A tantalizing series opener that leaves little room for character development.
In Walker’s fantasy debut, twin brothers accidentally unleash an ancient, malevolent force upon their father’s kingdom.
On the world of Mythos, 19-year-old twins Kian’Huard and Ko’Resh are heirs to the throne of the House of Rhuna. The brothers have been enjoying the Spring Festival in the city of Kephas, and while out riding, they find a cave leading into the nearby mountain that seems to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Ko’Resh, the more reckless of the two, insists that the cave simply “revealed itself” and wants to explore it. Kian’Huard reminds him the mountain is home to the sacred Temple of Osiris and that trespassers may be put to death. Nonetheless, they feel strangely compelled to walk through the cavern system. When the entrance behind them closes, Kian’Huard knows that “solveige” (or dark magic) is at work. They eventually pass a stone gateway and encounter seven powerful spirits called the Sem Lukos Resh. Six of them invade Ko’Resh’s body, while the remaining one invades Kian’Huard. The brothers are missing from Kephas for four moon cycles. Then Kian’Huard, alone, meets Kri’Attole, his mentor, outside Kephas. However, when Kian’Huard’s father, Sharram Kar’Set, tries to have them both arrested, the young man realizes that he and his brother have become puppets of the horrid spirits. For this ambitious novel, Walker crafts a tale that’s heavy on graphic visuals and Eastern religious motifs. The discipline of Tae’Heb, for example, addresses “seven main power centers within the body,” like chakras, “each tuned to a frequency that supported specific functions of the body and psyche.” When Ko’Resh’s power centers are corrupted by the Sem Lukos Resh, he gains superpowers, including speed and strength. When the brothers battle, Walker’s prose is baroque in style: “Swords flashed in shafts of light...arcing explosions of electric rainbows ringing with death lust.” The narrative straddles centuries, as the villainous Sharram Saal hopes to manipulate Rhuna bloodlines to create a child that can contain the seven spirits. Unfortunately, Walker’s dry characterization makes the various players feel like mere pawns in the epic plot.
A tantalizing series opener that leaves little room for character development.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3278-8
Page Count: 294
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Honeyman’s endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.
A very funny novel about the survivor of a childhood trauma.
At 29, Eleanor Oliphant has built an utterly solitary life that almost works. During the week, she toils in an office—don’t inquire further; in almost eight years no one has—and from Friday to Monday she makes the time go by with pizza and booze. Enlivening this spare existence is a constant inner monologue that is cranky, hilarious, deadpan, and irresistible. Eleanor Oliphant has something to say about everything. Riding the train, she comments on the automated announcements: “I wondered at whom these pearls of wisdom were aimed; some passing extraterrestrial, perhaps, or a yak herder from Ulan Bator who had trekked across the steppes, sailed the North Sea, and found himself on the Glasgow-Edinburgh service with literally no prior experience of mechanized transport to call upon.” Eleanor herself might as well be from Ulan Bator—she’s never had a manicure or a haircut, worn high heels, had anyone visit her apartment, or even had a friend. After a mysterious event in her childhood that left half her face badly scarred, she was raised in foster care, spent her college years in an abusive relationship, and is now, as the title states, perfectly fine. Her extreme social awkwardness has made her the butt of nasty jokes among her colleagues, which don’t seem to bother her much, though one notices she is stockpiling painkillers and becoming increasingly obsessed with an unrealistic crush on a local musician. Eleanor’s life begins to change when Raymond, a goofy guy from the IT department, takes her for a potential friend, not a freak of nature. As if he were luring a feral animal from its hiding place with a bit of cheese, he gradually brings Eleanor out of her shell. Then it turns out that shell was serving a purpose.
Honeyman’s endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2068-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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