An impressive and intricate novel that’s rich in character and full of action.
Fox’s novel of adventure and intrigue, set in Scandinavia at the turn of the 11th century, follows a young woman from Lapland on a quest to save her family.
As the story opens, 6-year-old Hilja is left alone after her mother and sister are kidnapped by Norsemen. Soon afterward, the local shaman, Taika—also called “the Lady of the Wood”—takes Hilja under her wing and trains her as an apprentice. The training gives the girl an intimate knowledge of the natural world and allows her to communicate with animals. Hilja’s final test, at the age of 14, is a journey to the Underworld, where she receives a cryptic mission from one of its spirits: “You must cross the water to save the bear, heal the devil, find your sister, and help your son unite your land!” Elsewhere, the rulers of the Scandinavian countries plot their alliances and futures. Denmark’s king, Svein Forkbeard, favors his elder son, Harald, as his heir, but he asks Thorkell the Tall, a warrior of renown, to train his younger son, Canute. In Canute, Thorkell sees the potential for greatness, but his wife, the powerful witch Hekka, has her own plans for Norway. Intrigue abounds as Thorkell and Gunnhilde, queen of Denmark, struggle to suppress their mutual attraction. Svein, meanwhile, aims to marry the widow Sigrid of Uppland, whose son is heir to the Swedish throne. Somehow, Fox manages to juggle all of these many and varied storylines with grace and even finds room to write evocatively of real-life customs and rituals of the time and place in which his characters live. The depiction of Beltane, an ancient May Day celebration, is especially vivid. Along the way, the author also artfully embroiders the novel with plenty of historical, cultural, and even religious context; for example, after a fight with a Russian warrior that partly hinges on the definition of the term “Viking,” Thorkell announces to his men, “We can either be Vikings or vassals of Rome, never both.”
An impressive and intricate novel that’s rich in character and full of action.Pub Date: March 12, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 420
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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