A speculative tale that has fun with its genre’s chapter-and-verse.
In Acco’s debut SF/fantasy novel, three of the Vatican’s clerical elite fight malevolent entities who covet an alchemical artifact from the 17th century.
In a not-too-distant future, the Catholic Church embraces the use of high-tech superweapons to fight evil. This comes in handy when a doorway, fashioned by Prussian alchemists in the 1600s using meteorite ore, suddenly appears. The alchemists unwisely created it in a bid to reach God and heaven directly, and it had a tendency to teleport uncontrollably, spewing deadly radiation as it did so. Space miners found it on the moon centuries later, then lost it again; now, it seems to be connected to violent, occult-related incidents around the globe. The church tasks a trio of Catholic “Magisters” to investigate: tough priest Lev Kraal, advanced android Michael (which uses technology from benevolent aliens), and a new recruit, priest Wilhemina “Will” Grand, who’s haunted by guilt. In an action-packed, episodic narrative, they face demons and shape-shifters who aim to use the doorway for their own malicious purposes. Unusually, the author waits until midway through the novel to provide the sort of backstory that many other SF writers place upfront; the narrative occurs in the aftermath of a veritable Armageddon in which billions of humans died due to climate change, wealth inequality, war, and species extinction, among other reasons. Meanwhile, money and capitalism have practically been abolished. Fans of the Star Trek mythos may note that its noble United Federation of Planets had a similar origin, and the book’s ambiance is somewhat Gene Roddenberry–like, right down to Michael’s resemblance to Lt. Cmdr. Data and some cheeky humor, especially in the colorfully infernal villains’ repartee. Compared with other faith-based genre fiction, which is often written from an Evangelical Protestant perspective, the preaching is relatively light, and there are nods to representatives of Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Although the Catholic Church, as portrayed here, seems fairly broad-minded, the tradition of priestly celibacy perseveres, so there are no sex scenes; indeed, even evil entities treat the subject of sexuality with delicacy.
A speculative tale that has fun with its genre’s chapter-and-verse.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-70697-263-1
Page Count: 197
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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