A fresh, compelling twist on fantasy, without magic or sorcery.
Co-authors McGarry and Ravipinto jump into the fantasy genre: “The time had come to leap before she looked,” with the rest of the book explaining the heroine’s dramatic decision.
Once Duchess’ situation is understood, one can’t blame the 16-year-old for jumping. Originally an aristocrat and now an orphaned bread girl, she lives in a murky city called Rodaas in an unspecified setting that suggests medieval Earth. The world is run on a system resembling modern gang wars—classes manipulate each other and use identifying colors. In fact, life in Rodaas is often described as a game; those who understand have the best odds of survival. When the Grey—a shadowy group that operates between the power elite and the peasants—invites Duchess to join them, she knows this opportunity might save her. The invitation comes via a token that leads her to a contact who assigns her the dangerous mission of stealing a dagger from an evil lord whom unseen players want eliminated. Duchess’ survival instinct screams to reject the mission, but that instinct also knows it’s her only chance to escape the slums and learn why her family was murdered. She can’t do it alone, so she persuades her friend, the beautiful Lysander, to help. Their plan is as dangerous as daily life in Rodaas, where the stones have ears and transgressions can be fatal. McGarry and Ravipinto portray this world in deft prose that weaves back story and plot into a smooth narrative peopled with credible, appealing characters. Although it takes perhaps too long to figure out the story behind the Greys, as well as to understand Duchess’ motivation in undertaking her mission, Rodaas is so deeply realized, and the conflicts so captivating, that the patient storytelling pays off. The story pulls in the reader from the first sentence and doesn’t let go.
A fresh, compelling twist on fantasy, without magic or sorcery.Pub Date: March 2, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 207
Publisher: Peccable Productions
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ayn Rand fans might enjoy this unique homage to her work.
Karademas’ debut novel reads like alternate history fueled by political manifesto.
The novel starts slowly, bogged down by the narrator’s overly long description of the minutiae of daily life. Fed up with what he sees as a stagnating country, Karademas, the narrator, decides to do something to fix it. His solution is to write an essay, which he publishes via a vanity press. Inspired by Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and the Rush song “The Trees,” the credo melds ideas for a planned residential community with Randian philosophy. With the publication of the essay in early 2011, the novel switches style to become an alternate history, as Karademas hits the road with Republican presidential frontrunner, Ron Paul. It isn’t until well into the book, when the narrator is badly injured in a bombing at a Paul campaign stop, that we see any real action. At this point, the book suddenly picks up speed. The narrator is contacted by the influential Bilderberg group, an event foreshadowed earlier in the book. This sets in motion a string of events that helps him realize his vision for a utopian community, completely transforming his life. Marital tension mentioned at the start of the book surfaces as the narrator falls for another woman. These novelistic touches temper what is essentially a political rant, a fact broadcast by the warning in bold typeface that concludes the first part of the book: “Obama beware. Utopia is coming.” By the second half, the action and political intrigue are stepped up a notch, which almost makes up for the slow start. The book closes with an invitation for readers to share the book and its message. While Rand’s influence runs though the novel, the writing here evokes her beliefs far more than her writing ability.
Ayn Rand fans might enjoy this unique homage to her work.Pub Date: March 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985234256
Page Count: 601
Publisher: Pallas Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Clear prose, fast-paced, dramatic storytelling lend this novel its inherent readability, though readers shouldn’t look for...
Wallace’s debut novel tells the story of three characters grappling with the complexities of life in Israel.
In chapters with alternating points of view, the novel follows the entwined lives of the three protagonists: Noa Kagan, the American-educated scientist who finds out about the death of her soldier son in the 2006 war in southern Lebanon; Gavri Gilboa, a friend of Noa’s who has been in love with her since childhood and devoted his life to the Israeli army; and Alan Ruskin, a Jewish-American journalist working for Reuters. Grief-stricken to the point of desperation, kibbutz-raised Noa uses both men to extract vengeance on the Israeli state. When Gavri’s impotence dispels her, she seduces weak-willed Alan by leaking a secret about new nuclear technology being developed in Israel. Despite the difficulties it may cause his career, Alan files the story; the fallout sends him and Noa into hiding at his beach home in Ibiza. Gavri follows. Most compelling in this novel is the gradual unveiling of each character’s evolving mental state. Noa’s madness becomes clearer and clearer, as does Gavri’s. A final meeting of the friends results in a tragedy that illustrates several issues with the ideals for which they stand, but Alan’s ultimate transformation tempers the tragedy with hope. Although the novel aims for objectivity and a nuanced complexity in its depiction of Israel, a few overly convenient coincidences and the rapidly moving plot instead depict a surreal country. Ultimately, readers may find this version of Israel an ideal setting for the book’s tightly woven, sometimes confusing plot.
Clear prose, fast-paced, dramatic storytelling lend this novel its inherent readability, though readers shouldn’t look for anything more than a good story.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0578096353
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Puna Press
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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