Despite its prequel feel, there’s good groundwork for a sensational, lasting series.
A young bladesmith and a healer journey across a barren, post-apocalyptic world in the author’s debut adventure novel.
In the year 2117, the world closely resembles the Middle Ages, having suffered global collapse and a dwindling population—an event called “the Reduction.” Latin, who trades his blade-sharpening skills for goods, agrees to help Autumn, an herbalist whose rejection of a marriage proposal has her on the run. Billy, the rebuffed, is a man with authority, and he sends his guards to seize Autumn. She and Latin travel to Arden, Del., in search of refuge with Latin’s uncle. Bryan’s novel, the first in a series, is short, and to good effect, it concentrates on the lead characters and their trek rather than the world’s disastrous condition, briefly chronicled at the beginning. Latin and Autumn face numerous dangers and challenges on their way to Arden—the persistent need for food and shelter; the risk of infection from injuries; and Billy’s henchmen, the dreaded horse-riding Skullers. Certain specifics of the world get light coverage, however. Bryan reveals little about either Billy or the Skullers, for example, but the couple’s fear of both seems warranted; the baldheaded, leather-bound men shoot at them without provocation. Both Latin and Autumn have unusual back stories that give them dimension: Latin’s parents have disappeared, never having returned from the market, and Autumn’s medicines are quite effective, but the girl, even when asked directly, avoids explaining what’s in the variously colored vials. Perhaps future installments will resolve these mysteries. The leads are commendable, smart enough to be continually wary. Autumn will likely win over readers first; Latin, adept at bow and arrow, kills to protect the two, but he’s shaken by his own actions, and it’s Autumn who coolly validates the deed: “It means we get to live and they don’t.”
Despite its prequel feel, there’s good groundwork for a sensational, lasting series.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615758664
Page Count: 122
Publisher: R. M.\Bryan
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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