This collection of tales, fragments and “history” from Wilce’s Califa may share a setting with the cuddly-(only)-by-comparison Flora books for teens (Flora Segunda, 2007, etc.), but don’t be fooled: This is a steampunkish, rococo anthology for a decidedly more mature readership.
Califa: riotous carnival world of soldiers, drunks and magick (very) loosely based on California in the 1800s. Califa: marvel of ingenuity and purple prose. The seven stories here (five were previously published elsewhere) focus mostly on a single small period of time just before and after the Warlord’s invasion and primarily on the previous Pontifexa’s grandson and great-granddaughter, cousins and reluctant spouses. From Hardhands’ initial consideration (“not exactly entirely Hardhands…, at least not yet,”) of regicide to avoid marrying Tiny Doom, then only a child, to Tiny Doom’s own early adulthood and the latest salvo in the war between them, the stories of these two fascinating characters form the literal and figurative heart of the collection. Other tales range from the whimsical-to-the-point-of-inexplicable opener, about Califa’s own Springheel Jack, to the closer, which the in-character afterword claims is a fantasy but which readers will find most familiar, set as it is in our actual history. A wordsmith (“Once upon a time, my little waffles…[in] a land well full of hardship, turmoil, and empty handball courts”) in love with her creations can be dangerous, but with the throttle set just right, the results nearly sparkle. Most of this does, barring the sometimes-forced conceit and unfortunate choices regarding story order.
Ribald, raucous, distressingly appealing, so steeped in its own world that readers may well be driven to find everything else Wilce has written—this won’t be for everyone, but oh, my precious pillows, what a joy for those who can handle it.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61873-089-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY | SHORT STORIES | HISTORICAL FANTASY
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An almost-but-not-quite-great slavery novel.
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The celebrated author of Between the World and Me (2015) and We Were Eight Years in Power (2017) merges magic, adventure, and antebellum intrigue in his first novel.
In pre–Civil War Virginia, people who are white, whatever their degree of refinement, are considered “the Quality” while those who are black, whatever their degree of dignity, are regarded as “the Tasked.” Whether such euphemisms for slavery actually existed in the 19th century, they are evocatively deployed in this account of the Underground Railroad and one of its conductors: Hiram Walker, one of the Tasked who’s barely out of his teens when he’s recruited to help guide escapees from bondage in the South to freedom in the North. “Conduction” has more than one meaning for Hiram. It's also the name for a mysterious force that transports certain gifted individuals from one place to another by way of a blue light that lifts and carries them along or across bodies of water. Hiram knows he has this gift after it saves him from drowning in a carriage mishap that kills his master’s oafish son (who’s Hiram’s biological brother). Whatever the source of this power, it galvanizes Hiram to leave behind not only his chains, but also the two Tasked people he loves most: Thena, a truculent older woman who practically raised him as a surrogate mother, and Sophia, a vivacious young friend from childhood whose attempt to accompany Hiram on his escape is thwarted practically at the start when they’re caught and jailed by slave catchers. Hiram directly confronts the most pernicious abuses of slavery before he is once again conducted away from danger and into sanctuary with the Underground, whose members convey him to the freer, if funkier environs of Philadelphia, where he continues to test his power and prepare to return to Virginia to emancipate the women he left behind—and to confront the mysteries of his past. Coates’ imaginative spin on the Underground Railroad’s history is as audacious as Colson Whitehead’s, if less intensely realized. Coates’ narrative flourishes and magic-powered protagonist are reminiscent of his work on Marvel’s Black Panther superhero comic book, but even his most melodramatic effects are deepened by historical facts and contemporary urgency.
An almost-but-not-quite-great slavery novel.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-59059-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | HISTORICAL FICTION | FANTASY | HISTORICAL FANTASY
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An ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page.
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A withdrawn graduate student embarks on an epic quest to restore balance to the world in this long-anticipated follow-up to The Night Circus (2011).
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a typical millennial introvert; he likes video games, escapist reading, and drinking sidecars. But when he recognizes himself in the pages of a mysterious book from the university library, he's unnerved—and determined to uncover the truth. What begins as a journey for answers turns into something much bigger, and Zachary must decide whether to trust the handsome stranger he meets at a highflying literary fundraiser in New York or to retreat back to his thesis and forget the whole affair. In a high-wire feat of metatextual derring-do, Morgenstern weaves Zachary's adventure into a stunning array of linked fables, myths, and origin stories. There are pirates and weary travelers, painters who can see the future, lovers torn asunder, a menacing Owl King, and safe harbors for all the stories of the world, far below the Earth on the golden shores of a Starless Sea. Clocking in at more than 500 pages, the novel requires patience as Morgenstern puts all the pieces in place, but it is exquisitely pleasurable to watch the gears of this epic fantasy turn once they're set in motion. As in The Night Circus, Morgenstern is at her best when she imagines worlds and rooms and parties in vivid detail, right down to the ballroom stairs "festooned with lanterns and garlands of paper dipped in gold" or a cloak carved from ice with "ships and sailors and sea monsters...lost in the drifting snow." This novel is a love letter to readers as much as an invitation: Come and see how much magic is left in the world. Fans of Neil Gaiman and V.E. Schwab, Kelly Link and Susanna Clarke will want to heed the call.
An ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54121-3
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY | HISTORICAL FANTASY | LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION
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