A pleasantly intriguing adventure in an exciting new fantasy world.
In this first volume of VanBrakle’s fantasy series, a young misfit is manipulated into going on an adventure that will alter his fate—and that of his world—forever.
Orphan Iren Saitosan has grown up alone in the highest tower of Haldessa Castle in the land of Lodia. He’s an abused outcast for one particular reason: he’s left-handed. In the culture of Lodia, Lefts are a rarity and thought to be full of the devil’s magic. Iren, however, is mostly full of teenage mischief. When one of his pranks nearly kills Lodia’s heir and military leader, Amroth Angustion, he’s given one choice to avoid execution: join Amroth, his loyal soldier Balear and a mysterious old woman named Rondel on a quest to destroy a bandit lord who has been terrorizing Lodia and who may have killed Iren’s parents. However, the quest isn’t entirely what it seems, and soon, Iren finds himself tangled up in a power struggle that could result in the destruction of the entire world. In the end, he’ll need to discover who he truly is and embrace the strange magic that comes with being a Left—which lies in his father’s old sword. Throughout the novel, there are plenty of dragons, elfin woodland creatures and vicious orclike monsters to enchant the average Lord of the Rings fan. Debut author VanBrakle is clearly an honor student of the fantasy genre who understands the importance of creating a dense, detailed mythology. His gift for creating complex female characters is all too uncommon in fantasy literature, and drunken warrior woman Rondel is a particular standout. Young hero Iren is believably impetuous and immature without being too irritating. Once readers get over the initial silliness of the idea of left-handed people as a rare species with special powers, the many twists and turns of the plot will make it easy for them to fall deep into the world of the Dragoon saga.
A pleasantly intriguing adventure in an exciting new fantasy world.Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989195706
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Arboreal Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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