An epic character-driven story with a heroine who can travel through time.
Supernatural storks face unexpected obstacles in their quest to unify earthlings in Anderson van Berkel’s debut, which blends fantasy and world history.
Born during the Bronze Age, snowy white stork Zendala has the ability to travel through time. She rescues women of varying eras and lands from certain death, including a queen and a Christian martyr. They’re all recruits for the White Storks of Mercy, supernatural avian creatures whose purpose is bringing peace to the world. Each woman transforms into a stork, but all can change back to humans (in that form, they’re called the Merciful Ones). Zendala confers immortality on them, but that doesn’t make them immune to such things as distrust, which threatens to shatter their unity. Their greatest menace, however, may be Reba, Zendala’s Siamese cat sister. She blames Zendala for her near death and for splitting “the Mischief Makers,” the rabble-rousing duo of Reba and pharaoh Maatkare Hatshepsut. Reba, who has the power of persuasion, plots revenge against her sister. Her morphing ability excludes bird or human forms, but she befriends a druidess who can help with the latter, giving Reba a new way to make mischief. Anderson van Berkel’s tale is dense with plot and characters. Zendala and Reba, for example, have a complicated history; Reba’s antagonism started when the two shared their stork mother’s egg while surrounded by Egyptian deities. As the author has sequels planned, this book centers on Zendala’s amassing her team and only touches on her “humanitarian mission.” Still, the extensive cast impresses, from apprentice stork Iona to the sisters’ father, Egyptian sun god Re. The story is rich in history as well; the White Storks traverse ever changing countries and bump elbows (or wings) with real-life figures like Joan of Arc and Napoleon. The author rounds out her novel with indelible imagery, such as a sunset that “painted the sky the color of ripe nectarines.”
An epic character-driven story with a heroine who can travel through time.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-95780-7
Page Count: 345
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A multilayered exploration of the complacent as complicit, all within a unique yet relatable magic system.
An orphaned prince on the run gets a chance at freedom if he can become one of his would-be enslavers.
Three years ago, when the Hierarchy killed his family, 17-year-old Vis Solum had to hide in their Republic, bury his rage, and pretend to support the population’s enslavement in order to survive. The Hierarchy is built on Will—a person’s mental and physical energy—ceded by the low to those above them, and then again, all the way to the top of the three pyramids of leadership: Military, Governance, and Religion. Will powers carts and carriages, keeps vaults locked, and gives Will-users inhuman abilities while sapping ceders of their health and life span. So far, Vis has managed to refuse the ritual to cede his Will. Now, he has little more than a year before he legally has to cede or have his Will drained by Sappers. When Senator Quintus Ulciscor Telimus offers Vis the chance to escape ceding for at least another year, and perhaps never do it at all, Vis agrees. The man officially adopts him so he can attend the Catenan Academy, where all students are tested and prepared for the highest Hierarchy positions. If Vis dominates at the Academy, he can choose a position where he doesn’t need to cede or receive Will at all, far away from the Hierarchy. In return, Vis must act as a spy to prove Religion is unearthing a dangerous weapon. Then, when Vis is blackmailed to act as a double agent, everything changes. In order to succeed, he must become one of those he so hates while keeping his true identity a secret. If he doesn’t, he’ll end up dead, or worse. This Roman-inspired fantasy starts slow but more than makes up for it soon enough. With the inevitable comparisons in mind, fans of Pierce Brown's Red Rising will enjoy this book, but it’s darker, deeper, and takes unexpected paths worth traveling. Trust that the author will get you there in the end.
A multilayered exploration of the complacent as complicit, all within a unique yet relatable magic system.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781982141172
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This rip-roaring romp pivots between past and present and posits the future-altering power of love, hope, and forgiveness.
A time-toying spy romance that’s truly a thriller.
In the author’s note following the moving conclusion of her gripping, gleefully delicious debut novel, Bradley explains how she gathered historical facts about Lt. Graham Gore, a real-life Victorian naval officer and polar explorer, then “extrapolated a great deal” about him to come up with one of her main characters, a curly-haired, chain-smoking, devastatingly charming dreamboat who has been transported through time. Having also found inspiration in the sole extant daguerreotype of Gore, showing him to have been “a very attractive man,” Bradley wrote the earliest draft of the book for a cluster of friends who were similarly passionate about polar explorers. Her finished novel—taut, artfully unspooled, and vividly written—retains the kind of insouciant joy and intimacy you might expect from a book with those origins. It’s also breathtakingly sexy. The time-toggling plot focuses on the plight of a British civil servant who takes a high-paying job on a secret mission, working as a “bridge” to help time-traveling “expats” resettle in 21st-century London—and who falls hard for her charge, the aforementioned Commander Gore. Drama, intrigue, and romance ensue. And while this quasi-futuristic tale of time and tenderness never seems to take itself too seriously, it also offers a meaningful, nuanced perspective on the challenges we face, the choices we make, and the way we live and love today.
This rip-roaring romp pivots between past and present and posits the future-altering power of love, hope, and forgiveness.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781668045145
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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