An ambitious SF mystery that sometimes loses itself in the execution.
A debut SF novel sees the heir to a 700-year-old fortune trace the history of that wealth and the people who have fought over it.
Twenty-nine-year-old William Ward works for the Interlaken Beer Company. Back in the 1300s, one of Interlaken’s eight founders—William Ward I—sold his share to the other seven and then bequeathed his fortune to the descendant who could find the riches. Since then, many Wards have tried and failed to uncover the inheritance, some dying in the process. Despite his father’s warnings, William is determined to take up the search. He sets out from San Diego, California, bound for Switzerland. He travels by boat, working on a pleasure yacht. There, he meets Nikher, a competent young woman, and Cillian, an Irishman, who save him during an attempted attack by pirates. William, it turns out, is not the only Interlaken heir. All eight founders left descendants. Six of these lines will side with William; the other line is “evil” and has perpetrated many of the world’s atrocities. Armed with SkyView—a cloaked supersonic jet with the power to project and even alter historical reality—can William and his new companions put an end to the eighth line? Sheehan writes in a workmanlike manner, diligently setting down both the narrative and character reactions and leaving nothing to inference. This thoroughness of description gives the book the aura of a screenplay. Events are easy to imagine playing out on the big screen yet the prose itself is not particularly engaging. Characters who raise their voices tend to “scream.” Adverbs are ubiquitous and often ungainly; for example: “Aoife looked shockingly at Nikher, nervous about the weapon. ‘You like?’ Archelaus proudly asked.” The result is that the story relies for its appeal on readers’ immersion in the central concept. This has been comprehensively thought out. The author brings an almost Tolkien-like diligence to detailing family lines and historical events. Unfortunately, much of this exposition comes by way of dialogue. There is a paucity of action in the moment and an abundance of characters explaining things to one another. Rather than standing out, the protagonists thereby blend into homogenous mouthpieces. The plot suffers similarly from this sluggishness of pacing. Sheehan presents a wealth of intriguing ideas but readers will have to work hard to access them.
An ambitious SF mystery that sometimes loses itself in the execution.Pub Date: July 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-7606-5
Page Count: 396
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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
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