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At The Sharp End of Lightning

Name: At The Sharp End of Lightning
Author: N.R. Bates
ISBN: 978-0993190520

OCEANLIGHT (BOOK ONE)

by N.R. Bates ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 20, 2015

A fantasy series starter that hardly scratches the surface, but its vivid descriptions and remarkable characters will have...

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Sprites find themselves in mortal danger when connections between parallel worlds start to wither in Bates’ debut fantasy novel.

Years after being exiled for carrying a dormant but potentially deadly illness, Helia returns to the Sprite world of Forestlight. Her fellow Sprites are understandably worried about the weakened boundary between worlds called the Thinness. Daimanland, a world populated by large, menacing creatures, is bleeding into Forestlight, and the Interfaces (or gateways) may soon be big enough for the daiman to pass through. Helia has the ability to see glimpses of the other worlds and to sense where the boundaries are. She searches the humana world in order to help a special humana, Einion Morgan Alban, who has the power to strengthen the Thinness by closing Interfaces. Sea Sprites Yalara Narika and Rasania, meanwhile, are nearly overwhelmed by a blue haze, which may be the cause of devastation they witness later in Oceanlight. The novel lyrically details innumerable elements of the Sprite worlds, from the Sea Sprites’ many rituals to Einion’s travels into other realms and times. Even the darker parts of the story sound poetic; as Yalara and Rasania stare at the aftermath of destruction, for example, the ocean sparkles “with the glint of the rising sun.” Bates expertly blends the fantastical aspects with more true-to-life particulars: Einion is afflicted with hemophilia, for example, but the symptoms largely vanish when he crosses through an Interface. However, the book sometimes feels more like an introduction to a series than its own distinct story. For instance, the villain Fimafeng, a daiman-Sprite hybrid who can take human form, is dropped from the narrative too soon. There’s also no closure for any of the subplots, and Oceanlight doesn’t play a big role in the main plot’s calamity, despite the fact that it’s name-checked in the book’s subtitle. Overall, the novel gives the impression that a lengthier story was cut short—a notion supported by glossary-appendices that feature a few terms that never appear, including, disappointingly, “Bear-cat.”

A fantasy series starter that hardly scratches the surface, but its vivid descriptions and remarkable characters will have readers hunting for the next installment.

Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2015

ISBN: 978-0993190520

Page Count: 444

Publisher: NR Bates Publishing

Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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LAUGH-ETERIA

by Douglas Florian ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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Florian’s seventh collection of verse is also his most uneven; though the flair for clever rhyme that consistently lights up his other books, beginning with Monster Motel (1993), occasionally shows itself—“Hello, my name is Dracula/My clothing is all blackula./I drive a Cadillacula./I am a maniacula”—too many of the entries are routine limericks, putdowns, character portraits, rhymed lists that fall flat on the ear, or quick quips: “It’s hard to be anonymous/When you’re a hippopotamus.” Florian’s language and simple, thick-lined cartoons illustrations are equally ingenuous, and he sticks to tried-and-true subjects, from dinosaurs to school lunch, but the well of inspiration seems dry; revisit his hilarious Bing Bang Boing (1994) instead. (index) (Poetry. 8-10)

Pub Date: April 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-15-202084-5

Page Count: 158

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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CUJO

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1981

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King goes non-supernatural this time—and the result, despite the usual padding, is a tighter, more effective horror novel. We are once more up in Castle Rock, Maine, ayuh, where the natives are striving to survive some earlier King visitations of the unspeakable. Recent arrival Vic Trenton, who has brought a big ad account with him from New York, is having a hard time hanging onto both the Sharp cereals campaign and his wife Donna, who has just severed an affair with a filthy-poet/furniture-stripper. Meanwhile: Joe Camber, an alcoholic auto mechanic, is angry at wife Charity for wanting to take their son Brett on a visit to her folks (he's afraid Brett will get a taste of sane family life that will show up Joe's madness), but finally—figuring that he'll have a hot time while she's gone—Joe agrees. And all of this sets the scene for some big, extended horror sequences hi Joe's yard. You see, Brett's 200-pound St. Bernard ("Cujo") has chased a rabbit into a big hole also occupied by bats, and a rabid bat bites Cujo's nose. Soon the dog is acting queerly, slavering, and going mad with a headache that warps his thinking about men: Cujo is lost in a mist and can't be found the day Charity and Brett leave. The first to die is Joe's buddy Gary Pervier—who lives just down at the foot of the hill from Camber's yard and crosses Cujo hi his own yard. Later, when Joe finds Gary's body he himself has but two minutes or so to live. And next Donna's car breaks down, so she drives it into Camber's yard with her four-year-old Tad: they're attacked in their car and kept there for three days, even after an investigating cop is killed. Finally, then, there's the dog-versus-woman showdown as savaged Donna, now half-crazed, kills Cujo with a ballbat—but it's too late to save Tad, whose heart gives out. . . . The inevitable film is going to be hard on St. Bernards and may even seriously affect their good-guy image. But, the ASPCA notwithstanding, there's no denying that King's three-day vigil in the carnage has a solid hook that will hold his fans; and his Maine humors do offer witty relief. so once again. . . the moola will flow.