Should satisfy existing fans but won't tempt many newcomers.
Conclusion to Watt-Evans’s fantasy trilogy (Dragon Weather, 1999; The Dragon Society, 2001).
Previously, young Arlian, sole survivor of a dragon attack on the village Obsidian, accidentally ingested a mixture of human blood and deadly, corrosive dragon venom—and thereby became a “dragonheart.” Charismatic, strong, fast, and invulnerable to most poisons, Arlian is destined to live a thousand years. As a downside, he will become less and less human and eventually will die when a new dragon claws its way out of his chest. Unlike most dragonhearts, Arlian burns for vengeance upon the creatures that made him what he is. And now he knows two crucial facts: dragons, once considered invulnerable, can be slain with weapons tipped with obsidian; and, though dragons don't eat, they prey on humans because they consume souls! Arlian, taking advantage of the dragons’ midwinter torpor, slaughters them as they slumber in their caverns. But as the number of dragons dwindles, so does their magic, allowing the wild magic, evil wizards, and monsters of the Borderlands to encroach on the Lands of Man. After journeying into the Borderlands to consult with the powers there, Arlian wonders why the mixture of human blood and dragon venom is such a potent elixir. Cold-bloodedly, he experiments on animals to see whether the elixir might create other kinds of magical beings. The results are disturbing. And, naturally, his plans will be violently opposed by the other dragonhearts and their surviving dragon allies.
Should satisfy existing fans but won't tempt many newcomers.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-765-30279-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A somewhat fragmentary nocturnal shadows Jim Nightshade and his friend Will Halloway, born just before and just after midnight on the 31st of October, as they walk the thin line between real and imaginary worlds. A carnival (evil) comes to town with its calliope, merry-go-round and mirror maze, and in its distortion, the funeral march is played backwards, their teacher's nephew seems to assume the identity of the carnival's Mr. Cooger. The Illustrated Man (an earlier Bradbury title) doubles as Mr. Dark. comes for the boys and Jim almost does; and there are other spectres in this freakshow of the mind, The Witch, The Dwarf, etc., before faith casts out all these fears which the carnival has exploited... The allusions (the October country, the autumn people, etc.) as well as the concerns of previous books will be familiar to Bradbury's readers as once again this conjurer limns a haunted landscape in an allegory of good and evil. Definitely for all admirers.
Pub Date: June 15, 1962
ISBN: 0380977273
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962
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
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