An engrossing and disconcerting revenge tale that’s gleefully outlandish.
In this fantasy, an expert in preparing orgasm-inducing food courses enters a kingdom to seek retribution on his master’s behalf.
Morminiu is a phril (male) whose destination is the Royal Carami—a city inside a giant monster. As the capital of the Green Kingdom, the Carami accommodates the noble Houses. Morminiu first sees Hitissh Leomi of the House of Lormont and requests his protection and freedom of ascent. Morminiu is a Recipear, like his master, Hitissh Plabos, the kingdom’s former Master Recipear. Recipearium is an art form that involves mastering Recipes, as a course can provide phrils with gastric orgasms. Morminiu, a proficient Recipear, garners fame among those in the Carami. But his real purpose is revenge for Plabos; Morminiu blames Leomi for his master’s banishment from the kingdom. After months in the kingdom, Morminiu gradually rises in title and, at the House of Phriliras, believes he’s found a suitable companion in High Priestess Valiria. But he’s also amassed enemies, such as the current Master Recipear, Harissh Tathar. As it turns out, Plabos has his share of foes as well, and Morminiu comes to realize that his vengeance may be directed at the wrong target. Gurgu’s (Chronicles From the End of the World, 2011, etc.) intent in this offbeat fantasy is clearly to provoke readers, as he fills his pages with startling imagery. Along with a high volume of “excretia” and “vomitus,” there are intermittent Recipes that sometimes include exploding worms or raw meat. But the author has created engaging characters within a bizarre, indelible world. Phrils and phriliras (females), for one, resemble humans and use swords as weapons. But both genders evidently have the same sexual organs (vulbas) and some, like Morminiu, have gills. Moreover, the protagonist has depth; he seems to have genuine feelings for Valiria and, at one point, questions whether Plabos’ Recipes are art or simply vice. And with Gurgu’s rich descriptions, readers won’t likely forget characters reside in a huge creature: “The walls were formed by thousands of thin bones connected by dense cartilage, looking like a fence of deformed and bent poles held together with mud.”
An engrossing and disconcerting revenge tale that’s gleefully outlandish.Pub Date: April 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-87945-0
Page Count: 312
Publisher: White Cat Publications, LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2020
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
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose...
Sparks (The Longest Ride, 2013, etc.) serves up another heaping helping of sentimental Southern bodice-rippage.
Gone are the blondes of yore, but otherwise the Sparks-ian formula is the same: a decent fellow from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches falls in love with a decent girl from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches—and is still suffering the consequences. The guy is innately intelligent but too quick to throw a punch, the girl beautiful and scary smart. If you hold a fatalistic worldview, then you’ll know that a love between them can end only in tears. If you hold a Sparks-ian one, then true love will prevail, though not without a fight. Voilà: plug in the character names, and off the story goes. In this case, Colin Hancock is the misunderstood lad who’s decided to reform his hard-knuckle ways but just can’t keep himself from connecting fist to face from time to time. Maria Sanchez is the dedicated lawyer in harm’s way—and not just because her boss is a masher. Simple enough. All Colin has to do is punch the partner’s lights out: “The sexual harassment was bad enough, but Ken was a bully as well, and Colin knew from his own experience that people like that didn’t stop abusing their power unless someone made them. Or put the fear of God into them.” No? No, because bound up in Maria’s story, wrinkled with the doings of an equally comely sister, there’s a stalker and a closet full of skeletons. Add Colin’s back story, and there’s a perfect couple in need of constant therapy, as well as a menacing cop. Get Colin and Maria to smooching, and the plot thickens as the storylines entangle. Forget about love—can they survive the evil that awaits them out in the kudzu-choked woods?
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose corn syrup, stickily sweet but irresistible.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-2061-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
