Just the ticket for fantasy readers who want a swoony love story and a good cry.
Grief and guilt serve as dominant themes in this tragic romance, second in the Guardians of Tarnec series.
Separated from her beloved cousin Lark (protagonist of Lark Rising, 2014) and devastated by the slaughter of her intended before her eyes, Evie Carew longs to die as well…if only her inborn Healer instincts would permit. She finds renewed purpose when Laurent, a fabled Rider of Tarnec, reveals that she is one of the four ordained Keepers of Balance against the Breeders of Chaos. Evie accepts her duty as Guardian of Death to seek out a stolen amulet, but both her intense attraction to the handsome Rider and her lively curiosity lead to choices that may doom her mission—and the entire world. This sequel shares the dreamily poetic voice and original magic system of the first, but it has a much darker tone and subtler characterization. While Laurent is mostly a bland generic love interest, Evie shows considerable depth and agency. Her rage, despair, and guilt feel very real, and she is far more assertive than her diffident cousin. Unfortunately, the narrative casts these strengths as disastrous vulnerabilities; Lark’s newfound decisiveness is likewise punished. Still, the suspenseful pace retains interest up through a chilling climax, with a literal cliffhanger to keep readers hooked.
Just the ticket for fantasy readers who want a swoony love story and a good cry. (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-449-81752-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart.
After praying to a Fate for help, Evangeline discovers the dangerous world of magic.
When her father passes away, Evangeline is left with her cold stepmother and kind but distant stepsister, Marisol. Despite inheriting a steady trust in magic, belief in her late mother’s homeland of the mystical North (where fantastical creatures live), and philosophy of hope for the future, her dreams are dashed when Luc, her love, pledges to marry Marisol instead. Evangeline desperately prays to the Prince of Hearts, a dangerous and fickle Fate famed for his heart that is waiting to be revived by his one true love—and his potentially lethal kisses. The bargain they strike sends her on a dark and magical journey throughout the land. The writing style fluctuates from clever and original to overly verbose and often confusing in its jumble of senses. While the pervasive magic and concept of the Fates as a religious system add interest, other fantasy elements are haphazardly incorporated without enough time devoted to building a cohesive world. However, the themes of love, the power of story, family influence, and holding onto belief are well rounded and add depth. The plot contains welcome surprises, and the large cast piques curiosity; readers will wish more time was spent getting to know them. Evangeline has rose-gold hair and, like other main characters, reads as White; there is diversity among the fantasy races in this world.
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart. (map) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26839-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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