A keeper.
Return to the Graceling Realm in this follow-up to Bitterblue (2012).
Five years ago, Queen Bitterblue of Monsea was picking up the pieces of her kingdom after the horrific rule of her disturbed father, King Leck. Now, contact has been made with a new continent, Torla. The closest country, Winterkeep, is a democratic republic with eco-friendly airships and telepathic animals. The story shifts among five third-person perspectives: Bitterblue; Giddon, who appeared in Graceling (2008); Lovisa, the teen daughter of the Keepish president; a telepathic fox named Adventure; and a mysterious 13-tentacled undersea creature. En route to Winterkeep, Bitterblue is assumed to have drowned but she’s actually been kidnapped. Meanwhile, Lovisa (who’s skilled at spying) attempts to uncover her parents’ secrets while processing new revelations about them—and herself. Cashore excels at finely drawn characters and realistic portrayals of toxic parents’ effect on their children. While the focus on the themes of sex and environmentalism risks veering too heavily into didacticism, this worthy addition to the series is sure to excite fans who, after eight years, may not have dared hope for another installment. This is both a timely primer on the dangers of a politically divided society and a good story. Keepish people are brown-skinned; half-Lienid Bitterblue is light-brown skinned; and Monseans are fair-skinned.
A keeper. (map, note to the reader, cast of characters) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4150-8
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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
This series provides the perfect escape from reality.
Kel Saren adds more threads to his tangled web of secrets in this follow-up to Sword Catcher (2023).
Kel takes the protection of Prince Conor very seriously. As Sword Catcher, he’s more than just a bodyguard; he’s part spy, part body double, and part confidante for the man with whom he grew up. But as he investigates the possibility of a traitor in Conor’s inner circle, Kel is forced to keep secrets for Conor’s own good until he can be sure whom they can trust. Meanwhile, after the disastrous events of Conor’s first engagement in Sword Catcher, the prince has a newfound dedication to his role and tries to navigate an advantageous new match for himself, this time with the beautiful Princess Anjelika, who is more than she seems. Conor is keeping his own secrets, namely that he has enlisted Lin Caster to tend to his ailing father, King Markus, who’s suffering from a strange ailment that means he must be kept hidden from his subjects lest they know their king has possibly gone mad. As Lin investigates the truth behind the king’s malady, she and Conor struggle to deny their growing—and forbidden—romantic feelings for each other. The second novel in an epic fantasy series is notoriously hard to pull off, and the colorful world established in Sword Catcher does dip into soap-opera territory here. But a little swooning in a fantasy adventure story never hurt anyone, and even at a hefty 500-plus pages, the story never drags for a moment. Lin’s chapters remain a high point, with Clare drawing from her own Jewish heritage as the inspiration for many aspects of Lin’s Ashkar community and faith. And luckily for readers, Clare turns every table she can find in the final pages.
This series provides the perfect escape from reality.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780525620020
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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