Supernatural beings propel this intricate, intriguing, and surprisingly energetic tale.
In this paranormal sequel, a teenage angel/demon hybrid and her family clash with hell’s power-hungry queen and her famous dad, Lucifer.
With her father, Lucifer, supposedly dead, Queen Lucinda aspires to be the most powerful figure in hell, tormenting and consuming demon and human souls. World domination is also in reach if she can turn the tide in the imminent Red War between heaven and hell. It seems odd, then, that Lucinda focuses her attention on Crighton, Lucifer’s former soul seeker and a Nephilim (an angel/demon), whom the queen loves. Crighton lives in Middle Earth, a place that’s neither heaven nor hell, with his guardian angel soul mate and their 17-year-old daughter, Samara. But Lucinda has a diabolical plan; she abducts someone in Crighton’s family who’s reputedly the key to destroying heaven in the war. Meanwhile, Lucifer, an angel once more, hijacks a “meat suit” and returns to hell. He aims to seize the throne back from Lucinda while his disturbing obsession with Samara slowly brews. He may be an even bigger threat than his daughter, as he’ll likely use his power to annihilate everything—heaven, hell, and Earth. McFarren’s epic follow-up to Soul Seeker (2020) brims with vivid characters and subplots, fueling the sequel’s impressive pace. For example, Samara’s demon-filled school days culminate in a murder mystery, and disappearing members of Crighton’s family spur several rescue missions. In addition, the author’s pithy details don’t linger excessively on scenes of brutal torture and explicit sex. Much of the cast is gleefully complex, harboring unexpected connections to others, and rarely trustworthy, though Samara is a consistently appealing young protagonist. While Lucinda’s thirst for power drives the story, the lengthy final act swerves drastically, introducing myriad new characters and twists aplenty involving Samara and a weirdly specific prophecy. Still, the doozy of a cliffhanger will surely leave readers yearning for a third series installment.
Supernatural beings propel this intricate, intriguing, and surprisingly energetic tale.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68564-056-9
Page Count: 523
Publisher: Creative Edge Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
FANTASY | PARANORMAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT DYSTOPIAN FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY | ACTION & ADVENTURE FANTASY | PARANORMAL FANTASY | GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL FICTION
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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