An exciting, genre-melding journey into magical realms and the mending power of love.
Secret Riven—archivist to the mysterious Fewmany, a man who controls nearly every industry in Rothwyke—finally has the opportunity to decode the arcane manuscript her mother left behind. But the translation may throw everything she holds dear into turmoil.
This compelling conclusion to Domingue’s (The Chronicle of Secret Riven, 2014, etc.) Keeper of Tales trilogy deftly twines together elements from fairy tales, the gothic, and the quest journey into a mythology for the fantasy realm of Rothwyke. Rejected from the high academies, most likely because she wears skirts, Secret accepts a job as archivist of the vast libraries of mysterious magnate Fewmany, ne Lesmore Bellwether. Fewmany’s mansion is a veritable Gothic labyrinth, riddled with hidden rooms, locked chambers—all must remain locked, Secret is reminded—and restricted groves. While her beloved Nikolas, Prince of the Realm, journeys on goodwill visits to neighboring kingdoms, Secret finds herself drawn deeply into Fewmany’s decadent world. Soon she has left her father’s home to rent rooms in a less respectable ward and begins drinking wine, attending dinner parties with actors and intellectual glitterati, and even joining in the debauched revelries of a masquerade ball. Eager to put behind her the difficulties of her special abilities, she’s tried to ignore the animals and bees who seem desperate to communicate with her, yet Fewmany’s intentions for her will demand all of her talents and courage. Fewmany sets Secret on a quest that will at last expose the meaning of the symbols she’s dreamed of since childhood, her ruptures into another world, the arcane manuscript, and the mystery of her mother’s ancestry. Fortuitously, Nikolas returns and joins Secret. But the quest will release a Plague of Silences that will disrupt and utterly change their world.
An exciting, genre-melding journey into magical realms and the mending power of love.Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4767-7428-2
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Imperfect, but well constructed and engrossing nonetheless.
Cerúlia recovers from her wounds and decides it’s finally time to take back her throne in Kozloff’s (The Queen of Raiders, 2020, etc.) penultimate Nine Realms novel.
Badly burned and laid up in a Healing Center, Cerúlia is losing faith in herself. She misses the various friends she’s made along her journey, misses her home, and resents her limitations as she heals from injuries sustained in the previous novel. In the past, her magical “Talent” for talking to animals has helped her make friends with local creatures, but she’s worried that something has happened to her ability and fears using it. As she slowly recuperates and learns from the fellow residents in the healing center, Cerúlia comes to understand that she must face her responsibility to her people and find a way to become the Queen of Weirandale. To that end, she returns home to her nation’s capital, Cascada, only to discover that her long-lost foster sister, Percia, is about to marry the kindly son of the maniacal and power-hungry Regent Matwyck, the very person keeping Cerúlia from her throne. Reunited with her beloved foster family, Cerúlia decides it is time to stop hiding under aliases and disguises. But with no army to support her, how is she supposed to save herself from Matwyck’s clutches? And now that she’s seen more of the world and understands the lives of regular people, does she even believe in the idea of monarchy at all? Kozloff finally brings the action back to Weirandale in a compelling setup to the last novel in her series. Like Book 2, this one struggles a bit with standing on its own, but Kozloff uses these pages to make Cerúlia a more complex and compelling character. Threads following other characters from other nations are easy to follow and add dimension to the world, but as of now they still feel a bit too detached from the main plotline.
Imperfect, but well constructed and engrossing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16866-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Perfectly fine despite second-book syndrome.
Cerúlia must grow up and learn to fight for her destiny in Kozloff’s (A Queen in Hiding, 2020) second Nine Realms novel.
Her mother, the Queen of Weirandale, is dead, and Cerúlia isn’t a child any more. She’s left her adoptive peasant family in order to escape evil Lord Matwyck’s clutches and eventually escapes Weirandale altogether. Using her ability to talk to animals and several bird-related aliases, Cerúlia manages to trek her way over the mountains and into the nation of Oromondo. Cerúlia knows that the Oros killed her mother, and she wants to avenge her death. She’s heard of a group of raiders who work to disrupt the Oros as they invade and pillage neighboring nations. When Cerúlia finally manages to find them and convince them to let her join up, she discovers not only new friends, but a newfound sense of purpose. But is any of that enough to win back her throne or even save herself from the Oro army? Interspersed with Cerúlia’s plotline are various threads centering on the Oro army and people, Lord Matwyck’s kindhearted son, and the raiders themselves. This is the second of a four-part series, and, as such, it falls into the expected pitfalls. The self-contained plot works, but it inevitably feels more like a buildup to further books in the series than its own story. It rises above filler, though, and Kozloff is clearly laying the groundwork for something good, particularly with the very last chapter.
Perfectly fine despite second-book syndrome.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16856-6
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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