Far stronger than Fifth Sorceress. Volume three to come.
Volume two of The Chronicles of Blood and Stone, following Newcomb’s The Fifth Sorceress (2002).
“Endowed blood” lends a certain originality to this epic struggle between wizards and sorceresses, as it does to a hero bearing a bloodline that links him to magical abilities. One notes, however, a taint of sexism as Newcomb endows his hero, azure-blooded Prince Tristan of the once peaceful Kingdom of Eutracia, with all the noble virtues while the Coven of four nasty sorceresses pillage, rape, and murder as they seek the secret of endowed blood. Wigg, head of the Directorate of Wizards, abandons these vile women in the Sea of Whispers. Then three centuries pass and Tristan arises, about to inherit the throne for a 30-year reign though his stronger desire is to join the Directorate as a wizard, with Wigg as his teacher. But he and his pregnant twin sister Shailiha are named as the Chosen Ones, even though the fifth sorceress, Natasha, lusts to mingle her endowed blood with that of the Chosen, a desire that has brought about the Coven’s forcing of Tristan to murder both his father and his mother, his losing the kingdom and now needing to regain it, though he’s branded as lawless. The crippled wizard Faegan returns from exile in Shadowland and joins Wigg, Tristan, Shailiha and her baby daughter in a vast cavern, the Directorate’s former underground stomping grounds. Can they restore peace to Eutracia? Well, not when the magic Paragon stone is depleted of its luster, as it has been. Only retrieving the lost Tome, an almost unreadable book of magic, can replenish the Paragon. And, horribly, a race of monsters has arisen, with an evil magician far stronger than Tristan. And what secret power lies lodged in scrolls in the Gates of Dawn?
Far stronger than Fifth Sorceress. Volume three to come.Pub Date: July 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-44894-4
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2003
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
