This fourth series entry features a resourceful but not entirely lovable heroine, zany secondary characters, and the...
A brother and sister of fairy-tale fame stumble from one complication to another in their search for a missing magician.
Years after escaping the gingerbread house, Gretel enjoys renown as the best detective in Gesternstadt. But determining whether the sorcerer Ernst Arnold is really dead is quite a challenge, for all that’s left of Arnold in his magicarium is his appendix and his pet bat. The insurance company won’t pay Frau Arnold if her husband isn’t really dead, and she can’t pay Gretel until it’s proven that he is. Though she decides to take the case on spec, Gretel negotiates with the insurance company for payment if she delivers proof of life. She needs the dough: not only does she have to keep her bon vivant brother, Hans, in “weisswurst and ale,” but she’s just ordered an expensive wig to charm the man she loves, Uber General Ferdinand von Ferdinand , away from his fiancee. Gretel finds a map of Arnold’s that sends her and Hans deep into the woods that still fill them with dread. Despite its beautiful hostess, a house of “vernacular architecture” is not the refuge it seems, and Gretel and Hans flee straight into a troupe of perpetually pickled pixies. Reluctant as Hans is to leave his new friends, Gretel has a job to do despite several attempts on their lives (von Ferdinand unfortunately rescues her while she’s not looking her best). Pressing onward with a cheerfully bromidic forest guide, the duo find what they’re looking for in a fanciful village populated with Germany’s Most Wanted and refugees from other Grimm tales. It’s up to Gretel to find a way out in an adventure that unrepentantly defies history (cocktails and cigarette lighters in the 18th century?) and follows up a beloved tale with farce.
This fourth series entry features a resourceful but not entirely lovable heroine, zany secondary characters, and the tendency to go for cheap laughs. Still, give Brockton (The Fickle Mermaid, 2016, etc.) high marks for creativity.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68177-530-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Second entry in Hobb's fantasy series about the Six Duchies and their Farseer kings (Assassin's Apprentice, 1995). At Buckkeep, King Shrewd lies dying, attended only the by the faithful, enigmatic Fool; King in Waiting Verity spends all his time Skilling to befuddle and bemuse the dreaded Red Ship Raiders, while his beautiful, neglected wife, Kettricken, wanders disconsolately. Young FitzChivalry, still ailing after his previous mission, tries to serve both Shrewd and Verity while seeking ways to frustrate the vaulting ambitions of Shrewd's youngest son, the viperous Prince Regal. Shrewd, meantime, has forbidden poor Fitz to marry his beloved Molly, a commoner. Fitz also possesses the Wit, an ability to talk to and empathize with animals, and he bonds with a young wolf he rescues from cruel captivity. Verity builds his own warships, but still can't defeat the Raiders—and the weaker Verity grows, the more the people listen to Regal's treacherous murmurings. Finally, Verity goes into the mountains seeking the Elderlings, a godlike race that helped a previous Farseer king to defeat the Raiders, leaving Fitz to protect Kettricken and Shrewd. Another spellbinding installment, built of patient detail, believable characters, and mature plotting—though, at an unwarranted 608 pages, there are ominous signs that Hobb's beginning to lose control of her narrative.
Pub Date: May 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-553-37563-6
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
Final installment—each entry independently intelligible—of Hobb's stunning fantasy trilogy (Royal Assassin, 1996; Assassin's Apprentice, 1995) about the beleaguered Six Duchies and their Farseer kings. Months ago, King Verity vanished into the far mountains in search of the semi-mythical Elderlings, whose help he must have in order to defeat the rampaging Red Ship Raiders, leaving his murderous, venal, and insanely ambitious brother, Prince Regal, to dispose of Verity's last few loyalists at his leisure—including narrator, spy, and assassin FitzChivalry. Poor Fitz, unable to contact his beloved Molly (she thinks he's dead) and daughter (by Molly) for fear of exposing them to Regal's attentions, uses his magic Skill to locate Verity and receives an imperious summons: ``COME TO ME!'' So, abandoning his plan to assassinate Regal, Fitz enters the mountains with a small band of helpers. Eventually, having evaded Regal's minions, Fitz comes upon Verity Skill-carving a huge dragon out of black rock; nearby stand other lifelike dragon-sculptures that, to Fitz's animal-magic Wit, seem somehow alive. Are these eerie sculptures what remain of the Elderlings? Yet, for all his Skill, Verity cannot bring the dragons to life; and soon Regal will arrive with his armies and his Skilled coterie. An enthralling conclusion to this superb trilogy, displaying an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama.
Pub Date: March 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-553-10640-6
Page Count: 668
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1997
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