A vivid and dramatic, if sometimes-dense, fantasy about reincarnated lovers finding each other and working to save the world.
A sprawling epic sequel that mingles espionage, archeology, sci-fi, and New Age spiritualism.
The writing team of Veitch and DeFazio (The Emissary, 2018) continue the high-fantasy story they began in their previous book, in which the Elders of the otherworldly realm of Atitala send Emissaries into the mortal world, tasking them with preserving their ancient wisdom and shepherding humans to a planetary golden age. Three of these Emissaries—Marcus, Theron, and Helghul—had been lifelong friends in Atitala, but in their subsequent quest, which involves numerous reincarnations, Helghul joined the ranks of the Adversaries, the Emissaries’ great opponents. He’s also bitterly jealous of the bond between soul mates Marcus and Theron, which connects them during subsequent reincarnations. Helghul’s final betrayal of their long friendship came at the previous book’s climax, and this sequel commences exactly where the last installment left off. Veitch and DeFazio follow the core cast members through many different eras and plot twists, and the different natures of each incarnation remain a key element of the story—particularly, in this volume, the unusual nature of the Marcus-incarnation Quinn. As in the previous volume, Veitch and DeFazio energetically fill these pages with a large cast of players as rival forces seek to hasten or prevent a rapturous new era from dawning. Intriguingly, the real-life figure of Genghis Khan is one of the most compelling of these new characters, as is the fictional American humanitarian Oswald Zahn, a wealthy man who capitalizes on the world’s chaos to position himself as a kind of dark savior. The authors’ prose is propulsive throughout, and those who are familiar with the previous book in the series will find it engrossing. However, the novel is also thoroughly enmeshed in the story of its preceding volume, so that it can’t possibly be read as a stand-alone book. A quick synopsis, or even a brief glossary at the end, might have provided much-needed context for the characters’ seemingly endless rushing around.
A vivid and dramatic, if sometimes-dense, fantasy about reincarnated lovers finding each other and working to save the world.Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-939116-41-3
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Waterside Productions
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
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