An often vivid fantasy tale, although its verbosity sometimes works against it.
This YA fantasy series starter features a princess who ventures into forbidden territory on a quest to understand her father’s uncharacteristic behavior.
After Frederick Vox, king of Equadoria, returns from a trip to the south, he unsuccessfully tries to kill his 16-year-old daughter, Princess Ariadae. He’s always been a loving, doting parent, so Ariadae is determined to figure out what’s responsible for the change in him. She believes that the answer lies in Elkwood Forest, a swath of wilderness that she’s been forbidden to enter because her mother was murdered at its border years ago. On her travels, she takes Jeremiah, her 18-year-old best friend; Snow, her white tiger; and trained sentinels Zube, Gaston, and Novid. As they traverse Elkwood, Ariadae is shocked to find legendary, monstrous creatures called the Forsaken there. Attacks by savage Wood Nymphs and Wendigos fracture the party, and after one battle, Zube suspects that the princess may have latent telekinetic skills of which she isn’t aware. Eventually, Ariadae becomes separated from her companions and wakes up in the hidden city of Flori. It’s a melting pot of magical peoples ruled by the cruel High Lady Evaflora, who uses a spell to keep her citizens docile. Here, the princess meets Lunan, High Lord of Solis, who believes that Evaflora wants to restart a war between Mortal and Immortal races. For his debut novel, James walks a well-trod fantasy path, full of magical beings and prophecy, but he does so with formidable vision. The scenes often possess an eldritch allure, as when Ariadae views a mosaic that features three figures and “long crackling fingers of lightning that scatter...bright, jagged lines studded with sapphire and lapis lazuli.” The plot twists, including one that’s quite substantial, bring agility to the narrative and a sense of wonder. James’ prose, however, sometimes excessively lingers on his heroine’s first-person perspective, filtering everything through her emotional turmoil. For example, when someone else is shot with an arrow, the princess thinks, “now I know what pain is.” Still, this opening volume sets up a sturdy foundation for more action to come.
An often vivid fantasy tale, although its verbosity sometimes works against it.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-58271-9
Page Count: 500
Publisher: Zachary James Novels
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
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