An atmospheric, superbly paced series opener.
From the author of Kitsune (2015) comes a romantic fantasy about a priestess who unleashes an elemental dragon, only to learn that she possesses untapped power herself.
In the land of Akatsuki, Suzume is a priestess living among “shrine maidens” who worship and serve the God of the Mountain. She once enjoyed her status as the emperor’s daughter, betrothed to General Tsubaki; then her mother’s infidelity came to light, and Suzume was forced into shameful exile. Now an “unwilling bride of the mountain god,” she kneels one day before a pedestal holding an obsidian stone. Suddenly, red light bursts from the girl and hits the rock; a dragon then explodes from it, and Suzume and the other shrine maidens assume it is their god. The dragon, however, soon changes into the rakishly handsome Kaito, who wants revenge against his former love, Kazue, who sealed him inside the shrine 500 years ago. Suzume joins Kaito on the quest through forest and swamp as he hunts for Kazue’s reincarnated form; all the while, Suzume copes with the fiery spiritual power that flows so strongly within her. And although she and Kaito are drawn to each other, it’s his elemental ice powers that cause sparks to fly whenever they touch. Seasoned fantasy author Andrews explores Japanese folklore in this latest novel, populating Akatsuki with kodama (tree spirits), yokai (ghosts), and oni (demons). She makes Kaito into a foul, capricious benefactor with lines such as, “you amuse me, but if you overstep your bounds...I will not hesitate to kill you.” Along the way, the two encounter many foes, but several friends, too, including Rin (a fox spirit) and Tsuki/Akira (a brother and sister sharing one body). A recurring stranger taunts Suzume as well, one whose role in Kazue’s mystery may be darker than anyone imagines. Andrews also seeds mythic grandeur through her narrative, as when Suzume asks of the immortals, “Is everything just a game to them?” The epic finale ties up plot threads nicely while also prompting further adventures.
An atmospheric, superbly paced series opener.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5173-6183-9
Page Count: 440
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2015
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
Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.
Self-assured, entertaining debut novel that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic.
The world’s not big enough for two wizards, as Tolkien taught us—even if that world is the shiny, modern one of the late 19th century, with its streetcars and electric lights and newfangled horseless carriages. Yet, as first-time novelist Morgenstern imagines it, two wizards there are, if likely possessed of more legerdemain than true conjuring powers, and these two are jealous of their turf. It stands to reason, the laws of the universe working thus, that their children would meet and, rather than continue the feud into a new generation, would instead fall in love. Call it Romeo and Juliet for the Gilded Age, save that Morgenstern has her eye on a different Shakespearean text, The Tempest; says a fellow called Prospero to young magician Celia of the name her mother gave her, “She should have named you Miranda...I suppose she was not clever enough to think of it.” Celia is clever, however, a born magician, and eventually a big hit at the Circus of Dreams, which operates, naturally, only at night and has a slightly sinister air about it. But what would you expect of a yarn one of whose chief setting-things-into-action characters is known as “the man in the grey suit”? Morgenstern treads into Harry Potter territory, but though the chief audience for both Rowling and this tale will probably comprise of teenage girls, there are only superficial genre similarities. True, Celia’s magical powers grow, and the ordinary presto-change-o stuff gains potency—and, happily, surrealistic value. Finally, though, all the magic has deadly consequence, and it is then that the tale begins to take on the contours of a dark thriller, all told in a confident voice that is often quite poetic, as when the man in the grey suit tells us, “There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict.”
Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-53463-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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