Complex and well-drawn characters round out a creative and horrifying fantasy.
A son born of evil seeks his revenge in this sequel.
Quiroz-Vega’s (The Fall of Lilith, 2017, etc.) second installment of the Fantasy Angels series is just as dark, fantastical, and sweeping as its predecessor. But this time, the story focuses on Lilith and her son, Dracúl. Though Lilith believes she successfully murdered Dracúl, he is alive and bent on retribution. Meanwhile, Lilith seeks her promised mate, one who is her equal and will give her other powerful offspring. Thus begins an epic odyssey spanning generations and continents. Lilith thrives on creating pain and suffering, and Dracúl must only follow the trail of human misery to find her. While Lilith is pure evil, Dracúl is a much more complicated and nuanced character. He’s misunderstood, lonely, and feared. Though his natural form resembles a demon and he must consume blood to survive, Dracúl is not a monster. His interactions with humans clearly demonstrate that he is capable of empathy and love. As Lilith and Dracúl pursue their quests, the author walks readers through the familiar stories of the Old Testament. Dracúl is present when Cain murders Abel. He seeks shelter among the beasts on Noah’s Ark and witnesses the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah. And in this volume, all these terrible events are triggered by Lilith’s pure malevolence. Quiroz-Vega deftly spins a fantasy that puts a new and intriguing twist on age-old biblical tales. It’s a fun revision, with Dracúl popping in to rescue the baby Moses and Lilith overseeing the construction of the Tower of Babel. This Creation story, which incorporates so many fantasy elements, also crosses over into horror. The author doesn’t shy away from detailing terrible acts of violence. She vividly describes Egyptian soldiers murdering infants, memorably portraying the “myriad of dead and mangled babies” who “floated downstream on the Nile.” Familiarity has softened some of the horrors described in biblical stories, but Quiroz-Vega doesn’t hesitate to bring the intrinsic brutality to the forefront.
Complex and well-drawn characters round out a creative and horrifying fantasy.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-947475-03-8
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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