A sumptuous atmosphere and skillful worldbuilding carry this fantasy.
This new-adult urban fantasy debut sees an immortal with a secret help her long-lived clan stay one step ahead of those hunting it.
On an island in the swamps near Cocodrie, Louisiana, lives a clan called Nonagon. Among these eight individuals—also known as the Others, who are “really hard to kill”—is Dalia. She’s over two centuries old and has the power to enter a dreamscape called Pool. For the last six years, she’s been trying to rescue a man named Titus, whose spirit wanders the Dreaming in a childlike state while his body withers away somewhere. To complicate matters, an “ancient and powerful caste” called the Aion is hunting Nonagon. The group’s leader, Rourke, was betrayed by his “prized mercenary,” the Angel of Death, back in the 18th century. Unbeknown to her friends—including Fara, Lyvia, Emiel, and Marin—Dalia is the Angel of Death. Though she now works to save souls, not destroy them, Dalia doesn’t always succeed. In 1934, Rourke’s agent, the Chaser, caught up with the Others. Dalia blames herself for the death of the Others’ friend Lupe. Dalia’s romantic entanglement with the Aion Adalwolf haunts her as well. If Nonagon can find Titus and become Decagon, they may be able to halt Rourke’s vengeance. The star feature of Capes’ novel is an elaborate mythology that allows for great flexibility as the chapters flow. The present-tense narrative sometimes alternates with vignettes set in the past, which add texture, comedic and otherwise, to the cast’s backstory. For example, in 1986, the Others took a road trip to Atlanta because Lyvia wanted breast implants. The prose often offers frothy descriptions, especially in the Dreaming (“The sixth dream arrived through the basin as a symphony of haughty exaltations. They fizzled upward from the bubbling water as though it were a witch’s cauldron that undulated and crackled, producing hushed, urgent words”). The adroit worldbuilding includes the idea that only moonblood weapons—blades and bullets coated in menstrual blood—can kill the Chaser. There’s also a slow-burning eroticism in this series opener, which fans will surely crave to see more of in the planned sequel. Still, readers will need to be patient while the immortals play cat-and-mouse.
A sumptuous atmosphere and skillful worldbuilding carry this fantasy.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73437-761-3
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Capas LLC
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Absolutely superb.
Leaders of Britain’s abolitionist movement join forces with a veteran of the Haitian revolution to push back Napoleon’s deadly forces in Parry’s second Shadow Histories novel.
Napoléon Bonaparte isn’t a particularly talented magician, but his potential as a general and conqueror attracts the attention of the same mysterious figure who manipulated Robespierre to set off the Reign of Terror in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (2020). When Bonaparte summons a kraken to serve the French navy and later finds a dragon hidden in the sands of Egypt, it’s only a matter of time before France and Europe fall at his feet. William Pitt, meanwhile, is growing weaker by the day as he works to keep a deadly and dangerous magical secret from his enemies. William Wilberforce continues to fight for abolition but is stymied at every turn. Fina uses her magic to help Toussaint Louverture keep hold of Saint-Domingue, but she eventually makes the journey to London and meets Pitt and Wilberforce. With a first-rate blend of political drama and magic battle–action, Parry manages to inject tension and stakes into a historical drama where average readers will know at least the broad strokes of the ending. Effortlessly switching from France to England to Egypt to Saint-Domingue, Parry folds in show-stopping new characters like Kate Dove, a commoner weather mage dead-set on avenging her brother’s death by kraken, and Lady Hester Stanhope, who would become one of the most famous explorers of the 19th century. When the three main characters, Fina, Pitt, and Wilberforce, finally face off with the stranger, the resulting conflict brings the series’ meditations on idealism, the fight for human rights, and the necessary limits of institutional power to a head.
Absolutely superb.Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-45915-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Redhook/Orbit
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dark and devastating conclusion that transcends its roots in historical fact to examine brutal truths.
In the final installment of the Poppy War trilogy, a warrior shaman resolves to seize control of her homeland from enemies far and near, no matter the cost.
Having suffered severe losses and betrayals, Rin rallies the Southern Coalition in an effort to defeat the Mugenese troops still in Nikan, the president of the Nikara Republic, and the foreign menace of the Hesperians, with their almost unimaginably advanced technology. But a southern army is not enough, and Rin must also rely on the unpredictable powers of her wild god, the Phoenix, and form a risky alliance with the Trifecta that once ruled Nikan. Drawing heavily on 20th-century Chinese history, Kuang continues to explore familiar themes—including imperialism, racism, colorism, and the terrible and long-lasting effects of war—while deepening Rin’s portrayal, as Rin experiences moments of heartfelt sympathy and connection with others while also continually seeking power and succumbing over and over to her own hubris and paranoia. This installment dwells heavily on the devastating realities of war and the costs of leading a nation in crisis but does not sink into overly grotesque meditations—or perhaps we, along with Rin, have become desensitized and hardened. Ultimately, despite the epic scope of the plot, the novel hinges on the relationships between Rin and those closest to her: A nation may rise or fall and thousands may lose their homes or starve in the process, but their fate depends not on magic from the divine plane but on simple, fallible people.
A dark and devastating conclusion that transcends its roots in historical fact to examine brutal truths. (Map, Dramatis Personae)Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-266262-0
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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