A compelling fantasy about the struggles of two lovers seeking retribution.
An epic fantasy follows a young man’s quest for revenge after his entire clan is slaughtered.
A group of younglings sits around the bonfires, waiting for its clan’s rite of passage to begin. The first born is Kriepr va sin Sturnfut, who heads the young band. His own passage to manhood means he will become the next khuvn, the clan’s eternal elder, a role he is destined to inherit from his father. Tragedy strikes when, at the end of the ceremony, the clan members are attacked by a group of masked men who kill all but Kriepr. Now, he is khuvn to no one. Ashamed and plagued by survivor’s guilt, Kriepr yearns for death but is granted by his god the will to embark on a self-imposed hunt for vengeance. During this journey, he searches far and wide for the mysterious killers and, in the process, turns into the man and the “swordslinger” he never dreamed he would be. The quest also comes with a larger knowledge of the world, encounters with other religions and peoples, a found family in a group of newly made friends, and the love of Amoalíc Rosethorn of Klov Dün. Amoalíc’s own story starts with tragedy and the urge for revenge. The narrative then follows both characters, with a strong focus on Amoalíc in the novel’s second half, as it chronicles her experiences with a sinister and dangerous religious cult. While the worldbuilding at times feels underdeveloped—there are vague reports of an evil emperor and the mention of fairies—this strategy ultimately suits Kriepr’s and Amoalíc’s character arcs and their restricted worldviews. Mesantos’ well-written, slow-moving fantasy blends a coming-of-age tale, an adventure, and a romance to tell a story that explores the meaning of life. At one point, Kriepr muses: “Kin is more than blood. It is the thread of a passion, the passion of…preservation. I am not khuvn of my people any longer, since they are dead. So I must be a khuvn of others.” The engaging tale also skillfully examines whether the pursuit of vengeance is the one thing worth living for.
A compelling fantasy about the struggles of two lovers seeking retribution.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 565
Publisher: SerpentWise
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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