A doleful, entropic, and engrossing vision of a near-future America.
A young militiaman undergoes a life-changing ordeal after a run-in with the aging populace of a dilapidated town in this dystopian novel.
The year is somewhere beyond 2031. Warrentown is a run-down, almost deserted ex-logging town in Southwest Washington state. The only business that survives is the tavern kept by Rachel and Jimmy, ageless personifications respectively of the raven and the coyote. Rachel and Jimmy look after the remaining townsfolk. They steal medical supplies from Rainier, the larger, more prosperous neighboring town. Regular patrons of the tavern include Valerie, the kindhearted older woman who tends bar and takes in stray animals; Charlie the Poet, a meditative widower in his twilight years; Crazy Mary, a cackling schizophrenic; and Old Man and his equally old dog, Angie. Life is tough, but Warrentown clings to its sense of community—a fragile existence that is threatened when four off-duty militia soldiers from Rainier come looking for trouble. Of these, only Baylor is uncomfortable with throwing his weight around. Baylor is an unhappy young man but not without empathy. While the other militia members draw Rachel and Jimmy’s ire, Baylor is offered a chance at redemption. Stranded in a supernatural wilderness between towns, he quarrels with his fellow soldiers and sets out alone. Will he find his way back to the precious sanctuary of Warrentown? Koerber writes in the third person, past tense from multiple character viewpoints. The chapters are short, lending a sense of movement to what is essentially a mood piece. The residents of Warrentown are well drawn and sadly evocative of a future in which the most vulnerable members of society have been left to fend for themselves. Baylor is an unlikely three-dimensional protagonist. He is flawed and in many ways unlikable, yet in becoming the focus of the story, he takes readers on an unexpected journey. The author’s writing is concise and rendered with pathos, the dialogue and narrative shifting believably with each character. Though the novel overall verges on being depressing, it has personality, and the dismal future it depicts is offset by inherent human kindness. The deep magic of nature, though broken, lies waiting to be revitalized—or so readers may dream.
A doleful, entropic, and engrossing vision of a near-future America.Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1946044969
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Who Chains You Books
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
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