by Pamela Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 23, 2020
A cathartic novel of royalty that emphasizes strong leadership.
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This fantasy series installment showcases the downfall of a despot and the long struggle toward normalcy for his survivors.
Lord Alfred has escaped the battlefield chaos wrought by his mad brother, King John, in the previous series entry, Pestilence (2020). He awakes in a cottage on Lake St. Anne in the Kingdom of Lakes, where his loyal horse, Star Dancer, carried him. There, Lady Gwendolyn, Alfred’s wife, reveals that the cottage belongs to her—a gift from her father to help in the event that her marriage goes irreparably sour. As Alfred recovers from the illness that’s swept the kingdom, Gwen prepares to give birth to their fourth child. After baby Alicia arrives, Alfred receives word from his friends Samuel and Richard that King John has been murdered—stabbed 12 times in his bed. Alfred and his family return to the castle, greeted by lords whom John had spurned during his horrible reign. At Alfred’s coronation, Lady Gunhild disputes Alfred’s claim to the throne, proclaiming that her young son, Gunderik, is John’s biological child. If Alfred is crowned, he’ll have to take creative measures to finance a kingdom that’s nearly broke, due to John’s carelessness. Taylor’s fourth Second Son novel revels in domesticity after the previous volume’s upheavals. John’s death occurs offstage, which helps to maintain a softer tone in a story that often places Alfred’s children in the foreground. As always, careful emotional details distinguish Taylor’s narrative; for instance, Alfred seeks to protect his son, young Prince Geoffrey, from knowing too early the royal weight that he’ll someday carry. Still, despite the relative calmness, Alfred must address several major problems, such as rogue priests, about which he says, “There’s a vast difference between a man speaking his mind and someone urging people to do harm to their fellow man.” These rabble-rousers, and the pestilence subplot, will seem timely to modern readers, particularly in the United States. The possible hidden location of John’s personal fortune adds mystery to the tale, and a kidnapping brings action. A clean-slate finale leaves room for fresh challenges.
A cathartic novel of royalty that emphasizes strong leadership.Pub Date: Dec. 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68433-606-7
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Brandon Sanderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2023
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
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New York Times Bestseller
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson ; illustrated by Charlie Bowater & Ben McSweeney
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by Samantha Shannon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 2023
Prepare yourself for the long haul. This is expansive, emotionally complex, and bound to suck you in.
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Magic, dragons, and prophecy are welcome threads in a fantasy that extols the power of motherhood, friendship, and self-love to change the world.
This prequel to Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019) has a similar scope to that 800-page fantasy, but dragon lore is less important here than the stories of people and events that become catalysts for The Priory's tale. Each chapter is grounded by a cardinal direction, lest you lose your bearings, with the four corners of the world home to central characters whom readers will get to know intimately. In the West lives Glorian, heir to the queendom of Inys. Her rule is based on the sacred Berethnet bloodline, whose power originates from the knight Galian Berethnet's banishing of the Nameless One, a giant fire-breathing wyrm birthed from the world’s core. In the East, Dumai lives on a mountain peak and trains as a godsinger, someone who harbors a human connection to the dragons the East worship as gods. In the South, Tunuva is a warrior of the Priory, a sisterhood that worships the Mother who is seen as the true banisher of the Nameless One. Their beliefs are so different and their societies so distanced that they don't know of the others' existence. And yet, when the balance of nature starts to waver, bringing whispers of new fire-breathing threats like the Nameless One, these women find themselves united by a common cause to save their people and seek truth about the higher powers at war with one another. This story is epic in scope, but its density is the sort that pulls you in. The biggest pull comes from the humanity displayed by the central characters, whose hearts ache for their children and their futures in a world fraught with turmoil. The fire-breathers bring more than destruction in their wake; they also bring a plaguelike sickness that will elicit sharp parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic. The very real struggles these characters face, whether they ride dragons or bear the suffocating rules of monarchy, make this a consuming read. While some fantasy tropes feel like they've only been added to the story's surface, the pages keep turning because of the heart-wrenching reasons that characters are driven to action. The heroes shine in their uniqueness, with diverse family dynamics interwoven throughout and representation ranging from queer lords and warriors to genderfluid alchemists. This prequel stands on its own, but a word of warning to people who have read The Priory: You'll want to reread it in order to benefit from the deeper knowledge of what came before.
Prepare yourself for the long haul. This is expansive, emotionally complex, and bound to suck you in.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63557-792-1
Page Count: 880
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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