An entertaining change of pace.
This science fiction/fantasy anthology delivers on its promise to reimagine the baddest fairy-tale baddies of them all: dragons and witches.
These 10 distinct stories explore themes of humanity, honor, loyalty, and identity while staying true to the book’s purpose: an exploration of the question “are bad guys always bad?” Susan Bianculli and Ariane Felix give witches the sci-fi treatment in “Technological Magic” and “The Witch and the Hunter,” respectively. Joy Preble’s “A Very Baba Yaga Halloween” reveals the eponymous character’s origins in flashbacks as the Bone Mother prepares for All Hallow’s Eve. Sarah Lyn Eaton’s Jamaican witches use earth magic to help an ancestor’s trapped soul pass on in “The Fragrant Feast.” In “Some Like It Hot,” by Mari Mancusi, a young were-dragon just wants her first kiss, but the fact that she shifts out of human form when she’s turned on is a bit of an obstacle. Maybe the sexy son of Satan’s sous chef can help her out. Kath Boyd Marsh’s “The Pendragon Crystal” puts a fiery spin on the Arthurian legend, with the king and his family imagined as dragons forced into exile, disguised as humans. Readers who prefer short stories over longer works will find entertainment within the pages, and the collection may also be useful for discussions about the differences between fantasy and science fiction and the places in which the two genres meet.
An entertaining change of pace. (Science fiction/fantasy anthology. 12-16)Pub Date: June 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-933767-61-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: CBAY
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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