A straightforward action fantasy held back by rough prose.
In Perks’ sci-fi debut, mercenaries track a rogue scientist who’s stolen a technologically advanced society’s most prized resource.
On the planet Stasis, two societies exist: one populated by Sunbathers, who live in permanent daylight, and the other by Darksiders, who live in eternal night. The two peoples used to help each other, with the Darksiders working as farmers and manufacturers for the Sunbathers. Then the daylight dwellers began using a rare energy source known as Ultimatter, leading them into a technological golden age, and they abandoned their nighttime cousins to cruel fate. But when someone steals the Ultimatter from the Sunbather capital, Minister Alter hires a group of Darksider hunters, famous for taking down the savage king of a race of gigantic, horned, wolflike creatures called the verron. These hunters—Wallace, Rodney, Jorge, and Henry—reluctantly agree to help those responsible for the Darksiders’ dismal lives, and even team up with Alter’s scientist niece, Halie, and a few other tech-savvy Sunbathers to find the Ultimatter. (Along the way, the four hunters love to bicker: “I could knock some of your teeth out.”) Minister Alter believes that the scorned scientist Olaf Heinemann, whose inventions were rejected by the Science Academy, is responsible; Sunbather tracking equipment has narrowed the location of his base to several fortified spots in Darksider territory. Olaf is aided, however, by a man named Tank, formerly of the High Guard Military. They’ve been using the Ultimatter to create new weapons that may be powerful enough to rule both sides of Stasis. Perks’ debut playfully situates futuristic elements, such as hover cars, on a primitive, Earth-like world similar to those found in the Final Fantasy video game series. His creatures, which include the branch-swinging “ioles” and lumbering herds of “phantions,” are at once familiar and enjoyably exotic. The fact that the Darksiders must wear special goggles while in bright light reinforces how the two peoples have diverged even on a physical level. The prose, unfortunately, screams out for stronger editorial guidance; typos, awkward grammar and punctuation errors abound, as in the line, “Clam down I’m sorry I couldn’t resist it.” The conclusion seems eager to retire the Darksiders, although it does leave room for further narrative.
A straightforward action fantasy held back by rough prose.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-1489703637
Page Count: 256
Publisher: LifeRichPublishing
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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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