A marvelous, lively fantasy tale of faraway lands and dashing heroes.
In Morea’s fantasy novel, bandits threaten the peace of nations when they launch an assault at a summit.
Following a devastating war, the Kingdom of Regulus and the Gudarian Confederation have finally signed a peace treaty. They now hold an annual summit; this year it’s being held at Tartarus, a decommissioned fortress on the border between Regulus’ grasslands and Gudar’s desert. Bandits suddenly attack, prompting Tartarus’ magic-empowered Caretaker to engage the fortress’ defense, a “crimson cocoon” that prevents anyone from entering or exiting. Persephone, a knight and one of the kingdom’s royal guards escorting Princess Seles, is unable to intervene when the bandits abduct Seles and the Gudarian chancellor. They want access to the Vault, where a dark, mysterious secret lies. To rescue the hostages, Persephone must rely on her own skills as well as magic-infused crystals that allow her to communicate with Regulus’ forces outside; those forces fortunately include the retired general Magnus, who led the war-ending battle against Gudar. He and Persephone desperately work in tandem to thwart the bandits’ plan, which has the potential to reignite the nations’ conflict. Though the characters and locales stem from Morea’s earlier works, this taut, riveting novel is a stand-alone. Intermittent flashbacks provide ample backstories for Persephone and others (including an enigmatic silver-masked bandit) without decelerating the steady pace. The first half suggests a curious take on the 1988 action film Die Hard—Persephone is a lone warrior with a communications device moving through Tartarus’ multi-floored central tower. The cast and their various linkages are endlessly enthralling, from Magnus butting heads with a Regulus prince to Persephone’s former membership in a mercenary group founded by the bandit’s leader, Plutonus. The author’s concise prose fuels a host of entertaining action scenes brimming with magic, clashing swords, and uncanny creatures. (“It was too late for her to raise her own weapon, so Persephone kicked her legs out and entered a slide, skidding by the animated suit of armor.”)
A marvelous, lively fantasy tale of faraway lands and dashing heroes.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9798877800588
Page Count: 309
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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