Despite taking an entire book to get to the Collegium, Sauvain’s ensemble of unique characters enduring precarious...
In Sauvain’s epic fantasy, an aging sorcerer recruits three teenagers to study at the Collegium Sorcerorum; on their way, they’ll face thrilling adventures, romantic encounters and life lessons.
Set in the mysterious Dark Ages, the novel begins with an eccentric, mule-riding vagabond successfully luring 14-year-old Thaddeus from his parents’ home in Beewicke. The nearly 1,000-year-old sorcerer, Master Silvestrus (reminiscent of Dumbledore), recruits Thaddeus of Beewicke, Anders of Brightfield and Rolland of Fountaindale—a prominent thief—as his three apprentices. They are to travel to the Collegium, learn the art of sorcery and play their part in fulfilling an age-old prophecy. Sauvain’s detail-rich paragraphs and astute sense of character development are comparable to the Harry Potter series. Here, however, sorcery is more experimental and requires one to believe and have been intimate with a beloved. While Thaddeus is the clear-cut protagonist, the characters of Rolland, Anders and Asullus are arguably more compelling and memorable. Asullus, the talking mule, is hilarious and loyal to a fault. Anders, having studied under numerous scholars, is the intelligent one. Rolland, an orphan who grew up on the streets and steals for survival, quickly develops an entertaining love/hate relationship with Asullus. Together, Master Silvestrus and company tackle adventures featuring robbers, ogres, deceptive butterflies, spirits, fairies, elves, talking trees, demons, a peculiar dog named Bellis, the cursed Cin army of cowards and more. Although splendid characterizations, engaging plot twists and humorous dialogues are the pillars of Sauvain’s narrative, a number of characters seem rushed and far too temporary; for example, Ethne enters the novel early as Thaddeus’ love interest, but there’s no sign of her in the remaining 548 pages. Sean Bodley’s illustrations and maps add depth to the setting, the extensive glossary allows readers to understand Lingua Imperatoria and the section on “Dramatis Personae” is instrumental in explaining who each character is and the role he plays.
Despite taking an entire book to get to the Collegium, Sauvain’s ensemble of unique characters enduring precarious situations delivers great fun and anticipation for the ensuing books in the saga.Pub Date: July 19, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615503295
Page Count: 548
Publisher: Louis Sauvain
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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