An often absorbing, if unevenly executed, read for those who enjoy tales of dragons.
In Picard’s fantasy novel, a young woman is destined for greatness, but when the end of the world draws near, she may be forced to sacrifice what’s most dear to her to save humanity.
Kavi Kindra, who has magical powers, has grown up with knowledge she is the heir to the guardianship held by Amthorn, a dragon who protects the earth from outside threats. One day, she’ll take up the role of Guardian, who, according to her society’s mythology, watches over all of creation. Her foster mother’s mistreatment, and her own feeling of being very different from others, lead Kavi to turn to Amthorn, her oldest, dearest mentor, for advice. However, Amthorn’s motivations aren’t so clear, and the creature’s goals may force Kavi to make a very difficult choice. Her conflicts with her family and community rise to the surface with the reappearance of her childhood friend, Gideon. He’s made terrible mistakes working for the dreaded scientist Zmey and has put their community in danger. Kavi also deals with her old romantic feelings for Gideon, even though human relationships seem to be out of reach for dragon heirs like her—but they may be the only thing that can save the world. Over the course of this novel, Picard effectively presents a large and engaging cast, and she escorts the reader into what proves to be a complex world. However, the initial introduction of the various story elements feels a bit bumpy, and although the characters are pleasingly diverse, their development, and, by extension, the story’s ultimate resolution, leave something to be desired. That said, Picard does showcase a clear, cohesive theme regarding the importance of human interaction, which runs through every conversation and plot development.
An often absorbing, if unevenly executed, read for those who enjoy tales of dragons.Pub Date: July 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-99-878355-0
Page Count: 442
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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