A goosebump-inducing dark fantasy set at a supernatural institute of higher learning.
Cottrell pays homage to the work of H. P. Lovecraft in this first paranormal New Adult novel in a planned series.
Miskatonic University has known its share of darkness. Set on a hill above the spooky New England town of Arkham, the school’s buildings once housed an asylum for the mentally ill with a torturous reputation. Now it trains its students—many of whom have extrasensory gifts—in the investigation of the paranormal. College junior Ellen Logan came to Miskatonic to hone her psychic abilities. In her spare time, she works at the local New Age bookshop, helping customers with their supernatural problems. When Ellen’s friend Stephanie Lansdale dies in a fall from the university’s clock tower—seemingly by suicide—Ellen finds she now has some supernatural problems of her own. Stephanie’s boyfriend, Joey Richards, disappears soon afterward, leaving Ellen a strange leatherbound book and a million questions. It seems Stephanie and Joey were researching a tragedy that happened in a local mine back in the 1940s. Now, with the help of Miskatonic’s legendary professor of the weird, Andrew Carter, Ellen takes up the investigation, which leads her to discover an evil beyond her comprehension. Cottrell marries some of the baroque style of Lovecraft’s fiction with a contemporary New Adult tone; here, for instance, Ellen’s professor unbinds her after performing a magic ritual: “Ellen propped herself on her elbows, watching him untie her. A warm flush coursed through her, surging between her legs. Crush. The word, like the sensation, struck like a bolt out of the blue. Oh God, do I have crush on Andrew Carter?” The fictional universe in these pages has a metafictional relationship with Lovecraft’s mythos; Lovecraft’s horror stories and the Batman videogame Arkham Asylum also exist in it, for example, and some purists may grumble at this narrative choice. Fans of spooky tales of academia, though, are sure to enjoy this creepy offering and look forward to sequels.
A goosebump-inducing dark fantasy set at a supernatural institute of higher learning.Pub Date: March 13, 2023
ISBN: 9798986593807
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Vanishing Edge Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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