Expect graphic violence, fairy-tale magic, flights of comedy, and operatic melodrama but also genuine intimacy and tragedy.
The four-book Tale of the Shikanoko series reaches its finale as destiny has its way, determining once and for all who will be emperor of Hearn’s fantasy feudal Japan.
The hidden emperor Yoshi was a small child back in Emperor of the Eight Isles (2016) when he was forced to flee for his life with the Autumn Princess and her stepsister Kai after his uncle Daigen was named emperor. Now grown, Yoshi does not want to acknowledge his royal lineage, preferring a quiet life as an acrobat. But Lord Aritomo of the Miboshi Clan, who has been the force behind Daigen all along, receives reports that Yoshi has been sighted for the first time in 12 years. Ailing yet desperate to outlive friends and foes, Aritomo hopes that by capturing and publicly executing Yoshi he can prove portents, including drought and famine, that Yoshi is the true emperor to be wrong. Aritomo no longer trusts his vassal Masachika, who resembles both Macbeth and Iago in ambition, duplicity, and love for his wife. But if Yoshi’s claim on the throne is a threat to Daigen’s rule, title character Shika’s legendary powers are far more worrisome to Aritomo and Masachika. Over the course of the series, Shika evolved from orphan to bandit to warrior to superpowered half-man/half-beast forced to wear a magically empowered deer mask. He has been living in the Darkwood for years by the time Hina, the central character of Lord of the Darkwood (2016), manages to find him. Her tears of love help Shika remove his deer mask, and she introduces him to his son, Take, born to the Autumn Princess before her death in Autumn Princess, Dragon Child (2016). But will Shika decide to quit his self-exile, and does he have enough martial and supernatural muscle to defeat Aritomo—or to convince Yoshi to take up the mantle and rule?
Expect graphic violence, fairy-tale magic, flights of comedy, and operatic melodrama but also genuine intimacy and tragedy.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-53634-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fantasy fans will love this fast-paced adventure, with its complex magic system, thoughtful hero and bold heroine.
A fast-paced fantasy adventure that takes readers into a series of interconnected worlds ruled by magic—or the lack of it.
Long ago, the doors between worlds were open, and anyone with magic could travel from one to the next. Now the doors are closed, and only a chosen few have the power to travel between Grey London, a world without magic, Red London, a world suffused with it, and White London, a world where magic is scarce, coveted and jealously guarded. As for Black London, the city consumed, no one would be so foolish as to risk a trip—not even Kell. Officially, he’s a royal messenger, carrying letters among the rulers of the three Londons. Unofficially, he’s a smuggler who collects artifacts from other worlds. It’s that habit that leads him to accept a dangerous relic, something that shouldn’t exist. And it’s when a wanted Grey London thief named Lila steals the artifact that the real trouble starts—for both of them. Schwab (Vicious, 2013, etc.) creates a memorable world—actually, three memorable worlds—and even more memorable characters. Lila in particular is a winningly unconventional heroine who, as she declares, would “rather die on an adventure than live standing still.” The brisk plot makes this a page-turner that confronts darkness but is never overwhelmed by it.
Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7645-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Imperfect, but well constructed and engrossing nonetheless.
Cerúlia recovers from her wounds and decides it’s finally time to take back her throne in Kozloff’s (The Queen of Raiders, 2020, etc.) penultimate Nine Realms novel.
Badly burned and laid up in a Healing Center, Cerúlia is losing faith in herself. She misses the various friends she’s made along her journey, misses her home, and resents her limitations as she heals from injuries sustained in the previous novel. In the past, her magical “Talent” for talking to animals has helped her make friends with local creatures, but she’s worried that something has happened to her ability and fears using it. As she slowly recuperates and learns from the fellow residents in the healing center, Cerúlia comes to understand that she must face her responsibility to her people and find a way to become the Queen of Weirandale. To that end, she returns home to her nation’s capital, Cascada, only to discover that her long-lost foster sister, Percia, is about to marry the kindly son of the maniacal and power-hungry Regent Matwyck, the very person keeping Cerúlia from her throne. Reunited with her beloved foster family, Cerúlia decides it is time to stop hiding under aliases and disguises. But with no army to support her, how is she supposed to save herself from Matwyck’s clutches? And now that she’s seen more of the world and understands the lives of regular people, does she even believe in the idea of monarchy at all? Kozloff finally brings the action back to Weirandale in a compelling setup to the last novel in her series. Like Book 2, this one struggles a bit with standing on its own, but Kozloff uses these pages to make Cerúlia a more complex and compelling character. Threads following other characters from other nations are easy to follow and add dimension to the world, but as of now they still feel a bit too detached from the main plotline.
Imperfect, but well constructed and engrossing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16866-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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