Epic fantasy fans would be advised to find their literary escapism elsewhere.
Set after the events of Fleeing Peace (2011), the first installment of Smith’s new epic fantasy trilogy follows the adventures of a group of untested heroes as they begin to form an alliance of young rulers and magic users to stand against a looming invasion from a mythic evil.
With the forces of Norsunder threatening to enter the temporal world through rifts after having been vanquished more than 4,700 years earlier, Senrid, the newly crowned king of the politically unstable nation of Marloven Hess, Hibern, a highly talented mage student, and Liere, a young shopkeeper’s daughter who saved the realm in an earlier adventure, understand the grave danger a Norsunder invasion brings to all of Sartorias-deles. As the young heroes slowly begin to form their alliance with other leaders—like Atan, the 15-year-old queen of Sartor, the oldest country in the world—the villainous commanders of Norsunder, Detlev and his nephew Siamis, plot to put the entire realm under magical control. But while Smith’s signature realm of Sartorias-deles is richly described and full of narrative potential, the entire novel has an unfocused feel to it. The unwieldiness of the numerous plot threads slows the pace down to a crawl and, coupled with a conspicuous lack of significant action (particularly in the first 500 pages), gives the book a bloated quality. Readers may also be confused about the target audience of this trilogy. The main characters are all young adults, and the content—a looming magical war where entire populations could be wiped out—is decidedly dark. The tone, however, is strangely light, downplaying the violence and concentrating more on character dynamics. Ultimately, this long novel falls flat, with cardboard characters, excruciatingly slow pacing, and very little action: disappointing on almost all levels.
Epic fantasy fans would be advised to find their literary escapism elsewhere.Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7564-0999-9
Page Count: 656
Publisher: DAW/Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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
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