by Roy Casagranda ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2018
A gripping, fast-paced adventure that delivers passionate writing.
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A determined Carian princess rails against a patriarchy in this debut historical novel.
At the impressionable age of 13, Princess Artemisia outruns her bewildered aides and climbs a tree to witness a great battle between the Carian and Labraundian forces in the early fifth century B.C.E. Her father, King Lygdamis, leads the Carians into combat, and at his side stands a fearless female warrior. Artemisia learns from her bodyguard, Myron, that the fighter is Persian. Persians permit women to enter into battle. Artemisia is consumed with envy, as no such allowance is given to the women of Caria. When the princess declares that she too wants a life of glory and struggle, she is told that as a girl she should know her place. From that moment on, she makes a vow to herself that she will become a satrap, a warrior ruler. When Emperor Darayavahu requests a hostage to take to Persia, Lygdamis flinches at the thought of losing his only son and instead negotiates for Artemisia to be taken in his place. So begins the princess’s journey into womanhood. Away from the confines of Caria, she develops an unblinking confidence that allows her to reason with the emperor himself. She also convinces Myron to train her in combat, in which she proves to be devastatingly skillful. Slowly, Artemisia develops the necessary talents to gain a foothold in a world where women are subservient to men. But is this sufficient for her to achieve her dream of replacing her father as king? Those familiar with ancient Greek history will know how the story unfolds. This is a riveting tale of a defiant young girl who dares to challenge patriarchal norms. Casagranda has an agility and fluidity to his writing that are particularly evident when describing combat: “Artemisia realized that her Milesian opponent was as surprised by the stumble as she was. Instead of fighting it, she moved through it, ducking down and then thrusting the tip of the blade up. It found the soft underside of the Ionian’s chin.” The urgency, rhythm, and motion of battle are captured vividly. But on occasion, the author is prone to repetition. For example, he often describes events occurring in the heroine’s peripheral vision: “A person walked into Artemisia’s peripheral view.” This isn’t off-puttingly irritating but perhaps indicative of an unseasoned writer leaning on favored words or phrases. The novel is dedicated to “all the victims of patriarchy,” and although it succeeds in depicting men as blundering and bloodthirsty rulers, there is a nagging doubt as to whether a leader such as the masterful Darayavahu would unravel emotionally and admit his failings: “You see me as all-powerful, but I’m weak….You’d think that” having an empire “would make me like a God. But it makes me a slave to one thousand masters.” Still, despite some minor weaknesses, Casagranda’s story is a bona fide page-turner that should have readers rooting for the tenacious Artemisia from beginning to end.
A gripping, fast-paced adventure that delivers passionate writing.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2018
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 417
Publisher: Sekhmet Liminal Press, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Fredrik Backman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 15, 2014
In the contest of Most Winning Combination, it would be hard to beat grumpy Ove and his hidden, generous heart.
Originally published in Sweden, this charming debut novel by Backman should find a ready audience with English-language readers.
The book opens helpfully with the following characterizations about its protagonist: “Ove is fifty-nine. He drives a Saab. He’s the kind of man who points at people he doesn’t like the look of, as if they were burglars and his forefinger a policeman’s torch.” What the book takes its time revealing is that this dyed-in-the-wool curmudgeon has a heart of solid gold. Readers will see the basic setup coming a mile away, but Backman does a crafty job revealing the full vein of precious metal beneath Ove’s ribs, glint by glint. Ove’s history trickles out in alternating chapters—a bleak set of circumstances that smacks an honorable, hardworking boy around time and again, proving that, even by early adulthood, he comes by his grumpy nature honestly. It’s a woman who turns his life around the first time: sweet and lively Sonja, who becomes his wife and balances his pessimism with optimism and warmth. By 59, he's in a place of despair yet again, and it’s a woman who turns him around a second time: spirited, knowing Parvaneh, who moves with her husband and children into the terraced house next door and forces Ove to engage with the world. The back story chapters have a simple, fablelike quality, while the current-day chapters are episodic and, at times, hysterically funny. In both instances, the narration can veer toward the preachy or overly pat, but wry descriptions, excellent pacing and the juxtaposition of Ove’s attitude with his deeds add plenty of punch to balance out any pathos.
In the contest of Most Winning Combination, it would be hard to beat grumpy Ove and his hidden, generous heart.Pub Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-3801-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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by George Orwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1949
Certain to create interest, comment, and consideration.
The Book-of-the-Month Club dual selection, with John Gunther's Behind the Curtain (1949), for July, this projects life under perfected state controls.
It presages with no uncertainty the horrors and sterility, the policing of every thought, action and word, the extinction of truth and history, the condensation of speech and writing, the utter subjection of every member of the Party. The story concerns itself with Winston, a worker in the Records Department, who is tormented by tenuous memories, who is unable to identify himself wholly with Big Brother and The Party. It follows his love for Julia, who also outwardly conforms, inwardly rebels, his hopefulness in joining the Brotherhood, a secret organization reported to be sabotaging The Party, his faith in O'Brien, as a fellow disbeliever, his trust in the proles (the cockney element not under the organization) as the basis for an overall uprising. But The Party is omniscient, and it is O'Brien who puts him through the torture to cleanse him of all traitorous opinions, a terrible, terrifying torture whose climax, keyed to Winston's most secret nightmare, forces him to betray even Julia. He emerges, broken, beaten, a drivelling member of The Party. Composed, logically derived, this grim forecasting blueprints the means and methods of mass control, the techniques of maintaining power, the fundamentals of political duplicity, and offers as arousing a picture as the author's previous Animal Farm.
Certain to create interest, comment, and consideration.Pub Date: June 13, 1949
ISBN: 0452284236
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1949
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