A strong cast of characters and an intriguing storyline overshadow the sometimes abundant use of foreign terms known as...
Sauvain’s (Collegium Sorcerorum: Thaddeus of Beewicke, 2011) second fantasy installment features a foursome of heralded, first-year Collegium students who discover their abilities through a series of unexpected adventures.
Talking statues, Lilyput the goblin and eerie laughter from the mysterious Minaret of Power welcome first-year students—Thaddeus of Beewicke, Anders of Brightfield and Rolland of Fountaindale—to the Collegium. While the first volume of Sauvain’s epic fantasy detailed the journey to the Collegium, the second depicts the young sorcerers as they learn hand-to-hand combat and grapple with hostile upperclassmen. Rolland, nicknamed “Prince of Thieves,” finds trouble from the start: He’s pinned to the wall by upperclassmen and later accosted by a demon for using sorcery on campus. Each time, ever-loyal Thaddeus comes to his brethren’s aid. Rolland’s knack for acquiring trouble adds flavor to the storyline, but the thief’s pronounced ability to stir trouble is also a catalyst that helps readers understand the depth of the main characters’ friendship. Dismayed by the popularity of their first-year peers, upperclassmen challenge Thaddeus and company to a game of “Pila Ludere”—a form of soccer using a dragon’s bladder—on Halloween night. Sauvain uses this match as an opportunity to introduce fairies and elves, who help even the odds against the older sorcerers. As the contest nears an end, Thaddeus blacks out and finds himself in a faraway land called “Locus Lapidum Pendentium,” or the place of hanging stones. The baffling history of this desolate region inevitably links the Minaret of Power, the Cin empire, Master Silvestrus and the Collegium. Perhaps the most intriguing deviation from Sauvain’s debut novel is the integration of Zoarr, Prince of Mauretesia, and his unique love–hate relationship with Rolland. Throughout the book, Zoarr, a member of the senior class, strives to prove his loyalty to Thaddeus, Anders and especially Rolland. While Sauvain’s strength is his ability to create dynamic characters, including animals such as talking bird Pscittica and golden dog Bellis, he leaves readers desiring more scenes that shed light on the mystery behind the Minaret of Power. Sauvain dedicates the last 50 pages to explaining the role of each character and clarifying the terminology.
A strong cast of characters and an intriguing storyline overshadow the sometimes abundant use of foreign terms known as “Lingua Imperatoria.”Pub Date: April 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615584515
Page Count: 493
Publisher: Louis Sauvain
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A witty narrative about the quirks of the Internet age, bugged by an unsatisfying denouement.
An alienated high-tech project manager in Seattle tries to figure out his absurd life in Mills’ debut novel with a sci-fi twist.
Seattle oddball Maxwell Greyson is the narrator of this postmodern novel, which consists of Greyson’s text messages, emails, chat-room threads, scripted sketches, avant-garde poetry, satirical lists and dialogues. Greyson—who insists he can hear when people pronounce his name “Grayson,” with a A—evidently makes a good living working on Web design and mobile-phone gadgets; he lives in a home he had custom-built on a highway traffic island. But Greyson depicts his job and identity as a project manager as an absurd, Kafkaesque puzzle. He has a syndrome called prosopagnosia that prevents him from recognizing individual human faces, he suspects he’s getting messages from dead people, and he feels that some inborn quality dooms him to be disliked instantly by everyone he meets. Greyson has a Tyler Durden-esque friend, Sid, with whom he has discussions about quantum multiverses. Greyson and Sid promote a hoax restaurant together, solely to tease the city’s poseurs and would-be gourmands. Then Greyson finds a girl whose face he can actually remember: Ruby, his regular barista at a coffeehouse called Café Entropy. A late plot twist abruptly transforms and reboots the narrative, transforming it from a snappy story of digital-age existential angst into a somewhat creaky and familiar cyberpunk-ish sci-fi tale. Author Mills has an infectiously entertaining knack for punny wordplay and repartee that carries the story’s metaplot along. And, yes, he deploys a profusion of emoticons along the way. Mills also created no fewer than 17 tie-in websites, each based on a different chapter, to supplement and hype this book, and even used the novel’s Amazon paperback price tag as a numerical inside joke.
A witty narrative about the quirks of the Internet age, bugged by an unsatisfying denouement.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615692555
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Twice Two Media
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A funny, tongue-in-cheek guide for the undead.
A comedic self-help book for newly transformed vampires
Don’t let the unwieldy title of this book turn you off; it’s not nearly as cheesy as its unfortunate name would suggest. Debut novelist Jones contributes a worthy addition to the exploding vampire genre with her humorous take on the struggles facing new blood suckers. The book covers everything from relationships to dinner-party options for the undead. Jones writes that as vampires, “You’re expected to be the people eater, the shape shifter, and the sensitive boyfriend all in one and all at one time.” Cleverly realizing how overblown the concept of vampires has become in the popular consciousness, Jones sets out to offer joking advice to the recently bitten. The author is clearly well-versed in the history of the genre from Dracula to Twilight and draws on the subtleties of the blood-sucking archetype to paint a jokey psychological portrait. Jones writes in a breezy, witty style that induces constant chuckling. The book manages to lampoon the stereotypes of both the vampire genre and the hand-holding self-help book. Less successful is the frequent use of poorly drawn comics to complement the narrative. Jones would have been better served by folding these ideas into the text of the book. In spite of this misstep, this primer for monsters is a worthy addition to a genre that is quickly descending into boring self-parody. Jones manages to indulge in the zeitgeist while also pointing towards some of its more ridiculous and contradictory features.
A funny, tongue-in-cheek guide for the undead.Pub Date: April 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615624754
Page Count: 84
Publisher: Martha Jones
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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