Two main characters filled with potential make this a promising start to a fantasy saga.
This first installment of a fantasy series set in a pseudo–Middle Ages realm follows a princess as she becomes forced to battle treachery in her father’s kingdom.
Twenty-three-year-old Skylar Mandolyn’s seemingly idyllic royal life is turned upside down when her father appoints an adviser to help him rule the kingdom. Although the king trusts the judgment of his adviser, Cross Lutherus, explicitly, the princess sees the man for what he is—a manipulative snake who is attempting to isolate the monarch from his family and friends. When Skylar’s brother and heir to the throne, Brayden, dies under mysterious circumstances, she and her personal knight, Sir Harlin Brien—a soldier whose sole mission is to protect the princess—realize a meticulously planned, grand-scale conspiracy has been unleashed. With Skylar now the only heir to the throne, Lutherus begins a not-so-subtle campaign to get her to agree to marry a prince from a nearby adversarial kingdom, effectively saving her realm from war but also quite possibly dooming all of its residents to enslavement or death. Skylar has no intention of signing any nuptial agreement, even after her father is murdered and Harlin is wrongfully convicted of the crime. When Lutherus confines Skylar and attempts to torture her into signing the agreement, she realizes time is quickly running out. If she—or Harlin—can’t stop the treacherous plot, her kingdom and her people will be lost forever. While the premise and setting don’t necessarily bring anything new to the category, the dynamism between Skylar and Harlin is electric and powers Dunnewin’s narrative throughout. Additionally, both characters are identifiable and endearing in their own ways and have plenty of room to grow and evolve in future installments. Lastly, the author’s focus on description in these pages undeniably strengthens the immersive nature of the read: “The large iron portcullis was already pulled up for the wagons that would be entering later with fresh food for the kitchens, allowing Skylar and Harlin to ride out past the wall without being stopped. They continued on down through the cobblestone streets of Correnth, past the creamy cement walls and the sienna-brown and salmon-colored roofs, the green hedges and wrought-iron fences.”
Two main characters filled with potential make this a promising start to a fantasy saga.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4949-6891-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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