An intricate and enjoyable adventure with a striking cast.
The lives of four young people entwine in this YA fantasy full of magic, escapades, and secrets that can change their world.
Growing up on the streets of Bogudos, Erevan learned a lot about life, survival, and loyalty. Now a budding mercenary alongside his adoptive father, Sir Lee, the teenager still carries guilt over a debt he owes to an old friend, who’s stuck in jail because of Erevan’s mistake. When Nya, a mysterious courier with a covert mission, offers to hire him and Sir Lee to guide and protect her on an unforgiving, dangerous route, Erevan is the first to say yes despite some misgivings. Meanwhile, in the country of Lanasall, Aireyal has been accepted into the prestigious Darr-Kamo magic school despite her big secret: She cannot perform magic yet. It is Aireyal’s greatest desire to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Grandmage June Ando, one of the most important people in the Senate of Mages. Aireyal is running out of time to ignite her powers before her sham is unveiled. When she befriends Zale, an apprentice apothecarist and fellow classmate, she doesn’t realize that she is getting enmeshed in a secret that involves two powerful mirrors, a mythical dragon egg, and the political fate of their world. Avery’s fantasy adventure follows Erevan’s and Aireyal’s parallel stories in an intertwined narrative that becomes richer and fuller with every new chapter. Both characters yearn for acceptance, hope for a better future, and struggle under the weight of pressures and expectations. Aireyal’s battles with anxiety and low self-esteem are particularly poignant. The storytelling deftly explores these characters’ inner lives while building a vivid world full of diverse people and magic. Little by little, Avery unveils the true scope of the tale. The story eventually encompasses history, politics, social unrest, and mythology as well as different perspectives on truth, trust, and power. The two main characters are 16 years old but often sound and act younger. This makes the tone of the narrative slightly incongruous but not enough to offset what is otherwise a superb start to a new series.
An intricate and enjoyable adventure with a striking cast.Pub Date: April 22, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-9856228-2-9
Page Count: 434
Publisher: Stories by Storytellers
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart.
After praying to a Fate for help, Evangeline discovers the dangerous world of magic.
When her father passes away, Evangeline is left with her cold stepmother and kind but distant stepsister, Marisol. Despite inheriting a steady trust in magic, belief in her late mother’s homeland of the mystical North (where fantastical creatures live), and philosophy of hope for the future, her dreams are dashed when Luc, her love, pledges to marry Marisol instead. Evangeline desperately prays to the Prince of Hearts, a dangerous and fickle Fate famed for his heart that is waiting to be revived by his one true love—and his potentially lethal kisses. The bargain they strike sends her on a dark and magical journey throughout the land. The writing style fluctuates from clever and original to overly verbose and often confusing in its jumble of senses. While the pervasive magic and concept of the Fates as a religious system add interest, other fantasy elements are haphazardly incorporated without enough time devoted to building a cohesive world. However, the themes of love, the power of story, family influence, and holding onto belief are well rounded and add depth. The plot contains welcome surprises, and the large cast piques curiosity; readers will wish more time was spent getting to know them. Evangeline has rose-gold hair and, like other main characters, reads as White; there is diversity among the fantasy races in this world.
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart. (map) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26839-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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