An ambitious, disquieting and majestic debut.
In Rickert’s debut novel, a composer’s ability to nearly reproduce the sounds of “Astral Music” brings him in contact with a bizarre group of musicians.
During this novel’s “Overture,” a “fist-sized mass the purplish color of a newborn baby emerge[s] from [an] instrument’s bowels.” Not all the text that follows is as consistently gruesome, but that event is a harbinger of terrors to come. Readers who prefer not to suspend their disbelief, beware; others, prepare for a fantastic, twisted update on Southern Gothic horror. Its would-be hero is San Diego composer Cameron Blake, whose musical talents are being squandered scoring bad television shows when he receives a visitor with “eyes that sparkled like chips of blue ice”: Leonin Bloom, the conductor of a chamber orchestra in Holloway, Tennessee. Bloom explains that Cameron isn’t the only person who has heard “music from the Other Side” (which the composer experienced after a childhood car accident), but he is the one who’s come closest to replicating it. Intrigued, Cameron follows Bloom to Tennessee, where he meets an orchestra of preternaturally old, rancid-smelling musicians and encounters Bloom’s collection of grotesquely shaped musical instruments, with features such as skulls and “demon-faced scrolls.” As Cameron’s compositional work gets underway—with the aid of a special tuning fork that lets the musicians attain inner harmony—he also meets several residents of Holloway, including Simon, an immense, extremely talented violinist with no ears; Hob, a janitor who believes his dead wife is communicating with him; and Madison, a beautiful shop owner with whom Cameron instantly connects. The overall atmosphere of Rickert’s novel is impressive, as is its often shocking plot. The author’s skill is most evident in his depiction of his characters, who seem instantly recognizable, even in brief appearances. As a result, their uneasy fates may disappoint some readers. (One horrendous assault early in the novel is unshakably discomforting.) When events take on epic, heaven-and-hell proportions, none of the characters is safe—but that same sense of consequence also results in an excellent work.
An ambitious, disquieting and majestic debut.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-1939371423
Page Count: 438
Publisher: Boutique of Quality Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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
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