The past is the gift that keeps on haunting in this gripping paranormal fantasy.
A quartet of young, powerless witches rely on their wits when their small towns are attacked by a renewed threat in Bobe’s contemporary fantasy novella.
When 31-year-old spellcaster Endicott Thyne notices the moon’s unusual appearance, she identifies as a herald of the Season of the Witch, which happens every 30 years. Endicott and her witchy crew (including her best friend, Gabriela, along with new acquaintances Xandra and Maritza) soon find out what that really means when a being that emerges from a spooky veil suppresses their powers. To restore those powers, and research this implied threat to their stomping grounds, the twin towns of Mire and Ember Hollow, Endicott must locate the hidden archive of her late grandmother, Dorothea Thyne, the longtime Mire librarian. At the library, she unearths the diary of Claudia Barry, who was seduced by a man from Ember Hollow and was later corrupted by the energy of the otherworldly veil during the Season of the Witch 60 years earlier. Claudia escaped into the world behind the veil and hadn’t been seen since. But now she has returned with a vengeance, wreaking havoc on the twin towns. Endicott proposes a strategy of power in numbers, seeking every available witch, circumventing the communications barrier caused by the veil using their animal familiars. Still, this army still requires a re-powered Endicott and friends to end Claudia’s menace. Bobe deserves much credit for creating a magical land which still feels modern, including cars and cell phones. She effectively introduces all of the key players in her tale using flashbacks to Claudia and her earlier visit. The author illustrates that Claudia is also a victim of a sort, which doesn’t in any way forgive her latter atrocities. This is the story of Endicott’s evolution (she’s been adrift since her guardian Dorothea’s death a decade earlier). A shortcoming of the narrative is that, aside from Endicott, none among the large cast of witches is very well developed, making it harder to differentiate among the supporting characters. Still, that barely lessens the diversion provided by this engaging work.
The past is the gift that keeps on haunting in this gripping paranormal fantasy.Pub Date: June 26, 2023
ISBN: 9798399813998
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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