A low-key but detailed introduction to a world of uncanny characters and creatures.
In Murphy’s debut, the first in a prospective supernatural series, people in a small town become entangled in an ongoing war between immortal beings.
At a glance, Wichita is a quiet, modest town near South Kansas City. Local truck driver Mark finally gathers up the courage to ask out Sharon, who works the counter at the one-stop shop he patronizes. Meanwhile, Mark’s friend Ron is at odds with his ex-convict brother, Tommy, who’s just finished a 15-year stint in prison. Other residents include reputedly immortal witches. Nearly 250 years ago, the area was the site of the Great War in which witches and human Hunters battled wolflike beasts called Jackals. That war officially ended, but the tension between the various beings continues to this day. Witches have tried to increase their numbers through recruitment, including reaching out to some people who aren’t aware they have witch bloodlines.Now, witches are contacting local residents, including Sharon’s parents, who may be at least part witch and have powerful abilities. Tracking down potential recruits is essential, as recent maulings of campers suggest that Riffs—vampire-Jackal hybrids—are in the vicinity and that all-out war may soon be returning to Kansas. Murphy’s novel is populated by myriad, vibrant characters with engrossing backstories. For example, Mark and his mother both suffered abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father, and readers eventually learn about the crime that sent Tommy away, which ties to other characters’ pasts. A prologue offers a hint of the Great War in 1782 and another section portrays witch recruitment in 1815, but most of the story consists of present-day characters in real-world predicaments. Frequent dialogue scenes give the narrative a consistent pace and are often informative, and although very little action occurs in this book, Murphy has plenty of material to develop in planned sequels.
A low-key but detailed introduction to a world of uncanny characters and creatures.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-55-349462-9
Page Count: 273
Publisher: Cosby Media Productions
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally...
Yale’s secret societies hide a supernatural secret in this fantasy/murder mystery/school story.
Most Yale students get admitted through some combination of impressive academics, athletics, extracurriculars, family connections, and donations, or perhaps bribing the right coach. Not Galaxy “Alex” Stern. The protagonist of Bardugo’s (King of Scars, 2019, etc.) first novel for adults, a high school dropout and low-level drug dealer, Alex got in because she can see dead people. A Yale dean who's a member of Lethe, one of the college’s famously mysterious secret societies, offers Alex a free ride if she will use her spook-spotting abilities to help Lethe with its mission: overseeing the other secret societies’ occult rituals. In Bardugo’s universe, the “Ancient Eight” secret societies (Lethe is the eponymous Ninth House) are not just old boys’ breeding grounds for the CIA, CEOs, Supreme Court justices, and so on, as they are in ours; they’re wielders of actual magic. Skull and Bones performs prognostications by borrowing patients from the local hospital, cutting them open, and examining their entrails. St. Elmo’s specializes in weather magic, useful for commodities traders; Aurelian, in unbreakable contracts; Manuscript goes in for glamours, or “illusions and lies,” helpful to politicians and movie stars alike. And all these rituals attract ghosts. It’s Alex’s job to keep the supernatural forces from embarrassing the magical elite by releasing chaos into the community (all while trying desperately to keep her grades up). “Dealing with ghosts was like riding the subway: Do not make eye contact. Do not smile. Do not engage. Otherwise, you never know what might follow you home.” A townie’s murder sets in motion a taut plot full of drug deals, drunken assaults, corruption, and cover-ups. Loyalties stretch and snap. Under it all runs the deep, dark river of ambition and anxiety that at once powers and undermines the Yale experience. Alex may have more reason than most to feel like an imposter, but anyone who’s spent time around the golden children of the Ivy League will likely recognize her self-doubt.
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally dazzling sequels.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31307-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A fearsome, hopeful, cautionary tale of otherness, hatred, and rebirth.
A traveling sideshow and a conservative town clash in late 1990s Scotland in this debut novel.
The Freakslaw rolls into Pitlaw one afternoon, showcasing its collection of misfits and weirdos to the town’s conservative (and repressed) residents. The group sets up shop in an old abandoned field and gets to work setting up tents. The locals say there’s no way they’ll attend, but as the freaks make their way into town, the residents’ curiosity is heightened, and some find themselves drawn in when the show finally opens. But there is fury in the soil in Pitlaw, a deep-seated rage passed down through the centuries that doesn’t like its town being messed with. The show’s stop in Pitlaw will change the townspeople forever, but the question is whether it will be for good or ill. Flett has created an incredibly physical world full of magic and consequences. There’s a character list at the beginning of the novel and, indeed, there are almost too many people to keep track of, between the various denizens of both the carnival and the town. While the most important ones stand out—Nancy, the young witch of the carnival; Zed, the free-spirited waltzer boy; Ruth, the no-nonsense teen determined to get out of Pitlaw; Derek, the quiet boy stuck under his father’s thumb—there are so many that it becomes hard to keep track of them as the chapters dance back and forth between the magical misfits and the staid townsfolk. The action paces ever onward to an ultimate conflagration, and the writing is visceral. There are no details left to the imagination, all the blood and guts, hate and joy on full display. The Freakslaw is a place for outcasts to find their voices, and Flett has certainly displayed hers as she welcomes readers to her powerful imagination.
A fearsome, hopeful, cautionary tale of otherness, hatred, and rebirth.Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781638932666
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Zando
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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