A terrific stand-alone fantasy.
A flamenco dancer, a dragon hunter—and the ancient tradition that pulls them together.
Eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar is descended from a long line of Dragonadores, those who face down dangerous dragons and entertain crowds in arenas across Hispalia. Zarela’s father is the most renowned and skilled Dragonador of all, but when a life-altering injury takes him out of commission, Zarela must take charge of La Giralda, their ancestral home. She discovers that Papá’s accident was not an accident at all but part of a plot to destroy what her ancestors have built over hundreds of years. A flamenco dancer like her late mother, Zarela decides that becoming a Dragonador herself is the only way to turn their fortunes around—but the only person available to train her is Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, an infuriatingly stubborn dragon hunter who abhors everything her family stands for. However, Arturo is her last hope, and Zarela will do anything to convince him to help her. As sparks fly between the two, fire and smoke fall on Zarela’s home. This beautifully written romantic fantasy features Spanish-speaking characters as well as a gripping, sexy enemies-to-lovers romance with fierce, strong-headed protagonists who dance around—and toward—each other. At its core lie magic, a mystery that pulls no punches, and thoughtful examinations of tradition and inheritance.
A terrific stand-alone fantasy. (list of guilds, list of dragons) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-80335-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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