The concluding chapter in Gilman’s Vineart War trilogy brings the story to a satisfying if sometimes sluggish end, expanding on the author’s unique concept of magic as expressed through winemaking.
After a perilous sea journey in the previous novel (Weight of Stone, 2010), Jerzy, a Vineart who has the power to cultivate magic contained in spellwines, returns to his homeland with three companions who are his allies in the battle against a mysterious enemy. A rogue Vineart from a far-off land is gathering together all five types of magic, a practice forbidden for centuries to prevent Vinearts from gaining too much power. Holed up at Jerzy’s vineyard, the four friends work to formulate a plan to defeat their unknown adversary, while fending off threats from various feudal lords and the Washers, a religious order committed to keeping Vinearts from overstepping their ancient prescribed limits. Gilman presents a complex and often fascinating system of spellcasting, rich in both fantastical and oenophilic detail. That system at times seems more fleshed out than the characters, especially the supporting players who aid Jerzy in his fairly predictable quest. Although the characterization can be sparse (and the writing sometimes dry), it is evenhanded, with the factions opposed to Jerzy’s mission getting a spotlight. The ultimate villain, however, is a one-dimensional megalomaniac, and his final showdown with Jerzy is a little anticlimactic. While that can be frustrating, it’s also indicative of how Gilman subverts expectations, favoring philosophical debates over big action sequences, and even dispatching one major battle completely off the page. The result is a story about how the real victories are won behind the scenes, with cunning and careful planning, rather than by large armies doing as much damage to each other as possible. By mixing familiar fantasy elements with unexpected new approaches, Gilman produces a novel that’s both traditional and forward-thinking.
Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4391-0148-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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