Determinedly amusing; a playful swipe at the quest genre (and society).
This fantasy debut sees an independently minded princess battle against tropes to fulfill an abstruse prophecy.
Princess Maryan’s parents are constantly trying to betroth her to personally unacceptable but politically expedient suitors. The latest is Prince Mikhail, a “warmongering vampire” with a “lyrical and annoying” laugh. Rather than accede to an arranged marriage, Maryan secretly embarks on a quest to vanquish the prophesied Lich King and his undead army. Maryan knows that she’ll need companions to help her. Unfortunately, the prophecy was delivered in limerick form and is hard to interpret. She invites into her band of would-be heroes a knight who has “fallen on hard times” (Sir Humphrey), a captious chronicler of events (Cornelius), a “formerbarbarian” in fake furs (Gunthar), and a wizard with no magical abilities (Yang). Together, they must enter the Badlands and defeat the Lich King, but they must first pass through Bluntworth, a city whose mayor has chosen for political reasons to disbelieve all evidence of impending danger. To make matters worse, Mikhail has allied himself with the Lich King, and there’s a good chance the foul-mouthed ogres will follow suit. Against all odds, can Maryan and her friends win? Thomas employs an omniscient past-tense narrative, smoothly written, though relentlessly facetious. (Readers’ enjoyment will depend on whether they click with the author’s sense of humor.) The characters are high fantasy archetypes, distinguished by a puckish undermining of their traditional functions. The exception is Maryan, who is less a princess and more a modern teen, unblinded by clichés or expectations. While the book targets a general rather than exclusively YA audience, Maryan stands as a telling representative of youth triumphing over a jaded, corrupt system. As if to underline this point, Thomas takes the novel’s fantasy spoof element beyond genre and into a satire of the real world, first by using objects—for example, Humphrey’s electrically powered magic sword—and then by drawing an overt parallel between reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic and those of the people of Bluntworth when besieged by the Lich King. Thomas’ humor is all-pervasive, ranging from droll and throwaway to absurdist and bludgeoning. The story rattles along and will tickle plenty of funny bones—as long as readers are prepared to take nothing seriously.
Determinedly amusing; a playful swipe at the quest genre (and society).Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9798851076800
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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