A memorable and nuanced tale of a world on the brink of violent change, hampered slightly by its deliberate pace.
In Miller’s fantasy novel, a princess find her world turned upside-down as she begins to doubt her society’s views about magic and its practitioners.
Grand Princess Sorrel Zdraevit is one of five children of the emperor of Eisa, a peaceful land where the use of magic is banned. Those who still use it, known as Wielders, have a reputation in the kingdom for being dangerous and causing trouble. As the royal family host a party to celebrate the 300-year reign of the Zdraevit line, tragedy strikes. A misfired firework winds up killing more than 1,000 people and injuring more. The citizenry is outraged, and some people say that the terrible event was no accident at all, but actually the work of Wielders or “magic-Sympathizers.” To make matters worse, when Sorrel and her sister attempt to visit the injured, they face an attack by a Wielder. Partly in response to this, the emperor decides that Eisa will support their allies in a war against Wielders in other countries. Meanwhile, the government draws up a list of possible Wielders in Eisa and their supporters. However, Sorrel begins to wonder if Wielders and their supporters are really as bad as she’s always been told—or if she has more to fear from other people. Miller develops Sorrel’s story steadily throughout the novel. As the narrator, Sorrel tends to use lengthy description to describe what happens to her; when she’s merely tired, for instance, she notes that “I could feel fatigue tugging at my eyelids.” This stylistic choice tends to slow the pace considerably. However, as the plot progresses, it becomes clear that this is not a typical fantasy tale, as there are some brutal twists that draw on similarities between the Zdraevit line and the plight of the real-life Romanovs in Imperial Russia. Sorrel’s tale of self-discovery, with its elements of magic, makes for a refreshingly offbeat addition to the fantasy genre.
A memorable and nuanced tale of a world on the brink of violent change, hampered slightly by its deliberate pace.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9798218264864
Page Count: 648
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.
The third installment of this fantasy series (The Bone Season, 2013; The Mime Order, 2015) expands the reaches of the fight against Scion far beyond London.
Paige Mahoney, though only 19, serves as the Underqueen of the Mime Order. She's the leader of the Unnatural community in London, a city serving under the ever more militaristic Scion, whose government is based on ridding the streets of "enemy" clairvoyants. But Paige knows the truth about Scion's roots—that an Unnatural and immortal race called the Rephaim, who come from the Netherworld, forced Scion into existence to gain control over the growing human clairvoyant community. Scion’s hatred of clairvoyants now runs so deep that Paige is forced to consider moving her entire syndicate into hiding while she aims to stop Scion's next attack: there are rumors that Senshield, a scanner able to detect certain levels of clairvoyance, is going portable. Which means no Unnatural citizen is safe—their safe houses, their back-alley routes, are all at risk of detection. Paige’s main enemy this time around is Hildred Vance, mastermind of Scion’s military branch, ScionIDE. Vance creates terror by anticipating her opponent’s next moves, so with each step that Paige and her team take to dismantle Senshield, Vance is hovering nearby to toy with Paige’s will. Luckily, Paige is never separated for long from her Rephaite ally, Warden, as his presence is grounding. But their growing relationship, strengthened by their connection to the spirit world, takes a back seat to the constant, fast-paced action. The mesmerizing qualities of this series—insight into the different orders of clairvoyance as well as the intricately imagined details of Paige’s “dreamwalking” gift, with which she is able to enter others’ minds—fade to the background as this seven-part series climbs to its highest point of tension. Shannon’s world begins to feel more generically dystopian, but as Paige fights to locate and understand the spiritual energy powering Senshield, it is never less than captivating.
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63286-624-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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