Exciting, thoughtful, and emotional—a successful blend of future history, adventure, and romance.
In this debut novel set 500 years into a post-apocalyptic America, a woman taken captive by a tribe harbors little hope of returning to civilization and must learn new ways.
Centuries after a global disaster and an ensuing pandemic, Earth’s population has been reduced to 2 percent of its former size. In New America, cities exist on the coasts, but Wrocks and Dackos control the territory in between. Descended from Native American tribes, they have returned to the old ways, believing this purer hunting-and-gathering lifestyle will help protect them from sickness. Kayta Corrigan, 24, is traveling from Philadelphia to Seattle when her airship crashes and she is captured by Wrocks (once known as Crows). Tarken Red Horse wants a new wife and claims the beautiful Kayta, though she’s not nearly as submissive as he expected. As for Tarken, “How could such an odious man be so handsome?” Kayta wonders. Surrounded by a wilderness full of dangers, she has little choice but to accept her place in the tribe, learning their language, work, and customs (such as eating meat, which she at first finds disgusting). The tribe battles weather, starvation, and sometimes other tribes; meanwhile, Kayta makes some friends and forms a deep bond with Tarken. When tragedy strikes, Kayta reconsiders her long-deferred plan to reach Seattle. In this book, Pann brings the Wrock world to life with thorough, well-researched, and entertaining details, explaining how to take down a tent dwelling, cook, prepare hides, treat a wound; she describes celebrations and ceremonies as well as ordinary social life. The tale too often equates appearance with character, and Kayta’s attraction to her kidnapper can be uncomfortable. But the depths and complications of Tarken and Kayta’s relationship take it beyond the sweet-savage-love cliché. Pann fully develops her minor characters, too; Kayta’s growing understanding of them becomes one of this story’s pleasures. Well-paced and balanced, the novel features several riveting battle scenes (and a memorable prairie fire) as well as more personal, intimate episodes. The ending offers a satisfying look at this world’s possible future.
Exciting, thoughtful, and emotional—a successful blend of future history, adventure, and romance.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9963537-0-0
Page Count: 438
Publisher: Trailside Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
