An entertaining, kinetic supernatural tale with surprises and a genial hero.
A college student’s journey to see his romantic interest sends him on a terrifying, otherworldly detour in this dark fantasy.
This may be the last summer break for San Diegan Martin Brown, who plans to graduate from college next year and start his career. Having just lost his prospective summer job, he takes friends’ advice and sees a woman at a Los Angeles production company. This ultimately puts Martin in front of Chloë Setreal, who works at Alienopolis, a company specializing in fantasy books and games. Martin instantly falls for Chloë, and, it seems, the feeling is mutual. So he’s excited when Chloë later calls him for a job interview—mostly for the chance to see her again. Unfortunately, car trouble strands Martin in San Diego in the midst of a severe rainstorm. And that’s only the start of his mishaps. Seeking shelter or access to a phone (as his cell rarely has a signal), he finds himself entangled with everything from crazed murderers to vampires and maybe aliens as well. As authorities eye Martin for a serious crime and someone steals his ID, he desperately tries making it to Chloë, preferably alive. Argo excels at pacing, as his story begins leisurely and becomes increasingly frantic and unpredictable. By the novel’s latter half, some of these seemingly random events connect. This sparks a mere hint of something much larger unfolding, but the author wisely keeps it simple and doesn’t distract from Martin’s purpose. While the protagonist is certainly sympathetic, readers learn very little about Chloë other than her attractive physical details. As a consequence, signs of romance, even Martin’s daydreaming of their potential time together, aren’t convincing. Still, Martin traverses a hellish underworld so startling that reaching Chloë is a goal worth cheering for.
An entertaining, kinetic supernatural tale with surprises and a genial hero. (dedication, acknowledgement)Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-7433-2048-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: Clocktower Books
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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