A suspenseful, epic battle between man and pitiless nature.
A hunter seeks both vengeance and inner peace.
Set in the rugged landscape of western Canada, poet Fasano’s debut novel tells the dramatic story of a solo hunter’s Ahab-like pursuit of a formidable mountain lion—“the mind of the wild”—while simultaneously battling his lingering grief over the tragic deaths of his wife and young son. Endangered by his decision to prolong his quest as late autumn turns suddenly to winter, the unnamed narrator’s situation quickly turns dire; he finds himself forced to battle injury, hunger, exhaustion, and his own fear as his role shifts between pursuer and pursued. In the novel’s many vivid descriptive passages, Fasano unashamedly reveals his poetic DNA, describing how “the sun was already casting its lattice against the spruces and opening the thrushes’ throats in the saxifrage” or “the early moon in the chasm above me, dark wings crossing it in the vengeance of their abiding.” Some readers will adore this lush prose; others will find its persistence occasionally aggravating. What should unite them, however, is Fasano’s ability to tell a pulsating story featuring a resolute man, alone in the beautiful but unforgiving wilderness, who must bring to bear all of his resources of endurance and courage merely to survive. The encounter between this determined human and his equally imposing animal adversary is as profoundly psychological as it is intensely physical. As these creatures stalk each other on the snowy mountainside, their deadly dance is complicated by the presence of two other hunters and their pack of hounds. Fasano’s resolution of the taut adventure tale is both surprising and truly satisfying. He enhances the pacing of that story with flashbacks to the narrator’s life with his late wife—a former ballet dancer—and scenes with his son, contrasting the tenderness of their relationship with his tension-filled one with his own father.
A suspenseful, epic battle between man and pitiless nature.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-913007-06-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Platypus Press
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.
A collegiate diver and swimmer secretly pursue kink together, and risk falling in love along the way.
Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling. Despite a successful recovery from the injury that almost ended her Stanford diving career, she hasn’t been able to get her head together, and it’s affecting her performance. Plus, she’s trying to stay focused on getting into medical school. A relationship would be out of the question. By comparison, Lukas Blomqvist is a swimming idol, a record-breaker who wins medals as easily as breathing, and Scarlett has long been convinced he would never look in her direction—until one fateful night when a mutual friend lets slip that they have something unexpected in common: Scarlett likes to be submissive in the bedroom, while Lukas prefers to take a dominant approach. Now, they both know a big secret about each other, and it’s something neither of them can stop thinking about. It’s Lukas who suggests they have a fling—purely physical, just to take the edge off, so Scarlett can get out of her own head and stop overthinking her dives. Initially, their arrangement is easy to stick to, but the more time they spend together, the more Scarlett starts to realize that what she feels for Lukas is more than physical attraction. Complicating the situation is the fact that Scarlett’s friend Penelope Ross used to go out with Lukas, and the longer Scarlett keeps mum about her true feelings for him, the more difficult it is to keep the situation hidden from another person she really cares about. While Scarlett and Lukas’ relationship does begin as a physical one, their deeper psychological connection takes a little too long to emerge amid all the other storylines, resulting in a somewhat rushed resolution. However, Hazelwood’s latest is proof of the depth and maturity that has emerged in her writing over the years, and it highlights her embrace of sexier, more emotional elements than were present in her original STEMinist rom-coms.
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593641057
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
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
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