A political whirlwind with adventure galore; Hartsuyker bows out on a high note.
The final installment of Hartsuyker's epic trilogy (The Sea Queen, 2018, etc.) brings together old friends and foes with a new generation of characters to follow, admire, and cheer.
When we last saw Ragnvald, he was the captive of Solvi, his sister Svanhild's seafaring first husband, and in bad need of rescue. Years later, the venerated warrior feels the effects of old age and constant battle. As King Harald's best friend and most trusted warrior, Ragnvald manages the king’s ever expanding holdings while Harald is distracted by a beautiful new wife. To make matters worse, Ragnvald's visibility throughout the kingdom marks him as a suspected usurper of Harald's power. But it's Harald's scheming son, Halfdan, who presents the real problem. Tired of waiting his turn, Halfdan mounts a rebellion by gathering allies from Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, and Sweden. Meanwhile, Svanhild has become disenchanted with her husband, Harald, despite having an unusual amount of freedom and power as his queen. So when she suddenly has the chance to return to Solvi, exiled in Iceland, she takes it. As Hartsuyker weaves the conclusion to her masterful epic, she artfully passes Ragnvald and Svanhild's story on to a new generation of characters. How have Svanhild and Ragnvald's complicated web of decisions affected their children? And what kind of world will they inherit once their parents are gone? Freydis, Svanhild and Solvi's teenage daughter, is a compelling new character, and she transforms from a scared young girl into a leader who wields soft power and political influence with a just hand. Ragnvald's sons, Ivar, Einar, and Rolli, each become, in their own ways, casualties to the constraints of Viking masculinity, steeped in both honor and vengeance. As the book races toward its conclusion, Ragnvald senses the fulfillment of an old prophecy and must decide whether to sacrifice himself for those he loves—or feed his family to the wolves.
A political whirlwind with adventure galore; Hartsuyker bows out on a high note.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-256374-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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