An intriguing, confident first entry in what promises to be a riveting historical series.
The descendant of a murdered Mali king seeks revenge in Brown’s historical graphic novel series opener.
In the year 1300, the king (or Mansa) of the Mali Empire is betrayed by the rival Keita clan; they attack, and only the king’s daughter, the princess Yafa, and her newborn survive the massacre. She escapes the capital city of Niani swearing revenge. Roughly 120 years later, the young assassin Diata, Yafa’s descendant, arrives in Timbuktu seeking a route to Niani to exact vengeance. The Keita clan have maintained control of the empire amidst power shifts amid the ruling castes of Mali society, but their current leader, Foamed, believes that concentrating power within the warrior (Ton-tigi) and noble castes (Horon) impedes society. He has called for a national tournament to determine the next Sankar Zouma, a prestigious military position, and has opened it to men of any caste, including the artisans (Nyamakala) and the enslaved (Jonow). Diata convinces his family to let him compete, despite being only 19 years old. His name translates to “lion,” and, while his powers aren't explained, he possesses the strength, hyper-senses, and reflexes of his namesake. Illustrator Thy uses a manga comic style to render the rich visual world of 15th-century Mali with distinctive character designs and dynamic, bloody fight scenes. Brown orchestrates many moving pieces and creates opportunities for the brash and stoic Diata to grow throughout the series, even inserting humorous beats (“Watch out for the vipers tonight. They can get pretty aggressive around this time of year”) in the brisk, high-stakes plot. The work depicts many cultural and societal norms that are at times hard to keep track of, but breaks in the chapters provide more context, and Brown avoids overloading his dialogue with exposition. With many viable warriors in the mix, the tournament—and the empire’s future—is anyone’s game.
An intriguing, confident first entry in what promises to be a riveting historical series.Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9798988182801
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Black Sands Entertainment
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
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