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NARMIN

Name: NARMIN
Author: Raquel Lesser
ISBN: 978-0-359-12169-4

by Raquel Lesser ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 28, 2018

A brisk, entertaining but messy fantasy.

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A young boy determined to save his sister succumbs to a malevolent woman’s deceit in this novella.

When Anna Emmet Wise of Elmer’s village inexplicably disappears, her parents don’t initially tell her 9-year-old brother, Derek Clark. But Derek soon learns what’s happened and vows to find his sister. Since he’s a mere Amcler (beginning dragon slayer) and can only now use magic legally, he borrows a “spell-binding” book belonging to a friend’s dad. Surprisingly, he easily dispatches the first dragon he encounters. Derek later gets unfortunate news: Someone, or something, actually murdered Anna. But revenge against her killer is possible, according to a strange woman, who readers eventually discover is “the evil witch.” She tells Derek he’s more formidable than he believes, even more than his father, Sorcerer Blans, who’s at the highest level of power as a Narmin. Evidently, Derek is capable of dark magic and therefore can save Anna. This requires much power, which the wicked witch says he can attain by killing others. Her plan is diabolical but not without purpose, and soon the people in Elmer’s village will have to identify a villain to eradicate if they hope to vanquish evil. Lesser’s (If I Could Fly, 2012, etc.) straightforward writing style minimizes details, like physical descriptions and the environment. But this results in a speedy tempo for the fantasy, which introduces a handful of characters and effortlessly manages an 11-year time jump. Despite the novella’s brevity, the sinister witch’s scheme is astoundingly intricate, though coherent, while the author provides the character with an absorbing backstory and adds more than one effective twist near the end. Alas, a strong editor would have greatly benefited this tale, which features persistent errors (“evil wish” instead of witch; “lightening” instead of lightning; “I would of face death”; “Blans began to past”). These sometimes necessitate rereading sentences or whole passages (“The last thing I remember is that” Derek “wanted to found Anna”) or prove outright confusing (The first name of one of Derek’s friends alternates between Nickerson and Nicholson).

A brisk, entertaining but messy fantasy.

Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-359-12169-4

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Lulu

Review Posted Online: Dec. 3, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.