A measured, not totally fulfilling, adventure for classic fantasy readers.
From the author of The Last Holey Man (2002) comes a medieval fantasy in which a displaced warrior must rally his adopted people against the persecution of a mad king.
Vir, from the land of Munerel, is being chased by an angry mob. He knows he’s far from home—after using a magical portal—because the nighttime constellations aren’t familiar. To escape his pursuers, he uses a spell of his own to blind them; as he does so, another portal opens, and a woman calls to him. When he jumps through, he lands in New Seersha, populated by Magic Users who have been expelled from the kingdom of Nepalle by King Kellum. When Kellum hears of Vir, he believes the newcomer is the legendary Bringer of Justice because he can wield both a sword and magic simultaneously. Vir, meanwhile, befriends a New Seersha elder named Freelim and his daughter, Kee, and learns that he’s in the land of Reini. They warn him that when the cold weather fades, Kellum’s army will arrive to destroy the Magic Users. Vir must decide to help his new friends survive or focus on getting back home. Author Angell places his hero in a deep quandary when the Bringer prophecy stipulates that “[h]e will find the ancient key that will open the portal home, but he won’t find a home of peace with the Reini.” Sharp dialogue helps characters stand out in a complex world where magical abilities come from eating Whole-Fruit, and history is passed on orally; after ordering Vir killed, Kellum says, “There is no need to bring a legend to life.” The complexity, however, is often introduced through fables, which can feel like infodumps. That’s balanced by thoughtful scenes involving ancient portals that point to Vir’s origin. Elsewhere, Angell mistakes “lightening” for the weather phenomenon, and better punctuation is sometimes needed—“Vir reached into the Herric for his words a small circle appeared in the clearing not far in front of them.” Nevertheless, Angell delivers the noble message of standing tall during tragedy.
A measured, not totally fulfilling, adventure for classic fantasy readers.Pub Date: June 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499569520
Page Count: 258
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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