A frighteningly frank and brutal consideration of slavery, post-slavery, and colonialism in metallic garb.
The thoughtful, blood-soaked conclusion to an alternate-history trilogy (The Rising, 2015, etc.) in which the Dutch rule Europe and the New World thanks to their control of Clakkers, mechanical servants fueled by clockwork and alchemy.
The mechanical Daniel has freed all Clakkers from their alchemical servitude to their human masters. Some Clakkers have simply walked away from their centuries of slavery. Others have come to the aid of the Dutch Empire’s underdog rival, the French. And many have chosen to violently revenge themselves on all humans, regardless of nationality. While the French struggle to seize the advantage and reclaim their long-abandoned homeland, the Dutch must accept that, contrary to their long-held beliefs, their metal creations are thinking, feeling beings…and what they are feeling is very, very angry. The battle between two nations metastasizes into a desperate fight for human survival. The Dutch and the French must put aside their centuries-old enmity to ally against their common foe: the monstrous mechanical Queen Mab, who seeks to draw all mechanicals—and all humans—under her sway, willingly or not. Rarely (possibly never?) in our history have slaves entered freedom with such significant physical and technological advantages over their former masters, and so it is interesting and frequently stomach-turning to witness how such a scenario would play out. The series makes it clear that mechanicals are not insensible machines; it emphasizes how deeply Clakkers feel and how profoundly they experience pain when they attempt to defy orders, how dreadful it is for Clakkers (and humans) to be without free will, and how devastatingly confusing it can be to have it restored. Their often violent response is disturbing but highly understandable, practically inevitable, in context.
A frighteningly frank and brutal consideration of slavery, post-slavery, and colonialism in metallic garb.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-24805-1
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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