A big, bold, high-cost end to a lush quartet.
Otherworld politics threaten love in this series conclusion.
The Righteous (2021) left the heroes in disarray and the Winter Court of the Sylvan Wyld on the cusp of war with the Summer Court of the Sylvan Vale. The Wyld’s leadership vacuum results in pushes for Bastien to reclaim his family’s ancestral seat, the Ice Throne—and custody of a powerful mirror with control over time. But everything comes at a price, and the intriguing seductions of the mirror have ruined many before him. He learns of the dark plans that the Lady of the Vale has for Celine, her daughter, but he fears Celine won’t believe him. His insistence on lies and secrecy do him no favors with Celine, who’s understandably conflicted: attracted to the power of being Lady Silla’s heir, tired of people controlling her, yearning for connection with her mother, and grieving the loss of Pippa, who is presumed dead. At times, the characters’ decisions may frustrate readers, but even their most irrational moments are justified by circumstances and emotional states. Personal growth drives the plot and deftly separates heroes from villains. The final showdown is a big one in its consequences both to the fey Otherworld and New Orleans, the city Sebastien and Celine love. No one escapes unscathed, but time may heal some wounds. The fey world is diverse in sexuality and race; discrimination exists on the basis of human parentage and court affiliation.
A big, bold, high-cost end to a lush quartet. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-984812-64-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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