Comedy-fantasy fans with strong stomachs will enjoy this book.
A group of trolls plans to rob a greedy corporation in Sover’s fantasy debut.
Troll protagonist Granu is jobless and struggling to pay rent in New Metta, a subterranean city hidden from the sun. The former teacher was scarred physically and mentally by an attack by a group of troll students, and she spends most of her time at her favorite bar, Goron’s. Her friend Kradduk, a playboy with a heart of gold, works at The Covered Bridge (“TCB” for short), whose administrators lucratively charge humans a toll to cross. When Fillig, another pal, drunkenly suggests robbing TCB, they’re soon consumed by the plan—Fillig and Granu for financial reasons and Kradduk to settle a score. Granu recruits Len, a rather creepy hacker neighbor, while Fillig reveals details of the heist to Lyssa, an attractive troll with more intelligence than she lets on. New Metta is teeming with other oddly named creatures, including zimbles, molents, grawbacks, and swogs; the latter are powerful piglike beings with tiny wings who run TCB like a fraternity house. Eventually, the five trolls hatch a plan to outsmart the swogs, keep out of the sun (which would turn them to stone) and avoid the harassing billy goats who roam New Metta. Sover’s ability to gross out readers is nothing short of gleeful; Granu and the gang feast on kittens and “Unicorn fillets” and even contemplate eating one another in fits of rage. But they also have embarrassing one-night stands and are saddled with student loan debt. The worldbuilding is immersive, although it’s mostly just everyday human life with a few grotesque descriptors tacked on. Sover also attempts a twist on beauty standards: Granu is petite, green-eyed, and smooth-skinned, which her world finds humanoid and ugly; however, all three male supporting characters seem to be attracted to her nonetheless. Sover’s prose is strong, and her passion for her story is evident. A hopeful ending leaves room for further adventures.
Comedy-fantasy fans with strong stomachs will enjoy this book.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-08-706482-6
Page Count: 316
Publisher: The Parliament House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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