An exciting and magical Jewish urban fantasy novel.
In Gold’s debut novel, a young man must come to terms with his Jewish identity as he finds his place in New York City’s hidden world of demons and secret religious orders.
Arthur Rose, born Aaron, is a college student at Excelsior State Universitywho loves heavy metal and epic adventure stories and pines for his ex-girlfriend. He also deeply resents his Jewish background and has dyed his hair blond and changed his first name to craft a new identity. At a young age, his mother was murdered by a skinhead, and he was sent by his Hasidic father to live with his uncle. Arthur’s estrangement from his Jewish heritage runs deep: “As far as he sees it, the only thing bequeathed to Arthur’s people is the title of loser in a battle that doesn’t end.” When his father dies, however, the young man is involuntarily given “the Sight so that you may gaze beyond flesh and through spirit” and inducted into Sanhedrin, a secret organization of Jewish mages charged with protecting the world from evil spiritual forces. Before long, a powerful, sluglike demon named Igrat appears, intent on resurrecting her even more powerful demonic spouse, and Arthur is thrust into a high-stakes adventure in which his desire to use physical violence to protect those he loves clashes with the Sanhedrin’s opposition to killing. Gold’s novel boasts an impressive suite of characters, and the Sanhedrin members present a range of approaches to Jewish practice. The worldbuilding is elaborate and engaging, setting the stage for what could easily become a compelling and gritty fantasy series. Although some of the pacing is a bit uneven—some of Arthur’s many interior passages drag a bit—the narrative gradually reveals characters’ backstories in surprising ways. There’s much ground here that’s been covered in other stories, but Gold (and even Arthur himself) are clearly aware of the genre’s conventions. The novel is at its strongest when it explores whether and how the stories of the Jewish people map onto the classic tale of the hero’s journey.
An exciting and magical Jewish urban fantasy novel.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781961511880
Page Count: 420
Publisher: Histria Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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