A memorable and nuanced tale of a world on the brink of violent change, hampered slightly by its deliberate pace.
In Miller’s fantasy novel, a princess find her world turned upside-down as she begins to doubt her society’s views about magic and its practitioners.
Grand Princess Sorrel Zdraevit is one of five children of the emperor of Eisa, a peaceful land where the use of magic is banned. Those who still use it, known as Wielders, have a reputation in the kingdom for being dangerous and causing trouble. As the royal family host a party to celebrate the 300-year reign of the Zdraevit line, tragedy strikes. A misfired firework winds up killing more than 1,000 people and injuring more. The citizenry is outraged, and some people say that the terrible event was no accident at all, but actually the work of Wielders or “magic-Sympathizers.” To make matters worse, when Sorrel and her sister attempt to visit the injured, they face an attack by a Wielder. Partly in response to this, the emperor decides that Eisa will support their allies in a war against Wielders in other countries. Meanwhile, the government draws up a list of possible Wielders in Eisa and their supporters. However, Sorrel begins to wonder if Wielders and their supporters are really as bad as she’s always been told—or if she has more to fear from other people. Miller develops Sorrel’s story steadily throughout the novel. As the narrator, Sorrel tends to use lengthy description to describe what happens to her; when she’s merely tired, for instance, she notes that “I could feel fatigue tugging at my eyelids.” This stylistic choice tends to slow the pace considerably. However, as the plot progresses, it becomes clear that this is not a typical fantasy tale, as there are some brutal twists that draw on similarities between the Zdraevit line and the plight of the real-life Romanovs in Imperial Russia. Sorrel’s tale of self-discovery, with its elements of magic, makes for a refreshingly offbeat addition to the fantasy genre.
A memorable and nuanced tale of a world on the brink of violent change, hampered slightly by its deliberate pace.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9798218264864
Page Count: 648
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
PERSPECTIVES
Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.
Self-assured, entertaining debut novel that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic.
The world’s not big enough for two wizards, as Tolkien taught us—even if that world is the shiny, modern one of the late 19th century, with its streetcars and electric lights and newfangled horseless carriages. Yet, as first-time novelist Morgenstern imagines it, two wizards there are, if likely possessed of more legerdemain than true conjuring powers, and these two are jealous of their turf. It stands to reason, the laws of the universe working thus, that their children would meet and, rather than continue the feud into a new generation, would instead fall in love. Call it Romeo and Juliet for the Gilded Age, save that Morgenstern has her eye on a different Shakespearean text, The Tempest; says a fellow called Prospero to young magician Celia of the name her mother gave her, “She should have named you Miranda...I suppose she was not clever enough to think of it.” Celia is clever, however, a born magician, and eventually a big hit at the Circus of Dreams, which operates, naturally, only at night and has a slightly sinister air about it. But what would you expect of a yarn one of whose chief setting-things-into-action characters is known as “the man in the grey suit”? Morgenstern treads into Harry Potter territory, but though the chief audience for both Rowling and this tale will probably comprise of teenage girls, there are only superficial genre similarities. True, Celia’s magical powers grow, and the ordinary presto-change-o stuff gains potency—and, happily, surrealistic value. Finally, though, all the magic has deadly consequence, and it is then that the tale begins to take on the contours of a dark thriller, all told in a confident voice that is often quite poetic, as when the man in the grey suit tells us, “There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict.”
Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-53463-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
