An understated and atmospheric tale from a strong new voice in the genre.
Barkley’s debut fantasy novel sees a fiercely independent young thief forced into partnership with a novice sorcerer.
Twenty-two-year-old Ari is a loner and a thief, living wild with her animal companion, a bobcat named Jag. Ari lost her parents at age 7 and her mentor when she was 16. Since then, it has been just her and Jag, and that’s the way she likes it. But Ari has debts, and to fulfill her obligations and keep her thieving reputation intact, she undertakes to steal a dragith stone from the far-off Capital city. The job requires her to travel across country that’s blighted by civil war and to partner with 24-year-old Ely, a seemingly happy-go-lucky young magic user. Ari is accomplished with a sword and a knife, but the journey is quite dangerous. It’s been a number of years since the Malavi people overthrew the monarchy, with the Zaerans as their opposition. Many have died throughout the land since then, and magical beings have been driven into hiding. Ari’s quest is not one of romance or valor but one of bleak necessity and survival. Can she retrieve the dragith stone and resume her old life—or will her family history rear its head? Barkley writes in the third person, almost exclusively from Ari’s point of view but occasionally from Ely’s. The prose is accomplished and the storytelling confident, spurning genre clichés and developing at its own measured pace. Ari is a well-drawn protagonist, and her backstory emerges gradually. Her fortitude and competence will gain readers’ respect, and her lack of sociability makes for a pleasing contrast to Ely—a more open character but one with hidden depths. Jag’s presence adds the perfect measure of warmth. The world in which they journey has dark undertones, as if familiar fantasy elements have rotted away and left a dead-hearted dystopia in their place. Barkley keeps the dialogue realistic and exposition to a minimum, letting the journey define its own stakes. The result is a measured but engaging first installment in a series that offers much promise.
An understated and atmospheric tale from a strong new voice in the genre.Pub Date: May 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63752-963-8
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart.
After praying to a Fate for help, Evangeline discovers the dangerous world of magic.
When her father passes away, Evangeline is left with her cold stepmother and kind but distant stepsister, Marisol. Despite inheriting a steady trust in magic, belief in her late mother’s homeland of the mystical North (where fantastical creatures live), and philosophy of hope for the future, her dreams are dashed when Luc, her love, pledges to marry Marisol instead. Evangeline desperately prays to the Prince of Hearts, a dangerous and fickle Fate famed for his heart that is waiting to be revived by his one true love—and his potentially lethal kisses. The bargain they strike sends her on a dark and magical journey throughout the land. The writing style fluctuates from clever and original to overly verbose and often confusing in its jumble of senses. While the pervasive magic and concept of the Fates as a religious system add interest, other fantasy elements are haphazardly incorporated without enough time devoted to building a cohesive world. However, the themes of love, the power of story, family influence, and holding onto belief are well rounded and add depth. The plot contains welcome surprises, and the large cast piques curiosity; readers will wish more time was spent getting to know them. Evangeline has rose-gold hair and, like other main characters, reads as White; there is diversity among the fantasy races in this world.
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart. (map) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26839-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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