An irresistibly sexy suspense tale.
A dragon shifter and exiled king gets more than he bargained for when he discovers a fiery and passionate phoenix in this paranormal romance.
Brand Astarot, a dragon shifter and rightful heir to his family’s gold throne, is driven by a single goal. He seeks revenge against Uther Hagan, the man responsible for the murders of his parents and siblings and the loss of his clan’s throne. For centuries, Brand has worked as a mercenary for King Ladon Ormarr, accepting the toughest assignments while developing a plan to avenge the killings. His latest mission takes him to a medical facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and a young woman described as a “supernova” by a staff member. The patient is Kasia Amon, a rare phoenix whose powers include prophetic visions. If Brand brings Kasia to Ladon, he will secure the support of the king’s clan and have the leverage he needs to defeat Uther. But Kasia is accustomed to life on the run, and she escapes from the facility. Undeterred, Brand pursues her, and they embark on a harrowing journey to Ladon’s clan in Ben Nevis, Scotland. Along the way, they discover they share a powerful and profound physical and emotional connection. Although Brand promised Kasia to Ladon, his desire to claim her as his mate leads him to reconsider this scheme. When Uther discovers Kasia is a phoenix, Brand is locked in a race to protect the woman he loves. This first installment of Owen’s (The Rookie, 2019, etc.) Inferno Rising series is an engaging and compulsively readable love story with the right mix of action and eroticism. Kasia and Brand are appealing protagonists whose slow-burn romance is punctuated by passionate chemistry and spirited and witty dialogue (“Who put you in charge?” “I’m your mate.” “That doesn’t mean a damn thing, lizard boy”). They are surrounded by a large and well-developed cast of supporting characters and a panoply of supernatural beings, including Brand’s friend and protector Ladon; Hershel, a demon who runs a very unusual biker bar; and Pytheios Chandali, a king who wanted Kasia’s mother, Serefina, and ultimately murdered her father. The sprawling narrative takes Kasia and Brand on a long journey from Wyoming to Scotland, but the author’s confident storytelling keeps the narrative moving at a brisk clip. The novel is perfect for fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kelley Armstrong.
An irresistibly sexy suspense tale.Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-531-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
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