A fantasy offering that takes too long to raise its narrative stakes.
Two sisters caught up in their bargains with the Fae find themselves in over their heads in this tale of family tradition and upward mobility.
Lilabeth Canner taught her daughter and granddaughters to safely bargain with the Fae—for luck, good weather, and empty wombs. Years after her husband traded a handkerchief to a Fae girl for a plot of land on Prospect Hill, the Canners' oldest granddaughter, Alaine, presides over the family's failing farm. Alaine harbors a deep resentment of her younger sister, Delphine, whose impending marriage to Pierce Grafton will sweep her away to the big city and leave Alaine to worry about the farm alone. For her part, Del is jealous of her big sister; Alaine has a place in the world: at the farm, where Del has never felt as if she belongs. Her dreams of joining the socialite class flag as she struggles to adapt to the posh Grafton lifestyle, however. Both women soon find themselves making risky, untested bargains with the Fae to improve their circumstances—a decision that has dire, if predictable, consequences. Awkward dialogue plagues the opening chapters as Miller shoehorns information into casual conversations between family members. Poor pacing turns the novel's first half into a slog, and readers well versed in Fae literature may bristle at how long it takes the sisters' proverbial chickens to come home to roost. Del's society faux pas and Alaine's financial woes receive enough attention in the first half to almost completely drown out the early fairy bargains—the stakes of which are so low that it becomes easy to forget this is a fantasy novel. Yet when a bargain finally goes awry, the sisters' personal problems cease to matter at all. To its credit, the last third of this fairy story proves enjoyable. Although Miller nicely ties up the majority of loose ends in the denouement, many readers may not stick around to find out what happens on Prospect Hill.
A fantasy offering that takes too long to raise its narrative stakes.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9780316378475
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Redhook/Orbit
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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