A worthwhile jaunt for readers interested in a mix of magic, mankind, and the sinister ploys of the devil.
Debut authors Schenck-de Michele and Marquez’s urban fantasy novel about Lucifer’s daughter and a peculiar shop.
Lucinda’s Pawnshop & Antiquary is no ordinary secondhand store, much in the way Lucinda Trompe is no ordinary proprietor: “Half mortal, half immortal, she had been sired by Lucifer on a human mother—THE human mother. The woman the Torah called ‘Eve.’ ” Gifted with the ability to change form and manipulate regular mortals, Lucinda spends much of her time selling specific items to the latter. These items work as “soul magnets,” which in their own special ways work to do the bidding of Lucifer. After all, “Lucinda’s father was hell-bent (she loved that expression) on bringing mankind not to its knees, but to its grave.” With an elaborate plan that involves a group of young witches, Morgan le Fay’s Book of Shadows, a cursed pocket watch, and unrest in the Middle East, humanity seems to be in trouble. It’s trouble that Lucinda initially aids, though her infatuation with a beautiful man named Dominic Amado, and has the potential to disrupt even Lucifer’s well-laid plans. Lucinda is of course half human, a reality that occasionally allows her to subvert her father’s intentions. Hatching an intricate plot, the story progresses from different angles at a cracking pace. While the concept of Lucifer’s daughter falling in love with a modern man as she works at a magical secondhand store could have easily become awash with urban fantasy clichés, the story maintains an original feel. Touching on historical figures such as Averroes and Francis Galton, the real is woven seamlessly with the fantastical, such as when a young witch conjures a water horse—“She flung it at the first wave of men, twisting it until it looked less like a horse and more like a horrific, gleaming tornado with a wide, open vortex.” Though a passage involving a dutiful young soldier and his feuding parents seems forced, the overall story proves itself to be both genuinely surprising and, if one can imagine the devil’s daughter falling in love, touching.
A worthwhile jaunt for readers interested in a mix of magic, mankind, and the sinister ploys of the devil.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1939457363
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Bird Street Books
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© 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.
