A worthy series introduction with a blistering pace and a gleeful heap of mayhem.
In the opener of this debut YA fantasy-adventure trilogy, families with god-granted abilities are at war but may unite against a common enemy when they become targets of the Imperial Army.
As a member of Neil Vapros’ family, you’re either a socialite or an assassin. The 16-year-old strives to be the latter, his kin pitted against two other bloodlines residing in the city of Altryon. Centuries before, a deity—the Man with the Golden Light—gifted certain families with special abilities: the Vapros, Taurlum, and Celerius clans, and a fourth lineage no one seems to know. Everything was copacetic for a while, but a feud among the families, its origin murky, eventually began. Though an emperor took power to combat the grudge’s adverse effect on Altryon’s economy, the fighting continues. Neil, who can materialize in diverse places (but not through walls), botches his first assassination attempt against the Celerius family. Nevertheless, possible retaliation from that clan isn’t the most pressing issue: it’s the Imperial Army’s sudden aggression toward the families, from imprisonment to murder. To form a strong rebellion, Neil and the rest of the Vapros band will have to align with their adversaries and form a plan that entails getting past the city’s wall, where wastelands reputedly await. Prue’s action-laden story features struggles that are sometimes psychological rather than physical: Neil, implying that his father’s regularly abusive, declares his family a “military unit.” The narrative likewise debunks stereotypes. Wealthy Lilly Celerius, for one, has her own servant, Jonathan, whom she cares for like family, while formidable commoner Bianca Blackmore shows that gender and class status play no part in determining individual strength. Bare-bones descriptions throughout prove beneficial, not lingering on the environment, as Altryon’s relatively small, and instead centering on a speedy plot jampacked with multiple confrontations and newfound alliances. There’s plenty to savor (betrayals, shocking deaths, etc.), but the author allows some mystery to remain and carry over for upcoming volumes.
A worthy series introduction with a blistering pace and a gleeful heap of mayhem.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5404-1785-5
Page Count: 334
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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