A powerfully dramatic retelling of a Hindu epic.
This concluding volume of a fantasy trilogy focuses on the brave bride of a god.
The great Hindu epic the Ramayana forms the basis of this installment by Sheth, a mother-daughter writing team, following Shadows of the Sun Dynasty (2016) and Queen of the Elements (2017). The Ramayana is a sprawling story with a cast of thousands, and it’s been a frequent temptation for writers, from R.K. Narayan to Pearl Buck, to attempt to shape it into a modern narrative. This volume (gorgeously illustrated throughout by Johansson) concentrates on Sita, the bride of the god Rama, as she is brutally abducted by the demon Ravana and installed in his faraway kingdom as his queen despite the presence of a great many other female figures and servants already gathered there. “An extravagant harem,” Sita thinks. “I don’t understand why he adds me to his collection. Someone here must feel empathy for me. Surely, one of them can show me how to escape.” The harsh realities of her captivity quickly become apparent to Sita (“I know what happens to women like me,” she reflects), and the narrative follows the subtle evolution of her reactions to both Ravana and her own harrowing predicament. Sheth’s writing voice is completely vibrant and compelling—and this is lucky since the task the authorial team faces is almost impossible: making a third book in a trilogy comprehensible to new readers. Even the most supportive newbies will probably want to dive into the previous volumes before this one. Still, the audience will find Sita a strong and vivid character in this potent finale. Sita has a mystical connection to Earth, and her courage never deserts her during her ordeal, although some parts of her thinking gradually change. “I have the power to obliterate Ravana completely,” she muses at one point. “If I curse him, the Earth will hold my hand and join my cause. Together with the elements of nature, I can turn the ten-headed king to dust. Then why don’t I?”
A powerfully dramatic retelling of a Hindu epic.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64722-147-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Mandala Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dark magic, romance, and divinity.
What do you do when the voice in your head is real?
Lore, Bastian, and Gabe are all still alive following the events in The Foxglove King (2023), despite a ritual meant to take Lore’s life and usher in a new age for the god Apollius. But Lore, determined to live despite—or perhaps because of—her deep and unyielding connection to the magical death force Mortem, is unwilling to be used as a tool. Now that Bastian is no longer prince but Sainted King, Gabe is Priest Exalted, and Lore is the king’s deathwitch, her safety should be secure. The court, however, distrusts Lore and her uncanny powers, and even more dangerous are the gods, leaning ever closer and perhaps not so separate from the world as a thwarted ritual might imply. Bastian has been changing, able to control Spiritum, Mortem’s mirror image, in new and powerful ways, but also acting more erratic and strange. Meanwhile, the voice in Lore’s head is growing louder. To make matters worse, Gabe and Bastian can hardly look at each other, while Lore feels torn between the two of them and in need of both. In the second volume of the Nightshade Crown series, things go from bad to much worse, while a familiar gothic atmosphere looms oppressively around the characters. As Lore strives to keep as many people as safe as possible, others scheme with sinister forces and powerful magic. In a tense and atmospheric installment, Lore moves quickly between heart-pounding romantic encounters and adrenaline-filled moments facing danger and death.
Dark magic, romance, and divinity.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780316435291
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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