A futuristic tale in which the people of Ireland wage war as if it were the Middle Ages.
Almost 2,000 years from now, humankind has long since abandoned the machines that nearly destroyed the Earth and has reverted to stateless, clan-based forms of government. In the Province of the Twenty Clans in southeastern Ireland, citizens generally lead simple lives filled with music, poetry, good food and strong ale. But they are under constant threat from raiders to the north, where unusually cold weather has shut down agricultural production and caused a famine. This enjoyable debut novel from O’Shiel—filled with battles involving swords, bows, catapults and wooden ships—could almost be mistaken for historical fiction set in the Middle Ages or earlier, if not for the enlightened attitudes about gender roles. O’Shiel introduces a host of well-developed major and minor characters, including Conor Laigain, a reluctant soldier who takes over command of the Province’s field army. Meanwhile, his fiancée Mairin Fotharta, a captain in the nearly all-female navy, sails four warships down to Santander, Spain, to fight alongside Cornish, Welsh and Breton allies. In between battles with bad guys who are about as nameless and faceless as orcs in a Tolkien novel, libidos rage, love triangles form and friendships are tested. A map would have been helpful for following the action, and at times certain characters make decisions with unrealistic impulsiveness. The book would also benefit from additional proofreading for spelling and grammar mistakes. Yet despite these flaws, O’Shiel writes with charm and conviction that makes the work stand out from other similarly grandiose works of fantasy. While the central conceit of the novel (a future where Irish clans speak the Celtic language, abandon Christianity and successfully fight with swords instead of modern weapons) is far-fetched, O’Shiel delivers a rich, engaging epic.
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463569327
Page Count: 793
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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