by Larry Mellman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 12, 2022
Absorbing political machinations and sexual tension collide to hook readers.
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A historical fable of Venetian politics becomes a queer bildungsroman in this debut romance and series launch.
In the lush world of 14th-century Venice, Niccolò “Nico” Saltano is little more than a young peasant. That is, until the Venetian leadership fatefully plucks the 14-year-old from his place in life to serve as the “ballot boy”—an attendant of sorts to the new doge and also the person in charge of counting the ballots in the doge’s election. One doge dies and another must take office, ushering Nico into the Doge’s Palace and his new life in the Venetian court, waiting to count ballots for the latest Venetian ruler. Unwilling to show up for the final tally, Andrea Contarini is the ultimate reluctant victor to be elected as new doge, and he and Nico form an unlikely bond and alliance as members of the palace brought against their will. The court politics and political intrigue are interesting, but they’re often relegated to the background as other, even more interesting, drama unfolds outside the palace walls. Behind the Venetian rules and niceties is a society that is cruel and homophobic—being gay is a capital offense. The heart of the novel is a coming-of-age story in period dress that follows Nico’s coming to terms with his own sexuality—and the danger that it may bring him. Mellman’s tale shines when it interrogates the ways sex and gender impact the lives of ordinary people, as when the cast reflects on the public execution of a “sodomite” or when, in the very beginning of the book, a character named Alex reveals that she regularly wears male drag. Alex is one of the book’s most compelling characters—a figure from Nico’s past life in the streets of Venice whose class position and tendency to act like a “beggar boy” get her into trouble. If any fault could be had with the novel, it’s that Mellman leaves Alex’s fate ambiguous. Of course, readers will just have to come back for more.
Absorbing political machinations and sexual tension collide to hook readers.Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64890-468-4
Page Count: 383
Publisher: NineStar Press
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
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New York Times Bestseller
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
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by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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by Leigh Bardugo ; illustrated by Dani Pendergast
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