Intrigue coupled with fascinating reveals make for a thrilling adventure.
Kurara pieces together her fragmented memories to face the sins of her past in this follow-up to Rebel Skies (2024).
At the end of the first book, Kurara discovered that she’s a shikigami—a sentient being made out of paper that’s typically controlled by a human Crafter. Pursued by Princess Tsukimi, who’s obsessed with shikigami, Kurara and her friends Haru, Sayo, and Tomoe rush to reunite with the flying ship Orihime at the Great Stream. Along the way, they find another shikigami whose mind is slipping—a bear named Banri whose songs stir memories within Kurara. Her goal is to free all shikigami from needing a mental bond with a Crafter. Clues from her past and hints from Haru lead her to believe that the two of them are bonded by the blood of a Star Tree, which grants them their agency. Even though Banri says that no Star Trees remain, and Haru insists they were all cut down by Crafters, Kurara believes the dream she had about a Star Seed. The well-plotted narrative shifts among the third-person viewpoints of Tsukimi, Kurara, and Himura (a Crafter) as they pursue their own interests and converge on the ancient Crafter village of Kazami. Many secrets are revealed as this Japanese-inspired fantasy reaches a chilling climax. The introduction of new creatures and some shifts in political power and goals strongly hint at another installment.
Intrigue coupled with fascinating reveals make for a thrilling adventure. (maps, glossary of terms and places) (Fantasy. 12-17)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781774884010
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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