by Marie Brennan ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2014
Reader, lose no time in making Isabella’s acquaintance.
The second adventure (A Natural History of Dragons, 2013) for the doughty Isabella Camherst, a dragon-obsessed young lady of Scirland determined to pursue her research in an age when educating girls in science and philosophy is frowned upon.
Previously, Isabella accompanied naturalist and explorer Lord Hilford to chilly, mountainous Vystrana in search of rock-wyrms, during which time she lost her husband and subsequently gave birth to a son. Now, Hilford is organizing an expedition to the tropical continent of Eriga, where several new species of dragon await study. Rejecting stay-at-home motherhood, Isabella eagerly agrees to join the expedition. Too old and frail to travel himself, Hilford will be represented by his assistant, Thomas Wilker, who, as a commoner, faces obstacles similar to those Isabella confronts as a woman. Natalie, Hilford’s granddaughter, causes additional complications; refusing to be married off by her father, Natalie takes refuge with Isabella, who arranges to smuggle the girl along on the expedition. But Eriga, so they find, presents a whole new set of problems. Bayembe, their destination, is threatened by its warlike neighbor, Ikwunde, with only the jungle swamps of Mouleen, known as the Green Hell, between. So before her dragon research can proceed, scholarly yet iron-willed Isabella must negotiate male hostility and prejudice, political infighting, the commercial and imperial ambitions of the Scirlings, heat, disease, arrogant big-game hunters and the cultural imperatives of the Erigan people. And during her adventures in the Green Hell—the book’s finest section—Isabella will find sociology as important as natural history and the key to preventing a brutal war. This, the second of Isabella’s retrospective memoirs, is as uncompromisingly honest and forthright as the first, narrated in Brennan’s usual crisp, vivid style, with a heroine at once admirable, formidable and captivating.
Reader, lose no time in making Isabella’s acquaintance.Pub Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3197-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
Share your opinion of this book
More by Marie Brennan
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by TJ Klune ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
PERSPECTIVES
by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally...
Awards & Accolades
Likes
24
Our Verdict
GET IT
New York Times Bestseller
Yale’s secret societies hide a supernatural secret in this fantasy/murder mystery/school story.
Most Yale students get admitted through some combination of impressive academics, athletics, extracurriculars, family connections, and donations, or perhaps bribing the right coach. Not Galaxy “Alex” Stern. The protagonist of Bardugo’s (King of Scars, 2019, etc.) first novel for adults, a high school dropout and low-level drug dealer, Alex got in because she can see dead people. A Yale dean who's a member of Lethe, one of the college’s famously mysterious secret societies, offers Alex a free ride if she will use her spook-spotting abilities to help Lethe with its mission: overseeing the other secret societies’ occult rituals. In Bardugo’s universe, the “Ancient Eight” secret societies (Lethe is the eponymous Ninth House) are not just old boys’ breeding grounds for the CIA, CEOs, Supreme Court justices, and so on, as they are in ours; they’re wielders of actual magic. Skull and Bones performs prognostications by borrowing patients from the local hospital, cutting them open, and examining their entrails. St. Elmo’s specializes in weather magic, useful for commodities traders; Aurelian, in unbreakable contracts; Manuscript goes in for glamours, or “illusions and lies,” helpful to politicians and movie stars alike. And all these rituals attract ghosts. It’s Alex’s job to keep the supernatural forces from embarrassing the magical elite by releasing chaos into the community (all while trying desperately to keep her grades up). “Dealing with ghosts was like riding the subway: Do not make eye contact. Do not smile. Do not engage. Otherwise, you never know what might follow you home.” A townie’s murder sets in motion a taut plot full of drug deals, drunken assaults, corruption, and cover-ups. Loyalties stretch and snap. Under it all runs the deep, dark river of ambition and anxiety that at once powers and undermines the Yale experience. Alex may have more reason than most to feel like an imposter, but anyone who’s spent time around the golden children of the Ivy League will likely recognize her self-doubt.
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally dazzling sequels.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31307-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More by Leigh Bardugo
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Leigh Bardugo ; illustrated by Dani Pendergast
BOOK REVIEW
More About This Book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.