An engaging cast of characters elevates this sparsely detailed story of an otherworldly place.
In Myers’ debut fantasy novel, a man who’s suffered great losses may be the one destined to save a realm from a malevolent being.
United States Marine Capt. Bishop Michaels loses his entire squad, including his childhood friend James, while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. This occurs mere months after a drunk driver killed Bishop’s pregnant fiancée and his 5-year-old son. While the captain drinks away his pain, James’ 23-year-old daughter Nevaeh relies too much on pills. When the two go out to sea to spread James’ ashes, a storm suddenly hits, causing their boat to capsize. Shockingly, they surface in a lake, with no sign of Bishop’s boat; they’re now somehow in the realm of Erimosi, a land of dense woods and “futuristic skyscrapers.” In little time, they meet some of the colorful inhabitants—including Paracletus, who can throw fireballs, and Penelope, who, despite her young appearance, is 140 years old. The natives happily welcomes the visitors, as they’re convinced that Bishop is the “Ekdikos” who’s prophesied to save them from the diabolical King Abaddon. Abaddon thinks the same thing and cooks up schemes to take out Bishop, sending someone to draw him away from his new allies. As far as Bishop is concerned, he’s definitely not the Ekdikos and simply wants to go home, though Nevaeh seems content to stay and help. When another of Abaddon’s plans involves stashing abductees in the Ice Fortress, Bishop, Nevaeh, and friends willingly embark on a rescue mission and brave the Ice Domain and the Dark Pit, along with any evils that reside there.
Myers highlights sympathetic dual protagonists who have suffered a great deal (Bishop also lost his beloved grandmother, and Nevaeh’s mother committed suicide). From the beginning, they fully share the adventure, and their unwavering mutual loyalty is one of the novel’s brightest elements. The prose, however, is scant, and some characters jarringly pop into scenes without even a description. In other instances, narrative particulars are bare-bones; the Rhino Men, or Rhi Men, are simply known for “their size, repulsive looks, and barbaric behavior.” It’s the female characters who resonate the most, with much of the comedy stemming from the bug-sized “Kouklas” Glenda and Daisy (actually humans under a sorceress’s curse), who endlessly bicker in a most entertaining fashion. Intriguingly, though Bishop is the prophesied one, Nevaeh is more in tune with Erimosi. Back in the Earthly realm, she had an uncanny ability to see “Uglies,” tiny beings (which apparently no one else could perceive) with names like Despair or Misery who coax people into doing horrible things. She’s also had dreams of Frikios, leathery-skinned things that exist in Erimosi. In sharp contrast, Bishop makes relatively little impact; he mostly grumbles about going home and is surprisingly ineffective when leading a mission, despite being a Marine captain. Characters rightly mock or chastise him; they occasionally even punch him or kick him in the groin. He nevertheless joins others in saving those in trouble, culminating in a final act that offers a thorough resolution (though there’s enough left open for potential sequels).
An engaging cast of characters elevates this sparsely detailed story of an otherworldly place.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9798345517369
Page Count: 525
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2025
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
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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