An ambitious, if somewhat overstuffed, beginning to a fantasy series.
In this fantasy novel spanning countries and centuries, an archaeologist and a duchess discover that they’re the reincarnations of Adam and Eve—and the world’s only hope in the battle against an ancient evil.
A trip to Bolivia to seek out some ancient relics changes the life of famed, London-based archaeologist Nickolaus Piper in more ways than one. There, his beloved mentor, Tobias Alger, was murdered, but he left behind a trail of cryptic clues to explain why. As Nick tries to figure them out, a stranger bestows him with a talisman and tells him that the demons who haunt his dreams are real—and that they won’t stop torturing him until he’s destroyed. Meanwhile, Duchess Lily Drescher-DuKent is mourning the death of her mother when she, too, receives an item from a stranger in London, who warns her that demonic forces are hunting her as well. It turns out that Nick is the latest incarnation of Adam, “the Sacred Lion, God’s first son, the one prophesied to unite angels and Man with their Creator and Benefactor.” According to an ancient scroll that Nick finds in Bolivia, he must destroy his ex-wife (and minion of Satan), Lilith. As the reincarnation of Eve, Lily must help Nick fulfill his destiny, as the fate of heaven and Earth depends on it. Debut author Newman has filled her story with more action than most entire series—and this is only the first volume. The most compelling parts take place in 12th-century Jerusalem with Nick and Lily’s previous incarnations;they’re packed with visual detail, including enough disturbing, violent acts and lush banquet scenes to rival George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. However, like that fantasy opus, the cavalcade of characters, and their various identities throughout the ages, is hard to follow. In addition, some scenes grow repetitive; characters’ clothes dissolve to reveal glowing symbols on their chests multiple times, for instance. Nonetheless, fans of fantasy stories with historical or religious bents will find plenty to interest them here.
An ambitious, if somewhat overstuffed, beginning to a fantasy series.Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4917-8903-2
Page Count: 542
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
FANTASY | SUSPENSE | EPIC FANTASY | SUSPENSE
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
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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