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
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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