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
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
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