment of a fantasy series, Shuerger unveils a very complicated mythology. Over the course of 418 pages, characters introduced earlier in the book can be forgotten by the time they pop up again later. Maps and a character guide would be useful in future volumes. In addition, the graphic battle scenes go on and on, often grinding the intriguing narrative to a halt. One highlight is the waxing and waning relationship between Gideon and Ashkelon, both of whom are well-developed characters. The primary Wolves (Anya, Skald, and Haimdell) are also memorable. Still, there are too many players and species to keep track of, which will lead to some readers thinking, “Who was that again?” This results in an uneven introduction to a grim world.
An inconsistent, blood-spattered fantasy that features several strong characters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-7352824-1-1
Page Count: 428
Publisher: Creative Grumbles, LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2021
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
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