A sequel that serviceably does its middle-volume job; it won’t attract new readers but should please fans of Book 1.
Two surpassingly magical cousins are continually pushed into action during the European revolutions of the 19th century.
How could Anna have naïvely thought that she would destroy classism, racism, and imperialism simply because she had destroyed the magical Binding that reserved spellcasting for the nobility and imprisoned the magical praetherians? Alternating sections reveal the rising chaos that resulted from her actions in Blood Rose Rebellion (2017) from dual perspectives. Anna feels trapped in Vienna both by class and gender expectations and by the demands of the freed magical creatures. Mátyás, Anna’s cousin who was killed when Anna destroyed the Binding, has been reborn to a responsibility he desperately seeks to avoid. Both are appalled by the treatment of praetherians, who, newly freed, are being enslaved, murdered, and forced to wear identifying marks. Anna vows to speak up on their behalf, but as a young woman, her word carries little weight. Mátyás chooses banditry over leadership, but his kindness nevertheless brings more and more praetherians to join his gang. Both protagonists have revolutionary urgings, although their anti-imperialistic nationalism seems awfully selective, an unreconciled contradiction that could possibly be resolved in Book 3. Anna and Mátyás, both white, are exceptionally magical, with phenomenal cosmic powers that everyone wants to exploit, from the ancient Hungarian gods to the Hapsburg Archduchess Sophie. This all boosts expectations of series readers for a conclusion they may worry it cannot meet.
A sequel that serviceably does its middle-volume job; it won’t attract new readers but should please fans of Book 1. (author’s note, character guide, glossary) (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-93607-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama
An illegitimate girl who hopes to find her creative passion may be connected to another kingdom’s magical history.
At 10, white, orphaned Brienna was brought to Magnalia House. For the last seven years she’s studied to become an arden, an apprentice passion, with the goal of finding her patron. The arden-sisters study art, dramatics, music, wit, and knowledge; Brienna, who has no true vocation, has eccentrically studied in all the fields. Though she doesn’t truly belong among the talented (and somewhat racially diverse) noble girls of Magnalia House, they are her beloved friends. Perhaps once she’s passioned, she can even act on her romantic feelings for the white knowledge master. But Brienna’s having strange visions lately; could they be ancestral memories of an unknown forbear from the neighboring country? What with romance, jealousy, family drama, betrayals, ancient magical history, and characters with multiple secret identities, there’s a nigh-constant pitch of throbbing…well, passion. A voice is like “tamed thunder,” and hair is like “a stream of silver.” Malapropisms abound (“punctures of laughter”; “her beauty warbled by the mullioned windows”). Oddly, most of the shocking revelations of back story are openly detailed in the lengthy family trees at the novel’s opening.
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-247134-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
The Salt trilogy closes with a third generation of children fighting petty but dangerous evils. Hana, a girl from the city's wretched Bawdhouse Burrow, is orphaned when her mother is burned as a witch. Ben grows up far from the city, raised by his grandparents Pearl and Hari in the idyllic village from Gool (2010). When Hana flees the city, she brings with her a terrifying message for those outside its darkness: The Limping Man is coming. He has the terrible power to make people love him even as he torments them, and he plans to wipe out all who stand against him. Since most of the outsiders—Ben's family, the forest Dwellers and "the people without a name"—have mental powers, the Limping Man intends to massacre them. Ben and Hana, along with their allies, must find the Limping Man's secret in order to save their own lives and homes. Ben and Hana’s victories, like those of their parents and grandparents, are local. Even if they do defeat the Limping Man, they cannot vanquish evil from the world; life in the burrows will likely continue to be nasty, brutish and short. The heroes' personalities are defined by their harsh environments, but they reach beyond those limitations. Fantasy heroes who can save only themselves and their loved ones are a welcome change from the usual. (Fantasy. 13-15)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55469-216-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
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