A cozy, atmospheric fantasy for bibliophiles.
In this fantasy, a bookstore owner discovers a magical portal to literary wonders.
Kelsey Willoughby is the owner of the Chestnut Street Book Emporium, though perhaps not for much longer. Business is slow; she’s behind on the property taxes; and an aggressive buyer is waiting in the wings to absorb the store into a planned hotel complex. The Emporium has been in the family for over 60 years, and Kelsey will feel as if she’s betrayed her declining Gran—the woman who raised her—if she sells the shop. Kelsey has tried everything to save the business, but she’s running out of ideas. “Stories have power, you know, Kelsey,” Gran tells her during a visit to her assisted living facility. “But perhaps you just need some inspiration. That’s what the garden is for.” Kelsey doesn’t know what garden Gran is talking about—until one night she sees something shimmering in the empty, walled-off lot beside the store. There, she finds an impossible, lantern-lit garden party attended by 50 costumed revelers who already seem to know her. In this enchanted garden, Kelsey finds not only an escape from the pressures of her real life, but also an opportunity to meet her long-dead literary heroes like Agatha Christie and T.S. Eliot. With their guidance, she maybe can become the storyteller she’s always wanted to be and even discover the secret about the parents she’s never known. The story, narrated by Kelsey, embraces its fantastic aspect, and even the more realistic spaces are rendered in dreamy, loose prose: “I lean against the counter and allow myself the luxury of scanning the bookshop, bathed in the honeyed afternoon sunlight spilling through stained glass windows set high in the wall to my right, above the murals of famous authors. Dust motes dance in sunbeams to the soft strains of Vivaldi, tiny Tinkerbells darting through Neverland.” Higley evokes a specific mood quite masterfully, transforming the experience of browsing in an old bookstore into a novel. It may strike some readers as overly cloying, but others will undoubtedly fall in love.
A cozy, atmospheric fantasy for bibliophiles.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2022
ISBN: 9781737057970
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Stonewater Books LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
