Much longer than the first but just as swiftly paced, this fantasy sequel should lock in readers for the long haul.
An orphan faces unrelenting challenges during a competition to decide which teen is worthy of becoming the Tribe leader in this continuation of Caskabel’s (Drakon Book I, 2016) series.
Having made it through a ferocious 40-day trial, Da-Ren and 12 peers are next in the hands of Chaka, Leader of the Guides of the Uncarved. The 13 boys have no carvings, which are usually indicative of failure during the trial. This means that the best from the group could be the Tribe’s Khun (leader), if current chief Khun-Taa dies within the subsequent five winters. Some boys can’t cut it, with carvings designating them warriors instead, while others end up as corpses for the pyre. Their tests include braving reputed evil spirits populating the Forest and each boy killing an opponent inside the arena-like Wolfhowl. Unfortunately, Da-Ren may lose favor with the First of the Tribe’s Ouna-Mas (witches), Sah-Ouna, though it’s believed she knows who the next Khun will be. No one’s pleased that Zeria, an othertriber, evades Da-Ren during a hunt, but he secretly aids in her escape. While fate plays a part in naming the Khun, Da-Ren soon learns that some in the Tribe may have already chosen a leader. In this fast-moving installment, Caskabel picks up right where Book I left off, making reading the previous fantasy novel a virtual necessity. Da-Ren’s first-person narrative is striking (vividly detailing why some characters have snake-egg-shaped heads) and rife with anticipation. He, for one, teases a death immediately before it happens, and an older Da-Ren (telling his engrossing story to a monk) bears a scar whose origin is later revealed. At the same time, there’s unmistakable profundity: Da-Ren’s potential love for Zeria seems doomed, and many children deftly concoct Legends of fathers they’ve never known (like Da-Ren and his “dad,” Er-Ren). In a setup for Book III, Da-Ren contemplates his future with the Tribe, which has aspirations for conquering cities in the South.
Much longer than the first but just as swiftly paced, this fantasy sequel should lock in readers for the long haul.Pub Date: Dec. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5411-6371-3
Page Count: 376
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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