An energetic urban-fantasy sequel that skillfully expands the saga’s worldbuilding and cast.
Two lovers with supernatural powers meet others with similar abilities in this sequel.
British Earl Quentin d’Arcy, who’s convinced his father killed his mother six years ago, fled his home country. The 25-year-old has kept a low profile in San Diego, California, which has recently proved rewarding. He’s now dating and in love with Laurence Riley, who lives and works at a flower shop with his mother, Myriam. Laurence, the more sexually experienced of the two, is taking things slowly. Physical intensity tends to spike Quentin’s anxiety, which causes him to lose control of his telekinesis and potentially put Laurence in danger. Laurence has talents as well, including precognition, but Quentin soon realizes they aren’t the only people with superpowers. He catches the attention of Kane Wilson, who wants to know why his mind control doesn’t work on Quentin. Wilson has been “liberating” teens with special abilities and helping them learn to control them. Quentin’s association with Wilson’s group leads to his discovery of another power: creating fire. This unfortunately ties to Laurence’s cryptic vision of the future—Quentin in his arms and both men seemingly on the verge of a fiery demise. Laurence and Quentin begin to suspect Wilson isn’t so much charitably aiding youngsters as he is amassing a team of superpowered fighters. Quentin then takes a risk by accepting Wilson’s offer to join them, with the hope of staying close and uncovering what the man is truly planning. In Book 2 of this lively urban-fantasy series, Faulkner (Jack of Thorns, 2019) immediately depicts Laurence and Quentin basking in an already established romance. This sets a consistent pace from the beginning, which the author maintains by providing expository bits to catch up new readers. The couple’s relationship shows signs of evolving, as they continue to learn about each other’s families and personal histories and occasionally suffer pangs of jealousy. Though their intimate scenes of exclusively kissing may seem straight out of a YA novel, they progressively turn steamier: Quentin “pressed himself against Laurence’s body, stifling his panic against the other man’s flesh, biting down on his shoulder to keep himself from tipping over the edge.” These scenes deftly showcase two men who are savoring their romance. But Myriam, who shined brightly in the series opener, has disappointingly few appearances. Picking up the slack is Quentin’s twin, Freddy, who manages to find his brother in San Diego. Freddy is both smart and helpful as well as a standout character thanks to his affectionate nickname for Quentin: Icky (an abbreviation of his middle name, Ichabod). The supernatural element, as in the preceding book, never completely monopolizes the narrative. Nevertheless, there are plenty of new, intriguing characters in Wilson’s group, who sport varying powers, from electrokinesis to an uncanny stealth capability. Laurence and Quentin, meanwhile, hone their formidable skills, including the former’s attempt to induce a vision that reveals a past, rather than a future, event. The effective final act boasts action, characters in peril, and a denouement that, not surprisingly, teases the next volume.
An energetic urban-fantasy sequel that skillfully expands the saga’s worldbuilding and cast.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-912349-12-8
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Ravenswood Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Simmering with tension, this tragic, albeit imperfect, mystery is sure to keep readers inching off their seats.
A forsaken family bound by grief still struggles to pick up the pieces 12 years after their mother’s death.
When famous author Gil Coleman sees “his dead wife standing on the pavement below” from a bookshop window in a small town on the southern coast of England, he follows her, but to no avail, and takes a near-fatal fall off a walkway on the beach. As soon as they hear word of his accident, Gil’s grown daughters, Nan and Flora, drop everything and return to their seaside family home in Spanish Green. Though her father’s health is dire, Flora, Gil’s youngest, can’t help but be consumed by the thought that her mother, Ingrid—who went missing and presumably drowned (though the body was never found) off the coast more than a decade ago—could be alive, wandering the streets of their town. British author Fuller’s second novel (Our Endless Numbered Days, 2015) is nimbly told from two alternating perspectives: Flora’s, as she re-evaluates the loose ends of her mother’s ambiguous disappearance; and Ingrid’s, through a series of candid letters she writes, but never delivers, to Gil in the month leading up to the day she vanishes. The most compelling parts of this novel unfold in Ingrid’s letters, in which she chronicles the dissolution of her 16-year marriage to Gil, beginning when they first meet in 1976: Gil is her alluring professor, they engage in a furtive love affair, and fall into a hasty union precipitated by an unexpected pregnancy; Gil gains literary fame, and Ingrid is left to tackle motherhood alone (including two miscarriages); and it all bitterly culminates in the discovery of an irrevocable betrayal. Unbeknownst to Gil and his daughters, these letters remain hidden, neglected, in troves of books throughout the house, and the truth lies seductively within reach. Fuller’s tale is eloquent, harrowing, and raw, but it’s often muddled by tired, cloying dialogue. And whereas Ingrid shines as a protagonist at large, the supporting characters are lacking in depth.
Simmering with tension, this tragic, albeit imperfect, mystery is sure to keep readers inching off their seats.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-941040-51-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Tin House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy,...
Britisher Haddon debuts in the adult novel with the bittersweet tale of a 15-year-old autistic who’s also a math genius.
Christopher Boone has had some bad knocks: his mother has died (well, she went to the hospital and never came back), and soon after he found a neighbor’s dog on the front lawn, slain by a garden fork stuck through it. A teacher said that he should write something that he “would like to read himself”—and so he embarks on this book, a murder mystery that will reveal who killed Mrs. Shears’s dog. First off, though, is a night in jail for hitting the policeman who questions him about the dog (the cop made the mistake of grabbing the boy by the arm when he can’t stand to be touched—any more than he can stand the colors yellow or brown, or not knowing what’s going to happen next). Christopher’s father bails him out but forbids his doing any more “detecting” about the dog-murder. When Christopher disobeys (and writes about it in his book), a fight ensues and his father confiscates the book. In time, detective-Christopher finds it, along with certain other clues that reveal a very great deal indeed about his mother’s “death,” his father’s own part in it—and the murder of the dog. Calming himself by doing roots, cubes, prime numbers, and math problems in his head, Christopher runs away, braves a train-ride to London, and finds—his mother. How can this be? Read and see. Neither parent, if truth be told, is the least bit prepossessing or more than a cutout. Christopher, though, with pet rat Toby in his pocket and advanced “maths” in his head, is another matter indeed, and readers will cheer when, way precociously, he takes his A-level maths and does brilliantly.
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash.Pub Date: June 17, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50945-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
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