A fresh addition to an enjoyable series.
Continuation of Freemartin’s (The Currents of Scorpio: The Zodiac Mysteries Book 3, 2014) Zodiac Mystery series featuring the Cuspians, women reviled for having been born on the cusp of two zodiac signs.
After fleeing the pampered, glamorous world of her two adoptive fathers, former perfume designer Nina Solaris is trying to build a new, meaningful life for herself in Fiamma on an Earth-like planet called Astrogea. Zeven, one of her fathers, had discovered Nina and her unusual gift for detecting and identifying odors, then put her to work creating scents; but after seeing the accomplishments of her Cuspian friends, Nina believes hers are empty. Alienated and isolated due to her Cuspian status—in her case, having been born on the cusp between Leo and Virgo (as good a reason as any to discriminate in dystopian 2045 Astrogea)—Nina is attempting to initiate chemical warfare by developing and distributing pheromone tabs which will alter the behaviors—and, seemingly, the astrological signs—of those who consume them: “Nina smiled and wondered how the brash and haughty Aries would feel when strangers started thinking of her as a water sign, when her friends and family looked at her in confusion, ill at ease.” On the brink of the new year, however, additional threats are developing against Fiamma as charismatic Winn Noble’s Cult of Leo infiltrates the fabric of the city. Nina enlists the help of her five Cuspian friends—Vivian, Margo, Jade, Iris, and Brooke—each with her own talents and shortcomings. Even (especially) among her dearest friends, Nina’s old feelings of inadequacy rise to the surface, making her vulnerable to Winn’s charisma. At the same time, she realizes she can’t trust her new ally, Cedric, nor her old and new lovers (Lionel Savage and Luc Windham, respectively). Adding to the expanding conflict is the unpredictable behavior of Cuspians as well as Paragons—astrological purists, who have political sway—resulting from intentional or unintentional consumption of the pheromone tabs Nina herself created. Rather than making a positive contribution to her society’s plight, Nina suspects she is contributing to its downfall. A dizzying number of characters and subplots makes this otherwise straightforward dystopian novel confusing, although probably less so for devotees of the entire series. While Nina and her friends attempt to foil Winn’s ambitions, they leave an intriguing number of unresolved issues to guarantee the perpetuation of the series.
A fresh addition to an enjoyable series.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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