Another profound and exhilarating entry in this queer urban fantasy series.
A close-knit group of psychically gifted friends tussle with Nazi demigods in this installment of Faulkner’s long-running SF/fantasy series.
Love and romance brought Laurence Riley and Quentin d’Arcy together, but tragedy has shaped much of their lives. They now care for seven live-in teenagers in a California-based “weirdo home for wayward psychics.” Most of their wards struggle to overcome such traumas as abusive and otherwise cruel family members. The past catches up to Mel, their home’s newest addition, when one of her father’s associates somehow finds her. She refuses to go back to her dad, Nate Anderson, a Nazi with the blood of a god in his veins. But Nate won’t take no for an answer; he surrounds himself with fellow demigods and most certainly aims to grab Laurence, who harbors power from two gods, for his collection. Laurence, Quentin, and the others don’t quite realize the danger they’re in until they follow up a Disneyland outing with a helicopter ride to the desert and run afoul of Mel’s father. Nate (who can generate electricity and storms) and his powerful comrades are able to track down the weirdo-home residents with ease. Fortunately, the friends are willing and able to defend themselves and each other with gifts of their own: Psychic teen Estelita has an enhanced hearing ability, Laurence uses magic to summon a long-bladed knife, and Quentin has telekinesis and can fly (though he’s really telekinetically “lifting” himself). Vanquishing the formidable baddies may demand a fight to the death.
As was the case in the series’ preceding entries, Faulkner excels at character development. Laurence, for example, is still reeling from an ordeal he previously suffered, which made him, a recovering addict, once again crave heroin. Everyone living in the San Diego home is proudly queer and has also experienced various types of hatred and discrimination. Their psychic gifts make for exciting action scenes, which the author masterfully incorporates into the plot. The powers are thematically apt: In Quentin’s case, the ability to move things without touching them is perfect for a man who avoids bodily contact with most people. Another character, Alex, who uses they/them pronouns, is a shape-shifter who stays in the form of a man only to appease others while not truly being themself. While the villains are unmistakably abhorrent (they’re Nazis, after all), they’re just as vibrantly detailed, sporting powers such as enhanced healing and incredible speed. This installment boasts taut, dynamic combat sequences: “A touch as cold as death caressed his skin, passing through his clothes as though they didn’t exist, and it set off sparks of false nerve endings and ticklish twitches across his scarred body… His telekinesis found nothing to hold, and fire had nothing but his own energy to burn.” The plot takes a few shocking turns, from character deaths to the teenaged Soraya’s secret newfound gift. Series regulars Laurence and Quentin shine, as always; Windsor, a bright, talking raven (and Laurence’s familiar) steals numerous scenes. A gleefully ambiguous epilogue hints at more to come.
Another profound and exhilarating entry in this queer urban fantasy series.Pub Date: May 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781912349197
Page Count: 396
Publisher: Ravensword Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
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
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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