An intriguing romp occasionally slowed down by worldbuilding details.
A young Avatar and her companion strive to make their marks in this sequel to The Shadow of Kyoshi (2020).
Yangchen is a talented Avatar with the ability to relive the experiences and pain of all the Avatars who came before. While learning how to manage these episodes was traumatic, eventually she began to use her visions to deal with diplomatic obstacles. Despite her raw talent, Yangchen blunders through a meeting with the merchant rulers, or shangs, of the city of Bin-Er. She learns of Unanimity, an asset that would give the shang possessing it dangerous powers. The narrative toggles between the third-person perspectives of Yangchen and Kavik, a Waterbender whose family fled to Bin-Er. A reluctant spy, he trades in secrets with the goal of helping his family return to their northern homeland. When Yangchen catches Kavik, they make a deal: He will help her secure Unanimity in exchange for his family’s receiving travel papers. What starts as a transaction eventually develops into deeper loyalty as the duo’s shared trials foster mutual trust. Tensions are heightened when family obligations and political intrigue threaten their newfound companionship. Despite the tightly written narrative, the pace of the first half gets bogged down by political intricacies and flashbacks before the action picks up. Readers are left with a promise of a sequel. In this Asian–inspired world, Kavik is cued as coming from a culture reminiscent of northern Indigenous peoples.
An intriguing romp occasionally slowed down by worldbuilding details. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4197-5677-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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