In sum, a lumbering, gnarled behemoth that seeks to crush readers beneath its sheer mass.
Reboot (read: author’s definitive edition) of a fantasy first published in 2011, pointing the way to an upcoming sequel.
A magical Veil separates the good guys of the Eastlands from the evil Westlands. A members of a sect called the Leiholan dedicate themselves to maintaining the Veil by singing the Song of Suffering. Still, for reasons unclear, the Veil is weakening, so the good guys need to pull an army together (historically, this has been a problem) and also organize a heroes’ quest, though it’s far from certain what the heroes hope to accomplish. In concept and approach, then, it’s a mashup of such favorite (or least favorite, depending) epic-fantasy authors as Stephen R. Donaldson, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan. The questers are types rather than personalities and consist of: Vendanj, a Sheason (wizard) prone to regrets and gnomic musings; young bowman Tahn Junell, who wants to recover the lost memories of his childhood; Braethen Posian, of a warrior-scholar brotherhood sworn to protect Sheason; farmer and adventure-seeker Sutter, providing comic relief while learning that he sees dead people before they die; Tahn’s abused sister, Wendra, furnishing moments of real pathos when she howls out her pain and discovers she can work magic through the power of her song; fleet, sexy Mira, with a life expectancy of just 18 years; and good-hearted criminal exile Grant. Along their meandering way, they’ll deal with obstacles that test their resolve while being harassed by opposition in the form of Velle (evil wizards), Bar’dyn (sort of knobbly giants), zombies and the like. Orullian writes with facility and a confidence that too often veers into overblown description and obscure, rambling philosophical conversations: further evidence, should any be required, that fantasy fans like what they like regardless of rational considerations. Indications that he can or will address these problems in the sequel are few.
In sum, a lumbering, gnarled behemoth that seeks to crush readers beneath its sheer mass.Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7987-0
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally...
Yale’s secret societies hide a supernatural secret in this fantasy/murder mystery/school story.
Most Yale students get admitted through some combination of impressive academics, athletics, extracurriculars, family connections, and donations, or perhaps bribing the right coach. Not Galaxy “Alex” Stern. The protagonist of Bardugo’s (King of Scars, 2019, etc.) first novel for adults, a high school dropout and low-level drug dealer, Alex got in because she can see dead people. A Yale dean who's a member of Lethe, one of the college’s famously mysterious secret societies, offers Alex a free ride if she will use her spook-spotting abilities to help Lethe with its mission: overseeing the other secret societies’ occult rituals. In Bardugo’s universe, the “Ancient Eight” secret societies (Lethe is the eponymous Ninth House) are not just old boys’ breeding grounds for the CIA, CEOs, Supreme Court justices, and so on, as they are in ours; they’re wielders of actual magic. Skull and Bones performs prognostications by borrowing patients from the local hospital, cutting them open, and examining their entrails. St. Elmo’s specializes in weather magic, useful for commodities traders; Aurelian, in unbreakable contracts; Manuscript goes in for glamours, or “illusions and lies,” helpful to politicians and movie stars alike. And all these rituals attract ghosts. It’s Alex’s job to keep the supernatural forces from embarrassing the magical elite by releasing chaos into the community (all while trying desperately to keep her grades up). “Dealing with ghosts was like riding the subway: Do not make eye contact. Do not smile. Do not engage. Otherwise, you never know what might follow you home.” A townie’s murder sets in motion a taut plot full of drug deals, drunken assaults, corruption, and cover-ups. Loyalties stretch and snap. Under it all runs the deep, dark river of ambition and anxiety that at once powers and undermines the Yale experience. Alex may have more reason than most to feel like an imposter, but anyone who’s spent time around the golden children of the Ivy League will likely recognize her self-doubt.
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally dazzling sequels.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31307-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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