Creative and diverting; a massive amount of story, perhaps too much, for an opening volume.
A man finds himself in a baffling, dreamlike world of gods, archangels, and dragons in the first installment of Kildare’s fantasy series.
Cillian Rysgaard is hardly surprised by his physician’s diagnosis of dementia. But when the 86-year-old leaves the doctor’s office in Fargo, North Dakota, he seems to enter an entirely new world and to have a shockingly younger body. He initially encounters people who apparently know him, calling him a “champion” and speaking in various tongues like Gaelic and Latin. Certain that he’s dreaming, he accepts a mission from a wizened man who holds the ancient Roman title of “Imperator”; Cillian must slay a dragon, which first requires stealing a powerful, ancient sword. Unfortunately, Loki, the god of chaos, tricks Cillian into freeing him from captivity. A group of archangels (the seven remaining after wars in heaven) find Cillian and enlist his help in recapturing Loki, who has somehow “chosen” him. Accordingly, Cillian will be a spy for the archangels and try to learn Loki’s mysterious intentions. Nevertheless, as he continually awakens in strange places, Cillian still believes that what’s happening to him is occurring in a dream. But in a world of deadly creatures, a rampaging troll army, and an impending war, he may be better off acting as if his life is in genuine peril. Kildare jam-packs this opening installment with characters and exposition on topics from heavenly wars to Cillian’s childhood. Cillian is a savvy, sympathetic protagonist, a multilingual professor who misses his late wife. And while some of the abundant menaces are oft-discussed villains who don’t show up, it’s clear that the human race may be in danger. The author fills the pages with environmental details in a mostly sober narrative, save a charming Loki who makes a mean margarita. However, so much unfolds, especially with Cillian repeatedly waking up in new locations, that readers are likely to be as confused as the protagonist typically is. They may have to look for answers in sequels.
Creative and diverting; a massive amount of story, perhaps too much, for an opening volume.Pub Date: May 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9963057-1-6
Page Count: 305
Publisher: Kildare Press LLC
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
Prepare yourself for the long haul. This is expansive, emotionally complex, and bound to suck you in.
Magic, dragons, and prophecy are welcome threads in a fantasy that extols the power of motherhood, friendship, and self-love to change the world.
This prequel to Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019) has a similar scope to that 800-page fantasy, but dragon lore is less important here than the stories of people and events that become catalysts for The Priory's tale. Each chapter is grounded by a cardinal direction, lest you lose your bearings, with the four corners of the world home to central characters whom readers will get to know intimately. In the West lives Glorian, heir to the queendom of Inys. Her rule is based on the sacred Berethnet bloodline, whose power originates from the knight Galian Berethnet's banishing of the Nameless One, a giant fire-breathing wyrm birthed from the world’s core. In the East, Dumai lives on a mountain peak and trains as a godsinger, someone who harbors a human connection to the dragons the East worship as gods. In the South, Tunuva is a warrior of the Priory, a sisterhood that worships the Mother who is seen as the true banisher of the Nameless One. Their beliefs are so different and their societies so distanced that they don't know of the others' existence. And yet, when the balance of nature starts to waver, bringing whispers of new fire-breathing threats like the Nameless One, these women find themselves united by a common cause to save their people and seek truth about the higher powers at war with one another. This story is epic in scope, but its density is the sort that pulls you in. The biggest pull comes from the humanity displayed by the central characters, whose hearts ache for their children and their futures in a world fraught with turmoil. The fire-breathers bring more than destruction in their wake; they also bring a plaguelike sickness that will elicit sharp parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic. The very real struggles these characters face, whether they ride dragons or bear the suffocating rules of monarchy, make this a consuming read. While some fantasy tropes feel like they've only been added to the story's surface, the pages keep turning because of the heart-wrenching reasons that characters are driven to action. The heroes shine in their uniqueness, with diverse family dynamics interwoven throughout and representation ranging from queer lords and warriors to genderfluid alchemists. This prequel stands on its own, but a word of warning to people who have read The Priory: You'll want to reread it in order to benefit from the deeper knowledge of what came before.
Prepare yourself for the long haul. This is expansive, emotionally complex, and bound to suck you in.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63557-792-1
Page Count: 880
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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