A mix of biblical tropes and fantasy archetypes, somewhat shackled by the narrative’s lack of real questions, risks or...
Game of Thrones meets the Old Testament in this earnest fantasy’s allegorical take on the Christian faith.
For centuries, two northern kingdoms have been at war: Gartigraccia, founded by the followers of a fiercely protective deity known as the Father, and their enemies, the pagan Rodain. During a period of relative peace, Adathor, Gartigraccia’s king, discovers a secret rebellion within his ranks, led by Calathir, one of his own sons. Before he has time to investigate, one third of the king’s forces rebel from within while Rodain warriors storm the castle walls. Thanks to the treason of King Adathor’s son, the Rodain are able to steal the Gartigraccians’ most powerful artifact: the Opstone, a mysterious sphere that enables levitation and flight. Now armed with a floating citadel and a fleet of airborne ships, the Rodain threaten to overtake the continent unless King Adathor can find help further in the south. Meanwhile, in the northern wilderness of Rodain, deep-delving miners discover ancient tunnels beneath the Earth, where they awaken something monstrous in the dark, and two strangers from afar arrive in Gartigraccia on the backs of giant sea turtles with news concerning the long foretold coming of the Son of the Father. Archer’s detailed worldbuilding provides plenty of easily digestible mythology and what should be enough unexplored regions of the map to fill out the rest of the planned trilogy. The plot is fast-paced and engaging, if not particularly revelatory, and Christian readers will enjoy the parallels with the early Kingdom of Israel, even if the story’s black-and-white perspective on morality—embodied by warring factions that are either purely good or purely evil—makes for an epic tale bereft of nuance or uncertainty.
A mix of biblical tropes and fantasy archetypes, somewhat shackled by the narrative’s lack of real questions, risks or shades of gray.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490807256
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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