A worthy contribution to the earthbound fantasy genre.
The awakening of a reluctant but resilient fantasy heroine.
Gemma Pointe is a college student with more than the usual cause for young adult turmoil: no parents, inaccessible memories, a peculiar birthmark and recurring dreams that are soothing by day, terrifying at night. All converge in her true identity, which she learns only after a menacing green-eyed stranger named Malakai recognizes and pursues her. Like him, Gemma is a supernatural, a member of a race known as the Essen, which has individualized special powers, potent and relentless enemies, and a mandate for secrecy among outsiders. She’s in the process of activating her abilities and marked for a pivotal role in her race’s destiny. She’s also attached to Jonny, to the boy next door, whose devotion provides ballast, torment and complications as she explores, fights and faces her fate. Shuttling between her previous reality and the world of the Essen, she unearths game-changing truths about herself, her parents and the history of the Essen. Seymour has created a well-described, living, breathing human environment that grounds and carries over into her handling of the fantasy realm. Human and Essen dialogues flow with ease, aside from some stiltedness that sometimes comes with laying the groundwork for such a detailed world: “Why are you so obsessed with my birthmark?” Gemma asks. “Malakai’s eyes narrowed. ‘Because it is not a birthmark, despite your continued insistence that it is. We all have them, always on the inside of the right arm. But yours is an anomaly. The anomaly. The symbol I’ve been trying to find my whole life.’ ” Gemma may be supernatural, but she has a banged-up humanity that renders her appealing and believable. Early chapters, however, lag with Gemma’s repeatedly recapping her encounters with Malakai. The repetition may help readers with the complex plot and numerous characters, but it proves distracting when the action is so limited. This cavil disappears as the plot’s intricacies accelerate; by midbook, both the pace and ingenuity of the plot propel readers to a climax that delivers satisfaction and surprises. The dénouement neatly lays the ground for further installments.
A worthy contribution to the earthbound fantasy genre.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492747550
Page Count: 494
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
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