Swift, invigorating, and this fantasy saga’s darkest book yet.
In this third installment of a series, a battle-weary group of heroes journeys to a village in need of help and unearths a multitude of unnerving secrets.
A vicious conflict has left Gnome and his warrior comrades—including Arden, she-elf X’andria, and Ohlen—nursing their injuries in Rockmoor. Half-elf Boudreaux recovers items from the defeated villains: a leather-bound book and two scrolls. X’andria and Ohlen later take the book to the Sorcerer of Rockmoor, seeking his advice. Unfortunately, his examination of the apparently cursed volume doesn’t turn out so well, leaving the Sorcerer’s fate in question as X’andria and Ohlen flee. Considering the blame for that incident will surely fall on Ohlen and the others, they readily agree to help the village of Meriden, where the elder, Alzbeda, has inexplicably disappeared. It’s a good reason to get out of Rockmoor, where there’s also a circulating rumor that the group has killed and eaten people. But Meriden proves no less menacing; children in the vicinity are missing, and a dreaded beast, the Rock Eater, resides there as well. Meanwhile, one member of the band, with access to a few magical ingredients, covertly tries mastering alchemy, with predictably dangerous results. Hinsley (Rockmoor, 2017, etc.) packs this fantasy series entry with a host of new and returning characters. While preceding books certainly aren’t lighthearted, featuring bloody encounters and a sundry of baddies, this one is the grimmest. Meriden, for one, becomes increasingly more precarious as events continue to unfold, and the story ends on a disturbing—but unforgettable—cliffhanger. Nevertheless, the narrative’s brisk momentum never falters while the precisely defined settings and characters generate indelible imagery, such as a creature with “two stubby, severely supinated legs” and “three lipless, fanged mouths.” As always, Garretsen’s (Rockmoor, 2017, etc.) illustrations enrich the novel. Even in black and white, artwork of the characters climbing myriad stairs is a thoroughly detailed, laudable rendition of the group’s laborious trek to Meriden.
Swift, invigorating, and this fantasy saga’s darkest book yet.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-387-91550-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Envision Arts
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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