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
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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