A hearty introduction to a world of magic and its equally enchanting inhabitants.
An MIT student with untapped power may play an essential role in a centurieslong war between otherworldly coalitions in this debut supernatural fantasy novel.
Ashley “Ash” Drake escapes his rather uneventful life at MIT with video games. So when a voice in his head and image on his computer screen tell him he possesses unrealized potential, Ash sees the chance for an amazing opportunity. A mysterious package arrives, and equipment inside (for example, virtual reality goggles) starts him on his training—to harness magic. Later, the man from Ash’s screen, whom the student dubs the Wizard, shows up with a history lesson: some children are born of evil (the Touched) and others are good (the Blessed). Both sides have been warring for as long as anyone can remember and searching for the foretold Blessed One, a powerful boy who will drive back an impending darkness. The Wizard, unsure if Ash is the Blessed One, helps the MIT senior, who uses a gemstone eventually affixed to a wand, develop his abilities. Ash then heads to Las Vegas to find “Smiling Jack” Porter, who can use his gift of premonition to locate Sinthia Greyson, an apparent target of the Touched. Touched fiend Nihalus may be looking for Sinthia. He wants to get his clawed hands on a crucial relic, the Sangrian Map. Despite exploiting familiar traits of sorcerers (wands and cloaks), Perez ultimately reveals much more of the Blessed and Touched. A significant back story, including a lengthy but riveting section on young Jack learning he can see the future, never slows the narrative down. Most details aren’t clear until near the end, such as the importance of both Ash and Sinthia, but the mystery’s intriguing enough to retain momentum until the rousing final act. It’s a shame that Touched recruit Sarah Blake, who ominously whispers to potential victims, “I might not be good for you,” is not in the book more. This, however, is clearly the beginning of something bigger, so there’s fortunately the prospect of seeing Sarah again. Humor’s minimal but memorable, particularly Ash’s determination to further his training, which is offset by the Wizard’s insistence that he first put on his pants.
A hearty introduction to a world of magic and its equally enchanting inhabitants.Pub Date: April 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9975072-0-1
Page Count: 286
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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