A taut, engaging tale that sets its diverse heroes and villains on a slow boil toward chaos.
This epic fantasy debut features a farmer summoned by destiny to aid a prince against an evil supposedly defeated centuries ago.
Aleksei Drago is a farmer of the Southern Plain. In the field one day, he begins to hear a voice in his head. “North, Aleksei,” a man’s voice says, “I have need of you.” He dreams of intense emerald eyes. Elsewhere, in a commune serving the Dark God Volos, Bael is the youngest son of Lord Father Rafael. The lad, treated like a worthless toad, lacks the gift of wielding Archanium magic that his siblings possess. When his Granny Jorna describes a prophetic vision of doom revolving around him, she says: “You just have to find the boy.” Bael’s magical talents increase and he mentally contacts Aleksei. But there’s stiff competition for the farmer’s attention, namely the green-eyed Prince Jonas Belgi of Ilyar. He stews in the capital of Kalinor, betrothed to Lord Bertrand Perron’s daughter, Eleina, to uphold an alliance. Meanwhile, Aleksei rides north, little realizing that his mother’s magical Ri-Hnon blood helps him travel “five hundred leagues in three days” and communicate with the spirit of the forest, Mother Wood. While Aleksei’s familial destiny is that of a Hunter, greater service summons him to battle against a once-banished evil that maneuvers itself free. In this series opener, McIntire beckons dedicated fantasy readers with a dazzling prologue in which a Magus named Cassian struggles to lock away the evil Kholodym Dominion while the sorcerer’s heroic lover, Richter, prepares to slay the villain if necessary. The character-driven whirlwind that follows sets up elaborate cultures and high stakes. Archanium Knights, for example, bond for life with their Magi, to the exclusion of other intimate relationships. The Hunter and the Prince’s first kiss is exceptional because “Aleksei Drago was the rare man who saw right past all of Jonas’ pretense,” making them a “perfect match.” McIntire maintains grandeur and tension throughout as Aleksei trades his youthful naiveté for worldly caution; Bael’s manipulative evil engulfs others; and soulless revenants begin overtaking the land. War and the ruin of nations await in the sequel.
A taut, engaging tale that sets its diverse heroes and villains on a slow boil toward chaos.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2019
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 651
Publisher: Black Dove Press
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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