Not altogether convincing but it has its charms.
The first entry in the Pendulum fantasy trilogy, from the author of The Pilo Family Circus (2006).
Eric Albright, an apathetic 26-six-year-old London journalist, writes a column his colleagues consider to be a joke. His only friend, Stuart “Case” Casey, is a drunk who lives under a nearby railway bridge. One day, while on his way to play chess with Case, a small red door appears under the bridge. To Eric’s surprise, a gang of weirdos emerges and robs the nearby news agent. When the door later reappears, Eric and Case go through and find themselves in Levaal, a land dominated by a huge, white, dragon-shaped castle. The castle’s proprietor, Lord Vous, has ambitions to transform himself into an immortal. Vous dreads the Shadow, a being he believes haunts him and which might not even be real. Vous’ chief servant is the Arch Mage, the most powerful of a group of wizards who, if they overuse magic, risk cooking themselves from within. Only a handful of Free Cities are not yet under Vous’ control, and luckily, Eric and Case fall in with a band of warriors who resist Vous’ growing power. In Levaal, Eric and Case are known as Pilgrims, for reasons unclear, though they can understand the language of all the peculiar creatures that live there—such as the Invia, mysterious beings resembling angels. One of the Invia gives Case a magical necklace and asks him to go spy on Vous, which, in exchange for a drink, he’s happy to do. Where is this going, and does it all add up? Answers are uncertain; the characters talk the talk but don’t have a real presence, and the narrative is mostly aimless. Still, it’s inventive enough, not to say puzzling, and sets forth in prose of great clarity; this may be enough to tempt readers to return for future installments.
Not altogether convincing but it has its charms.Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3188-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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