Far too self-consciously clever to be truly emotionally absorbing, this is nonetheless an enjoyable tribute for established...
Sassy girl detective meets overwrought gothic romance, and it goes about as well as you'd expect.
Kami Glass knows that she could be a great reporter, if there were only something worth investigating in her sleepy Cotswolds village. But now the aristocratic, secretive Lynburns are coming home to their sinister ancestral mansion, and Kami is determined that her high school newspaper will get the scoop. Soon, two gorgeous, near-identical Lynburn cousins, princely Ash and bad-boy Jared, join her journalistic team—not to mention Kami's imaginary best friend since babyhood, who turns out to be not quite so imaginary after all. And that's when the grisly murders start….From the abandoned abbey to the veiled villain, no gothic trope is forgotten while creating the doom-drenched atmosphere. Unfortunately, when an admirably intrepid 21st-century heroine with supportive family and friends replaces the traditional isolated innocent, and when every character banters with the same witty genre-savvy repartee even under the direst of circumstances, any suspension of disbelief is stretched to the snapping point. The abrupt tonal shift at the climax, when the magic previously hinted at is revealed as both deadly and heartbreaking, makes the final cliffhanger even more devastating.
Far too self-consciously clever to be truly emotionally absorbing, this is nonetheless an enjoyable tribute for established fans of the gothic, as well as an enticing introduction for new ones. (Fantasy. 11-17)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-87041-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Despite the long, anticlimactic wind-down, it is a strong conclusion to the crowd-pleasing series.
Capping the former Inheritance Trilogy, this fourth epic-length episode brings teenage Dragon Rider Eragon at last to a decisive faceoff with his greatest enemy.
Beginning with the capture of the fortress city of Belatona, the rebellious Varden alliance wins multiple hard-fought victories before arriving at last before the iron gates of imperial Urû’baen, “wherein sits Galbatorix, proud, confident, and disdainful, for his is the strength of the dragons.” Meanwhile, Eragon and his scaled companion Saphira fly off to the ruins of Doru Araeba in response to mysteriously delivered hints that something in a hidden “Vault of Souls” will help defeat their clever and overwhelmingly powerful adversary. Tucking in well-developed side plots, elaborate set pieces, internecine squabbles, extraneous characters, piles of corpses and, toward the end, even oblique allusions to sex (dragon sex, anyway), Paolini moves his tale along with all deliberate speed to its properly explosive, massively destructive climax. As in previous volumes, there are so many nods to Tolkien and other fantasists that authorial whiplash must have been a chronic hazard, but battle scenes are satisfyingly dramatic. Moreover, the act that leads to the thoroughly predictable outcome is just one of several ingenious twists, and before sailing off to lands unknown in a boat of Elvish make (sound familiar?), the young warrior/mage actually wages peace while methodically tying up loose ends over the final 90+ pages.
Despite the long, anticlimactic wind-down, it is a strong conclusion to the crowd-pleasing series. (maps, multilingual word list) (Heroic fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-375-85611-2
Page Count: 800
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
May please some readers hoping to escape into an otherworldly romance.
In the wasteland between life and death, Scottish teen Dylan falls in love with her ferryman.
On her way from Glasgow to Aberdeen to meet her estranged father for the first time, Dylan’s train crashes in a tunnel. Dazed, she emerges, expecting to find ambulances and other survivors—but the only person she sees is Tristan, a solemn teenage boy who insists she follow him. They walk across rolling hills, staying in abandoned cottages at night until an attack by shadowy wraiths forces Tristan to reveal the truth: Dylan died in the crash, and Tristan is there to shepherd her across the land between life and death. Dylan inevitably falls for him but knows that at the end of the journey she’s supposed to move on, while he must remain to ferry another soul across the wasteland. Yet she’s determined to find a way for them to be together. The narrative’s close third-person perspective mainly centers on Dylan but occasionally alternates to Tristan, revealing that he’s just as smitten as she is. Unfortunately, their chemistry falls flat, and the characters feel uninspired. Despite an intriguing premise, the first half of the story is bogged down in their repetitive journey between safe houses, and the worldbuilding is slow to come together. Main characters default to White.
May please some readers hoping to escape into an otherworldly romance. (Fantasy romance. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1845-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
