A spirited novel that provides a deep, rich foundation for a planned fantasy series.
In this fantasy debut, several humanoid societies are thrown into chaos after their emperor darkly interprets a prophecy.
Seventeen-year-old Amanki of the Tzoladian village of Arvuk has webbed feet, like the rest of his people, who’ve adapted to a life of fishing along the Lanaduk River. One day, his friend Baskrod, a fisherman, warns his family that they must flee. Emperor Zoltov of Tzoladia believes that a prophecy has “confirmed his worst fears” about the return of his brother, whom he buried alive. The ruler sets in motion a genocide before a “new star glows in the skies,” which will signal the emergence of a threat to the throne. Baskrod and Amanki barely escape when horsemen, led by the brutal Bladar, attack Arvuk. Meanwhile, in the Mesmeringa Forest village of Kalpok, 16-year-old Brina (a Glider, who can use flaps of skin under her arms to fly) sees a new, bright star in the Duck Constellation. She knows that it’s her destiny to meet two other “chosen” young people in Tzoladia. Moshoi, a youth from the rocky Hattom region who’s covered in scales, is the final member of this heroic team. If they can all meet up in Tzoladia, the artifacts that they possess—three Titilanzur “star prophecy” seals—will reveal “the land where the hidden treasure lies.” In this debut, Denny offers well-developed concepts, such as the mesmeringa tree—which provides the Gliders with food, medicine, and their homes. The character Metlan, of the Samalitan Plains people, has no physical enhancements, but he represents the human capacity for growth; he begins the novel with the certainty that the Gliders only resemble people, but are, in fact, animals, but Brina’s passion and kindness change his mind. Occasional scenes of violence are quite effective, as when Amanki witnesses a scalping, and the emperor’s notion of harvesting webbed feet or Glider claws is utterly gruesome. This first volume gives the protagonists lively, separate adventures, readying them for future installments in one another’s company. Amanki, however, is the breakout character whose fate will most engage readers.
A spirited novel that provides a deep, rich foundation for a planned fantasy series.Pub Date: April 9, 2017
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 547
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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