An intellectually robust fantasy that explores the potential in tragedy.
In this debut novel, a man cares for an infant humanoid lizard despite the hatred between the two species.
In the land of Enkratis, the Semuyan are humanoid lizards who live in villages adjacent to larger, more successful human settlements. After much war, peace reigns thanks to a year-old treaty. In the swamp of Vrock, Vulcan and Valeet raise a lone hatchling from a failed clutch. Dwindling resources require that the Semuyan attempt to ally themselves with the humans living to the north. In that settlement, called Westgrove, is a man named Xavier. When he sees Semuyan scouting near his land, he assumes the worst. Westgrove’s leaders decide to enlist the aid of an Anakite, a supposedly mythical giant twice the height of a man. The giant—along with 50 of its own warriors and some Westgrove men—heads to Vrock. The resulting slaughter leaves a single Semuyan alive. When Journeyman Teleth Lysander investigates the carnage, he finds the infant in hiding. In the capital city of Azimuth, the men of the Grand Assembly order Teleth to bring the child to the Semuyan king and sue for continued peace despite the slaughter in both Vrock and Westgrove. Can he survive the encounter and follow up his hunch that a third party has sown chaos between humans and Semuyan? In this carefully plotted fantasy, Winslow illustrates a semicivilized ancient world where kindness and tolerance are prized commodities. Xavier, for example, says of an attack on the Semuyan: “This is not an act of war, it is one of cleansing and preservation.” A quarter through the narrative, the author’s devastating philosophical thrust hits as Teleth speaks with a fellow Journeyman. “You say that all the lizard folk should die,” he replies. “But who is to say that all mankind doesn’t deserve to die as well?” In Enkratis, the violence has meaning, and Winslow boldly presents parallels with the modern world, like religious hypocrisy. The adventures of Teleth and Vankor, as the child is named, unfurl to the very end with both enchantment and foreboding.
An intellectually robust fantasy that explores the potential in tragedy.Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4808-5792-6
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
