A fine fantasy debut intensified by its emotional heft and swaggering action.
In this dark fantasy debut, a centuries-old Wizard crosses paths with a dying breed of gun-slinging lawmen.
Lynch, a villainous Dark Wizard some five centuries old, is being pursued by a mercenary across the frigid wastes of the post-apocalyptic World. The merc’s name is Ned Roark—one of King Elander’s magii’ri, who use magic and pistols to uphold the moral Code of Aard, the Mountain God. Elsewhere in the World, Lorn Graywullf and his magii’ri companions (Bill, Ox, and Smilin’ Jake) have spied a merchant ship full of weapons and gunpowder belonging to Mordant, the Black Queen. After wresting it from her, they proceed to the Isle of Serpents to stash the bounty. There, they encounter a nearly drowned Lynch, who promises to help destroy the World’s plague of Slayers, airborne creatures of Dark Magic, in exchange for a chance to recuperate. Lynch also explains the current situation in Graywullf’s home, Norland, in which Marsten—head of the wealthy magii’ri Council—has been using the magical warriors to enforce widespread corruption and economic suppression. Graywullf, who’s been away from home for almost two years, shudders to think that his son, Luke, may be in danger. But how far can Lynch and his words be trusted? Debut author Rottinghaus, in the first segment of his trilogy, has produced a sleek distillation of his influences—mostly J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King. His setup is a marathon of taut action and mythmaking that steams forward as it continuously infuses fantasy elements with precision, including dragons, magic tomes, and alternate realms. The author also hints at the World as it once was in lines like, “The men of that time traveled impossible distances in horseless carriages.” The book’s use of magic is subtle, taking place primarily in the minds of dueling Wizards—at one point, a challenger simply dies because his power is inferior to Lynch’s, and a killing spell is reversed. As the heroes tear through layer upon layer of evil (and experience their own casualties), the battles become increasingly gory, and the plot satisfyingly dense. It will be a thrill to watch this towering narrative grow during the next two planned volumes.
A fine fantasy debut intensified by its emotional heft and swaggering action.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1496967527
Page Count: 366
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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