by Judith Tarr ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1993
Mainstream magical-historical romance, with major roles for Alexander the Great and his generals, from the author of two fantasy trilogies, The Hound and the Falcon and Avaryan Rising. After his victory over Darius and the Persians at Issus, Alexander is joined by Meriamon, daughter of Nectanebo, Egypt's last pharaoh. Small, dark Meriamon has magic powers and a protective ``shadow'' that is a ka-spirit of the jackal-headed god Anubis. Her purpose, for so the gods of Khemet (Egypt) have decreed, is to persuade Alexander to accept the Two Crowns of Khemet, thus thwarting and rejecting the loathed Persian overlords. After Issus, Meriamon works as a physician, among other tasks setting the broken wrist and ribs of immature Macedonian warrior Niko. Since Niko now has the use of only one arm, Alexander gives him to Meriamon as her bodyguard. As Alexander and his army proceed triumphantly to the south, he captures the island city Tyre after a prolonged struggle, unaware that Meriamon has helped him by daunting the evil magi of the priests of Melqart. Niko's arm heals, and Meriamon, who pines for Khemet and grows stronger the nearer she gets, falls in love with him. The Persian satrap, Mazaces, gladly surrenders Khemet to Alexander; the latter decrees the building of the city Alexandria on the Nile delta, then battles his way through sandstorms and magic to the desert oracle at Siwah, there to receive the secret of his true being. And at last Niko notices Meriamon. Good in its broad sweeps, magic, and period detail. But expect no insights, accept the barely tepid romance, and be ready for a muffled, distant narrative feel.
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-312-85362-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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