With a touch of sci-fi, this penultimate installation of a fantasy series delivers rich characters and complex plotlines.
In this second installment of O’Connor’s (Silevethiel, 2013, etc.) YA fantasy series, a young man, fighting to save the world, is tested when an old adversary returns to wreak more destruction.
When Darrak learns it’s his destiny to save not only his home planet, Earth, but also a distant planet called Dragonath from a form of dark magic called Halla, he and his friends never expect that all their efforts in this difficult endeavor might be for naught. Darrak’s belief in his mission gives him faith as villain Payton Niemel aims to take over the Dragonath city of Mystandia in one cataclysmic battle, threatening the planet as Darrak has come to know and love it. In Mystandia, the Grand Sorcerer has recently died, and Capt. Rorend knows that Princess Iornwen is the logical successor. Iornwen’s confidence, tenacity, skills as a sorceress and humility are unmatched, and Rorend—who has loved her from afar for decades in spite of their class differences—is certain the position is hers. But the previous Grand Sorcerer, Laronem, explains his reasoning for appointing her brother Ipzaag to the position instead, and even Rorend could not argue. After she spent 40 years away on Earth, her enduring youth, which her people take for granted, is wavering—Iornwen is dying. As the group rebuilds, Darrak binds them together as Ipzaag embraces his leadership role and Iornwen struggles with guilt over her impending fate. Although readers unfamiliar with the first book in O’Connor’s series may find themselves a bit lost in the first few chapters, the intriguing, fast-paced storyline and luscious prose quickly prove this installment’s worth as a stand-alone. While Darrak continues to mature, Iornwen’s drive to sacrifice herself in light of her impending death is heart-wrenching, and YA fans will find themselves rooting for the rest of the well-developed cast as well.
With a touch of sci-fi, this penultimate installation of a fantasy series delivers rich characters and complex plotlines.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Purple Sun Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2014
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
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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