A subtle but powerful tale of political intrigue and honor.
An elite warrior must investigate the death of an emissary in this historical novel set in 17th-century Nigeria.
A royal emissary from the prosperous kingdom of Kano returns home gravely wounded—he has clearly been tortured. Before he succumbs to his injuries, he conveys a troubling message that Kano is threatened by a plot to destabilize it. He arrived on a horse different from his own, maybe a sign that he was kidnapped but subsequently escaped. In addition, he was transporting a classified communication from Kano’s ruler, Emir Ado Sanusi, to the Sultan of Sokoto. The sultan is the ruler of a neighboring kingdom with which Kano historically suffered tempestuous relations. Master Mansa, a Durbar peacekeeper—he keeps “peace only when there is none”—is faithfully dedicated to Kano, and is charged with investigating both the emissary’s death and his cryptic message. Accompanied by a young boy, Isa, a former enslaved person he purchased, Master Mansa travels to Sokoto as well as Katsina, a neighboring kingdom, to uncover the truth. Set upon in both places by well-trained assassins—he immediately recognizes these were not “local vagabonds operating in desperate times”—he correctly deduces that formidable forces intend to thwart his probe. Blackstaff deftly depicts the complex political circumstances that provide the context for Master Mansa’s mission. While Kano is enjoying a “rare time of peace and prosperity,” its neighbors suffer. The ruler of Sokoto is all but incapacitated by illness and his kingdom is plagued by famine while Katsina is overrun by corruption and decadence, a cesspool “nourished by violent crime, poverty and general desperation.” Moreover, Master Mansa is a gripping protagonist—almost impossibly courageous and wise, he’s unfailingly loyal, a moving personification of what Kano’s rivals lack morally.
A subtle but powerful tale of political intrigue and honor.Pub Date: May 25, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Running Wild Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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