A gripping, profound tale of a faraway land and the intermingling of clashing civilizations.
In Jameson’s novel, the arrival of invaders on a peninsula may fulfill an ancient prophecy.
The Wolf Clan, after leaving their land of Aria, traverse an icescape until they reach the “New World.” The Mahwah Tribe, however, already lives in the lush forest the Wolf Clan discovers. The invading “fair-skinned” warriors, though bulkier and brandishing metal weapons in lieu of stone, aren’t as stealthy as the Mahwahn. The indigenous tribe easily captures Wolf Cub, the son of the powerful warrior Harold who intends to claim the region. Cub is taken aback by the Mahwahn’s sense of community, something he’s unaccustomed to. He’s also attracted to Kylen, an immaculately conceived girl discovered in a mountain cave 18 years earlier. She’s referenced in a prophecy that foretells of her union with a “man from another world” who will spawn peace and prosperity. The Mahwah chief’s son, Zande, unhappy about the possible fated bond between Cub and Kylen, turns his ire toward the Wolf Clan. But when he connects with Kylen’s less affable sister, Kezlan, things go in a startling new direction. Jameson’s allegory of Indigenous people being stripped of their lands and ways of life is crystal clear from the outset; the engrossing story touches on topical themes throughout. The focus isn’t merely on the politics of the Clan and the tribe, but on the individuals as well; a handful of these fascinating characters prove surprising as they diverge from readers’ expectations. The author writes in effective, simple prose, especially when depicting groups of people struggling to understand one another (“Having spent most of the day listening to the elders talk, teaching him some of the basics of their language through gesticulation, and being so near to his beloved, he’d felt as though he was being adopted, filling him with love”). The story also smoothly introduces otherworldly aspects, from horrifying and lethal “winged creatures” to a bridge between the realm of the spirits and the more familiar human one.
A gripping, profound tale of a faraway land and the intermingling of clashing civilizations.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2023
ISBN: 9798218330507
Page Count: 460
Publisher: Infinite of One Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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