by Rehan Khan ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 24, 2014
A sturdy start to a promising epic fantasy series, with diverse characters and a solid storyline.
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Khan’s wide-reaching fantasy, his debut novel, draws on a number of real-world cultures.
Many different nations and cultures share the Avantolian peninsula. The Republic of Avantolia is home to both an increasingly tyrannical government and the ancient and sacred order of Tasburai warriors. Kronnoburg, on the other hand, is a monarchical state under the rule of Princess Elsta Mik. Both states are suffering varying measures of political instability. The Athenian Archipelago, the Pathan Province, the Empire of Duria, and Krakonite also share the peninsula. In times long past, the nations were united by the threat of the Magrog, a dark race of demon masters. Many years ago, however, an alliance across the peninsula, aided by the Tasburai order, seemingly exterminated this threat. Grandmaster Suri-Yi was instrumental in this conflict. But now, she and her apprentice, Adan, find themselves at the center of a plot to subvert the Tasburai. Simultaneously, mysterious events point to the possibility that the Magrog were not truly defeated. In to this confluence of events stumbles Ylva, plucky thief and daughter of the Robin Hood–esque Olaf. Her theft of a Tasburai sword sets off a chain of events that, fate willing, may just save the peninsula from threats both within and abroad. This story’s diversity is one of its strengths, and Khan ably handles the portrayal of different cultures and characters. Though there are a number of standard fantasy tropes included in the narrative, the thoughtful worldbuilding keeps them mostly fresh. The characters, while often compelling, have a tendency to dip into stereotype. Princess Elsta, for example, can verge on the caricature of the spoiled noblewoman. Other female characters, however, are refreshing takes on archetypes often reserved for male cast members. All in all, Khan’s novel, with its well-executed plot, offers an entertaining if not engrossing story.
A sturdy start to a promising epic fantasy series, with diverse characters and a solid storyline.Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-1497471382
Page Count: 362
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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New York Times Bestseller
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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by Cixin Liu ; translated by Joel Martinsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 2015
Once again, a highly impressive must-read.
Second part of an alien-contact trilogy (The Three-Body Problem, 2014) from China’s most celebrated science-fiction author.
In the previous book, the inhabitants of Trisolaris, a planet with three suns, discovered that their planet was doomed and that Earth offered a suitable refuge. So, determined to capture Earth and exterminate humanity, the Trisolarans embarked on a 400-year-long interstellar voyage and also sent sophons (enormously sophisticated computers constructed inside the curled-up dimensions of fundamental particles) to spy on humanity and impose an unbreakable block on scientific advance. On Earth, the Earth-Trisolaris Organization formed to help the invaders, despite knowing the inevitable outcome. Humanity’s lone advantage is that Trisolarans are incapable of lying or dissimulation and so cannot understand deceit or subterfuge. This time, with the Trisolarans a few years into their voyage, physicist Ye Wenjie (whose reminiscences drove much of the action in the last book) visits astronomer-turned-sociologist Luo Ji, urging him to develop her ideas on cosmic sociology. The Planetary Defense Council, meanwhile, in order to combat the powerful escapist movement (they want to build starships and flee so that at least some humans will survive), announces the Wallfacer Project. Four selected individuals will be accorded the power to command any resource in order to develop plans to defend Earth, while the details will remain hidden in the thoughts of each Wallfacer, where even the sophons can't reach. To combat this, the ETO creates Wallbreakers, dedicated to deducing and thwarting the plans of the Wallfacers. The chosen Wallfacers are soldier Frederick Tyler, diplomat Manuel Rey Diaz, neuroscientist Bill Hines, and—Luo Ji. Luo has no idea why he was chosen, but, nonetheless, the Trisolarans seem determined to kill him. The plot’s development centers on Liu’s dark and rather gloomy but highly persuasive philosophy, with dazzling ideas and an unsettling, nonlinear, almost nonnarrative structure that demands patience but offers huge rewards.
Once again, a highly impressive must-read.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7708-1
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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by Cixin Liu ; translated by Joel Martinsen
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