A sprawling tale of love and magic with an engaging protagonist.
In Gateley’s debut fantasy novel, the first of a planned trilogy, a modern-day Witch discovers a startling destiny that involves finding her true love.
Thirty-year-old Canadian Julia Harrison knows that she’s from a family of Witches, but she’s learned little about her own magic in her quiet existence on Vancouver Island. She does, however, have the power of Sight, which torments her with disturbing nightmares and visions of the past, present, and future. Some could be glimpses of her former lives—and these include people whom Dom O’Brien knows quite well. He’s a visiting Irish professor at the University of British Columbia, where Julia is finishing her final undergraduate semester, studying linguistics. It turns out that he’s been her lover in numerous past lifetimes; each time, they find each other, share a few months together, and then die—a cycle that’s playing out once again. As Julia slowly regains her past-life memories, Dom stays quiet about a relevant prophecy, even after the pair encounter friendly, magic-wielding Druids in Ireland. As it happens, the wicked, immortal sorcerer Cassius has been hunting Julia through the centuries. Julia’s hazy recollections and her “unreliable” magic skills make her rely on Dom and the Druids, but she aims to control her own destiny and join in the fight. Gateley’s book stirs up myriad questions as it provides details about the couple’s fated deaths, and it lets a handful of mysteries linger, presumably for sequels. For the most part, the story centers on Julia and Dom’s sublimely complex relationship, delving into such uncertainties as how their lives might unfold if they were able to be together, uninterrupted, for years. Gateley illuminates this fantasy novel with vibrant descriptions, as when the couple flies through Ireland’s countryside in a classic sports car, or how their mutual attraction is like an “electrical storm brewing.” The tale also has a strong feminist theme as Julia resists various male oppressors—from enemies trying to prevent Witches like her from using magic to allies sidelining her in their plan to defeat Cassius.
A sprawling tale of love and magic with an engaging protagonist.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-03-912657-2
Page Count: 500
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2022
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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