For nostalgic fantasy fans only.
In the second volume of what is now a blatant Tolkien pastiche—following A Flame in the North (2024)—a young wisewoman and her loyal shield-maiden grope for their roles in a looming conflict with Evil.
Solveig, a human magic-worker with exceptionally rare elemental powers, and her sworn protector, Arneior, are at first captives and then guests in the hidden Elder (read: elven) city of Laeliquaende, or Waterstone, finding refuge after many travails. Solveig believes that their Elder companion, Aeredh, intends to take the Jewel (read: Silmaril) that the king of Laeliquaende keeps in a locked tower so that Solveig can use it (somehow) against the Enemy, the evil eldest son of the Allmother. She does not wish to do that, but she’s also fairly angry when Aeredh reveals that he doesn’t intend for her or the Jewel to be used against the Enemy: He simply wants to keep both of them in the city so the Enemy doesn’t get them for himself. Since the book is entitled The Fall of Waterstone, it’s not a spoiler to reveal that things don’t go as planned. Saintcrow does draw on the Norse sagas, the same source material that Tolkien did, but also freely helps herself to Tolkien’s original work, mainly the Silmarillion (specifically, the stories that would later be published separately as Beren and Lúthien, 2017, and The Fall of Gondolin, 2018) but also a fair bit of The Lord of the Rings (e.g., desperate chases through the wilderness and a relationship between a father and his sons that bears a strong resemblance to that of Denethor and his sons Boromir and Faramir). Solveig and Arneior—who are appealing characters—are seemingly unique to Saintcrow’s work, while other characters are considerably less so. And despite these significant borrowings, very little happens to drive the story along in any interesting way. At this point, the wider plot seems to be meeting new people, spending a little time with them, and then they and/or their homes are destroyed. Unlike in Tolkien, no real large-scale resistance seems to be going on. High fantasy involving a battle against an enemy who is evil just for the sake of embracing evil was terribly popular in the late 20th century; these days, most readers prefer something more nuanced.
For nostalgic fantasy fans only.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780316440530
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
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 well-constructed and enjoyable conclusion.
In the conclusion to the Emily Wilde trilogy, a Cambridge professor of dryadology—faerie studies—prepares to live her research as never before.
Previously, in Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (2024), Emily poisoned Queen Arna, the usurping stepmother of her faerie-prince fiance, Wendell Bambleby, and found a gate to Wendell’s lost kingdom; naturally, the process of establishing a new monarchy in a quixotic faerie realm will be far from smooth. Unfortunately, Arna is not quite dead; she is using her poisoned, liminal state to blight the very landscape. Emily must employ her specific mortal skills (academic research and unrelenting resolve) to find the faerie lore that best describes their current situation, picking out the clues within scraps of old tales to locate the hidden, dying queen, and deal with her in a way that doesn’t lead to further damage. Although much of what she learns is grim, Emily forges on, determined to discover the path to a happy ending for herself and Wendell, where she can be the faerie queen she never imagined she’d be (and is frankly quite uncomfortable being). Thankfully, this concluding volume isn’t the feared retread of the previous two, both of which involved Emily’s research in remote European locations and her efforts to get on with the human locals, even while her obvious neurospiciness and deep understanding of rules allow her to deal with faeries more effectively than most mortals can. This installment makes effective callbacks to the previous two, while moving the story forward as Emily, despite the concerns of her mortal friends, tries to make a place for herself in a dangerous new world where not all of her subjects are prepared to take her seriously. Janet of Carterhaugh merely had to drag her lover Tam Lin from a horse to secure her happiness from a vengeful faerie queen; Emily has to put in real work, using her brain and plunging into physical danger to earn her future. The result is far more satisfying and believable, despite being mainly set in a fantastical world.
A well-constructed and enjoyable conclusion.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593500224
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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