A smart, demon-laden tale with a bevy of personable characters, horns notwithstanding.
A U.S. college student who finds a way to travel to a realm of demons may be the first sign of a hopeful prophecy in this fantasy novel.
Riley Moore has a cynical worldview and, consequently, no real friends. But she reaches her threshold for this “poisonous” world after three men attack and mug her, and she goes to sleep that night hoping she’ll awaken somewhere else. Astonishingly, she does; she’s in the realm of Abaddon, populated by demons. These demons are genial—particularly the first one she meets, purple-eyed Ukobach—and they promise to help the student get home. But the next day, she is somehow back at her house, where she lives with her mom. She soon realizes she can journey between realms at will, which demons haven’t been able to do for a long time. Her ability leads some to believe she’s part of a prophecy, stating “the light” will return to Abaddon, where poverty is widespread. While Riley, unhappy with her world, comes to favor Abaddon, Ukobach isn’t exactly content with the violence in his own realm, including the annual blood sacrifice. Meanwhile, a threat looms, as a demon with unwholesome aspirations sets eyes on the human world. Carter’s (Deviants: Ignite, 2017) story treats the demons as peculiar but familiar creatures. For example, they sport traditional horns and tails while other physical attributes, like a demon who looks “as if he were halfway transformed into a werewolf,” are unusual. The author wisely simplifies the demons’ backstory, with minimal references to angels or religion. Riley makes a smashing protagonist, beginning as a 20-something carrying residual teen angst (which she acknowledges) but becoming a woman who respectfully adjusts to customs she doesn’t understand. It’s likewise apparent that these demons aren’t innately evil. Puppyish Ukobach and his brother, Stolas, are immensely likable. And demons’ villainy stems from individual behavior or beliefs. Carter’s brisk narrative rushes readers through a short but satisfying final act and a superlative denouement.
A smart, demon-laden tale with a bevy of personable characters, horns notwithstanding.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Kurti Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
A tour de force.
In 1974, a troubled Vietnam vet inherits a house from a fallen comrade and moves his family to Alaska.
After years as a prisoner of war, Ernt Allbright returned home to his wife, Cora, and daughter, Leni, a violent, difficult, restless man. The family moved so frequently that 13-year-old Leni went to five schools in four years. But when they move to Alaska, still very wild and sparsely populated, Ernt finds a landscape as raw as he is. As Leni soon realizes, “Everyone up here had two stories: the life before and the life now. If you wanted to pray to a weirdo god or live in a school bus or marry a goose, no one in Alaska was going to say crap to you.” There are many great things about this book—one of them is its constant stream of memorably formulated insights about Alaska. Another key example is delivered by Large Marge, a former prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who now runs the general store for the community of around 30 brave souls who live in Kaneq year-round. As she cautions the Allbrights, “Alaska herself can be Sleeping Beauty one minute and a bitch with a sawed-off shotgun the next. There’s a saying: Up here you can make one mistake. The second one will kill you.” Hannah’s (The Nightingale, 2015, etc.) follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet–like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders in both of the state's seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America.
A tour de force.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-312-57723-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
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