Top-notch Modesitt, even if you’re not a series regular.
The 18th volume in Modesitt’s seemingly immortal Recluce fantasy series, following Cyador’s Heirs (2014, etc.).
After years of border skirmishing and petty provocations, Lerial, the second son of Duke Kiedron of Cigoerne, uses his mastery of order and chaos, the competing natural forces that shape his world and define the magic that exists within it, to annihilate an Afritan military force penetrating the border. Five years later, Lerial’s wise mentor, Majer Altyrn, dies (without putting in an appearance). Kiedron suspects an impending invasion of Afrit by its belligerent neighbor, Heldya. Without Afrit to protect its northern flank, Cigoerne, smaller, poorer and less populous, could not long withstand Heldya’s vast armies. So Kiedron hastily arranges with Duke Atroyan to send Lerial and three companies of Mirror Lancers, Cigoerne’s crack troops, to Afrit’s aid. Not only must Lerial win over skeptical or hostile Afritans and deploy his magic, his wits and his martial skills to thwart the invaders, but somehow he must expose and neutralize the subtle treacheries of Afrit’s merchant class, as well as navigate dangerous political and familial waters. The general ambience is early modern Europe—think 16th-17th century, with magic replacing firearms. Inevitably, the entries possess a certain generic similarity as well as a resemblance to other Modesitt works such as the Imager series. Here, then, we see a young man with magical, military and diplomatic skills faced with ordeals that will challenge his ability to make good decisions under life-threatening circumstances. Fortunately, the author’s not only a superb craftsman and character-builder, but a consummate storyteller, so that each good-against-evil clash appears fresh and engrossing.
Top-notch Modesitt, even if you’re not a series regular.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7613-8
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
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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