Serviceable, undistinguished fantasy fare.
In Centeno’s (Dark Sanity, 2014, etc.) latest novel, a “humyn” prince hopes a marriage of necessity to a high elf will end a terrible war. Demons plan otherwise.
Prince Aarian of Vlydyn casts aside hishumyn love, Belisa, in favor of wedding a high elf princess of Lar’a’dos, but an evil plan threatens to destroy the prince’s humbling sacrifice. The dark elves’ ruler, Saldovin, makes a pact with demons, who call down their chaos upon Prince Aarian’s land to prevent the wedding. Yet the dark elf’s bargain proves only too effective: rather than merely shatter the peace of humyns and high elves, the demon hordes destroy the humyn kingdom and continue on to threaten the entire world (known as Yunedar). With only a handful of humyns remaining in all the realm, Prince Aarian is forced to look for help among horrifying allies: gargoyles, vampires, werewolves, dark elves, orcs, trolls, ogres and their overlord, a powerful dragon known as Earmathras. Taming his own doubts and the loss of Belisa—and taking up the role of the monsters’ chosen one, as foretold by prophecy—Aarian takes the fight to the demon legions in a final battle to save the ruins of Vlydyn and all of Yunedar. Unfortunately, characters are thin and familiar: the protagonist is impressively heroic, dragons are crafty and old, counselors are hidebound and stuffy, and so forth. There are no real surprises in the cast, beyond the mildly novel inclusion of creatures such as orcs and werewolves in speaking roles, while language is standard to most medieval-esque fantasies (think “accursed” and “slay”). Tonally, the book has much more in common with Dragonlance novels than with A Song of Ice and Fire: sex is kept offstage, violence is restrained and cinematic, and swearing is nonexistent. It’s an adventure for any age group.
Serviceable, undistinguished fantasy fare.Pub Date: May 28, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning.
A romantically entangled stepbrother and stepsister in Los Angeles navigate their tumultuous history and take their relationship to new levels in this translated title by an Argentinian author.
Nick and Noah are madly in love: Their mutual attraction is established as the book opens with Noah’s 18th birthday party, during which she and Nick have an explicitly described sexual encounter behind the pool house. This fiery scene sets the stage for twists and turns in the lovers’ journey, including a separation when Noah is forced to go on a monthlong mother-daughter European tour. But reminders of their pasts (chronicled in the 2023 series opener, My Fault) threaten to undermine their stability. Nick’s wealthy estranged mother makes an unfortunate appearance, while Noah is haunted by the trauma of her father’s violent death. The blend of everyday complications (jealousy, parental disapproval) with frothy visions of high-society life is at once lacking in subtlety and intimately irresistible. The series initially gained popularity on Wattpad, and the novel follows the episodic structure typical of works on that site; sensual encounters occur at reliable intervals. Still, the characters and their milieu feel formulaic, and the writing is stilted. The differences between the two—Nick is five years older and has an office job; Noah has just finished high school—makes their suffocatingly possessive relationship feel particularly squirm-worthy. Nick and Noah and their families read white.
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728290768
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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