A well-crafted fantasy grapples with the ambiguities of violence. Princess Torina of militaristic Archeld meets Prince Landen of peaceful Bellandra when her father Kareed presents her the boy as a slave, having slaughtered his father, conquered his homeland, and captured their greatest treasure, a magical Sword that supposedly renders the wielder invincible. Torina frees Landen and sends him to the Archeldan barracks. Bullied for his presumed weakness, Landen vows to wreak revenge on Archeld by surpassing their martial prowess. While mastering his military training, he secretly befriends Torina, whose prophetic gifts are revealed by a Bellandran crystal. When the traitor Vesputo murders Kareed, framing Landen and plotting to marry Torina, they escape, hiding under assumed identities. Believing each other to be dead, they separately become invaluable to the High King—Torina as a Seer and Landen as a mercenary captain—as he seeks to bind his warring neighbors into alliance. They foil assassination plots, rescue the Sword, repulse invading barbarians, and yet never cross paths until the climactic confrontation with Vesputo. Hanley pulls off the cleverly constructed plot of her first novel with cinematic panache, piling on hairsbreadth escapes, near misses, and nailbiting cliffhangers. While intelligent, passionate Torina rarely rises above the “feisty redheaded princess” stereotype, Landen is a genuinely intriguing hero: a pacifist warrior who continually struggles with the tragic consequences of failing to oppose evil with force. Unfortunately, Hanley never really resolves this conflict, opting for a deus ex machina to eliminate the despicable Vesputo and leaving her principals guardians of a paradoxical Sword of Peace. Nonetheless, an impressive debut. (Fiction. 11+)
Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1532-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
A fun fantasy adventure, but one that can’t be read as a stand-alone work.
The third title in Rosegrant’s (Kintravel, 2014, etc.) fantasy series brings the heroes face to face with a dangerous adversary.
This installment of the Gates of Inland series picks up where the last left off, with the human Dan endeavoring to get himself and his fairy girlfriend, Maggie, back to Inland. Complicating the plan is Sister, a villainous girl who was taken to Inland in Maggie’s place as a child. Sister has learned magic and plans to destroy Maggie, Dan, and much of Inland if she can learn Maggie’s True Name. As in previous books, Dan travels between Inland and Outland, and as he attempts to weaken Sister and continue his own quest to find the legendary First Changing Beast, he also tries to reunite Sister with her real mother, who raised and abused Maggie. He journeys to New York City with Graciela, where Sister seems to be using the local museums to create portals and draw power to herself, and he meets old friends in Inland, who inform him of a prophecy. Meanwhile, Maggie’s mother speaks to a mysterious being called Rattleman, and Dan’s therapist exhibits suspicious behavior. This volume is as action-packed as previous titles in the series: Dan always has something to do, someone to meet, and somewhere new to go. As a result, there’s little time for reflection. Something’s bound to catch up with Dan in the next installment, as this one ends with only a few loose ends tied up; the subplots involving Sister and the First Changing Beast, for example, are still very much unresolved. This entry also can’t be read without the first two, as the series as a whole reads more like one long book than as distinct parts. As long as readers keep this in mind, though, they’ll find Dan’s adventure entertaining, and there’s plenty of suspense and intrigue for those who go along for the ride.
A fun fantasy adventure, but one that can’t be read as a stand-alone work.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5193-7055-6
Page Count: 274
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Chock-full of sharp tonal contrasts, this tale should appeal to readers with a hunger for alien adventure and an...
A debut novel fuses a serious issue—the stigma of mental illness—with sci-fi to chronicle a girl’s unusual coming-of-age.
On the surface, Courtney Hoffman seems like an average 15-year-old girl: she holds down a decently high spot in the high school hierarchy, serving as vice captain of the soccer team. But she also experiences nightmares stemming from when her now-dead grandfather, who believed in aliens, supposedly tried to drown her. Turns out, these aren’t dreams after all—aliens visit Courtney at night, trying to communicate with her (“Slowly I cracked my eyes open. Silhouetted in the light were three alien creatures. Their long, lanky bodies shuffled awkwardly toward my bed. This isn’t supposed to be happening!”). But how can she figure out what they want when her mother keeps threatening to lock her up in a psychiatric hospital? With the help of an older girl named Agatha Kirlich, who possesses an extravagant goth wardrobe, and a brother who is also visited by the aliens, Courtney uncovers clues that lead her to an ancient group known as the Knights of the Magi. Courtney’s destiny lies with the Knights and their quest to keep the dangerous pathways between universes closed off—but their mortal enemies, the Soldiers of Bilim, are determined to stop her from fulfilling it. Stefani takes readers along on a wild ride through portals to other worlds that delivers plenty of amusing adolescent dialogue; Courtney and Agatha’s interactions crackle with chemistry and eccentricity. In contrast to these funny moments, the earlier parts of the book, before Courtney realizes the aliens are real—when she legitimately believes that she is losing her mind—are pretty dark. The character of Courtney’s mom is unsympathetic and cruel to the point of feeling like a coldhearted cartoon; she treats her daughter’s potential mental illness as an inconvenience that must be forcibly submerged by Courtney or she’ll be shuttered in an institution as punishment. Once Courtney’s conflict with her mother takes a back seat to her escapades with Agatha and the aliens, the plot picks up speed and becomes a lot more enjoyable.
Chock-full of sharp tonal contrasts, this tale should appeal to readers with a hunger for alien adventure and an understanding of how it feels to be considered crazy.Pub Date: June 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-940716-34-3
Page Count: 328
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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