A solid effort whose fresh ideas and entertaining characters more than make up for an occasional lack of polish.
Wloch’s debut epic fantasy features a reincarnated hero, lost civilizations and peoples, and a quest for truth.
Uanadain, known as “Dan” to his friends, is dismissed from his military service and sent home with a message. A nearby village has been burned to the ground, and this fact may or may not be related to some strange ruins discovered nearby. The ruins belong to the Forerunners, a race of beings who long ago mastered many arts of building and magic. Unfortunately, many of their secrets have been lost to time. Some legends remain, however, like that of Kato, the greatest of heroes, who’s said to have long ago faced down a dark, evil god and his ghoulish servants. Today, ghouls remain a very real threat—and if they exist, perhaps their dark god does as well. Dan may find out as he, along with wise, old Illius and the telepathic eagle Silverwing, search for truths past and present in an adventure full of danger, prophecy, and desperate hope for the future. Overall, this is a hefty tale, packed with action, adventure, magic, and lost societies. The characters’ attempts to understand the present by examining the past really stand out; those sections of the narrative are almost archaeological in nature, as the players examine ruins, ancient documents, and other elements. This adds a fantastic, fresh aspect to an otherwise fairly standard narrative about a secondary world and a chosen one. Dan’s journey of discovery also benefits from this narrative choice—particularly in his dream memories. Although telepathic animals are a staple of fantasy literature, Silverwing brings more personality to the trope than usual, as the most distinct of a number of distinct, enjoyable character voices.
A solid effort whose fresh ideas and entertaining characters more than make up for an occasional lack of polish.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4477-5310-0
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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