Entertainingly strange, though some portions feel more out-of-place than thrilling.
A rambunctious fantasy novel filled with knights and vampires.
Valicek (The Dark Magical World of Alamptria, 2016, etc.) takes readers to the year 2255. In the land of Alamptria, the Dark Lord Makoor, along with his vampire minions, is “eager to destroy humanity.” Fortunately for humankind, there are knights like Caprius Seaton, the son of Confidus Seaton, the dashing King of Elysium, whose castle features such amenities as a giant indoor pool. Caprius is no softie, though. Like his fellow knights, he’s bound to the “holy council of sacred deeds” and must be ready to go whenever and wherever Makoor may strike. It’s also prophesied that Caprius’ unborn son will one day be responsible for Makoor’s destruction. Caprius, who has an enhanced sword called a “claymore of power,” and his partner, Calista, are tasked with investigating the recent deaths of two of the king’s agents. Their bodies were left in dirt-filled coffins, and they were found holding onto pocket watches set to precisely 8:10 p.m. It initially seems like a simple and relatively straightforward assignment, but Caprius and Calista prove to be a volatile pair. Meanwhile, a man named Colburn is planning to mass-produce a serum that can be used to turn relatively sedate, ordinary animals into superintelligent predators. Colburn’s plan, meanwhile, has caught the attention of a fierce and beautiful woman named Cynthia Davenport, who lives in the troubled town of Jethro, a place riddled with “hoodlums, bums, and grifters,” where toughness is essential for survival. Cynthia is compelled to stop Colburn even though doing so will certainly bring her into some dangerous situations—and so the reader embarks on a supernatural journey that’s whimsical, intricate, and bizarre, by turns. The various characters engage in plenty of combat scenes, but at other times, they indulge in calmer pursuits, such as traveling by train and ordering fine wines. A scene involving vampires playing poker is hardly the most eccentric one in the novel, although it is a good example of its mixture of the absurd and the darkly serious. Plenty of blood is spilled (and drunk) throughout, and the surprises range from the fun to the silly to the questionable. In one scene, for example, Caprius is having dinner in an entertainment lounge when his waiter is killed and replaced by an evildoer. Caprius is well-aware that the new person isn’t a waiter, and as a result, the scene becomes comical but also puzzling: could the bad guys really be so naïve? Or has Caprius inadvertently entered a Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch? It is indeed refreshing to encounter a genre piece that doesn’t take itself too seriously—although the resulting mayhem can sometimes be distracting. Early plot questions are thankfully answered, but on the whole, the story is more of a patchwork than a tightly woven piece. The late inclusion of a hot air balloon is memorable, even if it doesn’t fit too well into the greater puzzle.
Entertainingly strange, though some portions feel more out-of-place than thrilling.Pub Date: May 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5331-1916-2
Page Count: 338
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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