A well-written, compelling tale—readers will fall in love with Anthony and his Little Queen.
In Hincker’s contemporary fantasy novel, a teen has a supernatural connection to bees.
While sitting in his middle school classroom, Anthony Smith notices a bee. While the rest of the students panic, Anthony has no worries about being stung—after all, he can communicate with bees. On her deathbed, Anthony’s mother made Anthony promise he would never use his strange ability again. The insect’s classroom visit rekindles his love of bees and beekeeping, and even Anthony’s teachers think he should be encouraged to spend his time focusing on bees rather than falling further into the depression brought on by the death of his mother. But something is wrong with the hive Anthony has cared for since his mother’s death; the bees aren’t acting like they should. Anthony happens upon a small queen bee unlike any other he’s ever seen, clearly wounded and alone. Taking her home and caring for her, Anthony introduces her to his failing hive in a last-ditch effort to save both it and the “Little Queen.” While researching online to determine just what kind of bee his new queen is, Anthony starts to receive some disturbing messages that lead to threats against both him and his precious hive. The author tells his sweet-as-honey story from multiple perspectives, primarily those of Anthony and the Little Queen. The thought processes and world of the bees are intricately drawn; the description of how knowledge is passed along from one bee to another is creatively handled, and the Plain of Crowns, where only a Queen Bee may visit, sounds like heaven to both humans and bees: “Beneath her is a rich, golden vastness, the color of perfectly cured honey. It glows like the light of the sun through a yellow autumn leaf.” Though Anthony is in the seventh grade, his story will appeal to adults and younger readers alike.
A well-written, compelling tale—readers will fall in love with Anthony and his Little Queen.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2022
ISBN: 9798360907428
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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