A sharply detailed cast memorably introduces readers to a grander world.
Women wield supernatural abilities to battle oppression and diabolical entities in Johnson’s collection of fantasy tales.
The stories collected here are set in the fantasy world of the author’s Nightingale Saga, which is threatened by Discord, a malevolent presence. Women known as “Singers” fight back with their songs, which enable them to control nature, the weather, and other elements as they protect and maintain the world’s Harmony. In the opening tale, Sparrow, a Singer, undertakes a quest to stop “the Tainted-One,” an entity threatening a village’s daughters. It’s a much more grueling endeavor than she anticipates, and her beloved female companion, Finch, lands in serious danger. Many villagers don’t trust Sparrow, largely because of her astonishing ability. The best entry is an origin story, following Veena Green as she struggles to hold her own in a male-dominated world, all while honing her newfound skill of coercing others with songs. Numerous enigmatic characters appear, but not the Nazglum, a sinister being who is referred to (often in curses, such as “...you Nazglum gutted fool,” Veena spits) but not seen. Much of the predominantly female cast is strong, seen bravely facing overwhelming odds. They contend with male oppression, the book’s pivotal theme, which can come off as a bit heavy-handed in the author’s explicit and repeated acknowledgments of the myriad unfair advantages afforded to men. This doesn’t hamper the deft character development; the narrative includes vividly realized figures like Grandmother Reed, who gives Veena hard-hitting life advice without depriving her of the experiences she’ll need to grow (“…we all feel doubt, the trials placed in our paths. It is what we do with these that give us our purpose”). This book also includes the bonus story “Retribution,” part of an entirely different series, which follows a simple male gardener who becomes a wartime protector.
A sharply detailed cast memorably introduces readers to a grander world.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2023
ISBN: 9780997084672
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Untold Stories
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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