An engaging medieval fantasy that’s also, at times, a refreshingly candid tale of desire.
In Hunt’s fantasy adventure, a queen with a secret sends away her most loyal warrior only for him to return years later.
Eleven years ago, Sir Ezra, a knight, entered the Queen’s chambers after hearing her scream in terror. His protective instinct apparently caused him to unleash a secret power—one accompanied by “a sound like ringing thunder.” The Prince of Erle, who’s the Queen’s husband, and his knights were all killed during the incident, and the Queen, whose name is Rose, sent Ezra into exile. Now, in Province, he serves Lady Kristen while struggling to keep his obsession with the Queen in check. Rachel, Lady Kristen’s 17-year-old daughter, is infatuated with Ezra; when she takes her flirtation to the next level, it again activates his hidden power. Ezra, it turns out, is an Elysian Bell—a legendary figure who can broadcast his emotions outward, which affects others in unexpected ways. Lady Kristen decides to send Ezra back to the capital as her seneschal, or steward, so that he might see Rose and receive closure. There, the knight is greeted by a female knight named Sir Marigold, an old friend, but he also finds evidence of the Queen’s rocky rule. However, a bigger surprise awaits him. Hunt combines fairy-tale romance with appealingly ribald scenes in this unique medieval adventure. When Rachel dyes her hair blond, for instance, Ezra’s “bell-like tolling” sounds, which causes the young woman to literally rip her bodice, swept away with passion. The knight’s gift eventually summons other women to his bedchambers, including shopkeeper Danielle Stonehouse, and there are lively descriptions of carnal pleasure. Balancing these moments are threats to Ezra’s life and dream sequences with ethereal passages: “He dived down...to see how deep the clean, crystalline structure went and was amazed at the endless, vertiginous expanse of ice below him.” Moments of wisdom come from Sir Marigold, who tells the girls she’s training, “Don’t try to mimic your enemies and compete against their advantage. We must find our own advantages.” Rose’s revelation to Ezra provides fuel for a sequel.
An engaging medieval fantasy that’s also, at times, a refreshingly candid tale of desire.Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77797-343-8
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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