Not just utterly readable—an instant fantasy classic.
Almost three decades after the release of the first volume of Williams’ epic fantasy series, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, he returns to the iconic realm of Osten Ard with the stunning first installment of a new sequel trilogy.
Set approximately 30 years after the conclusion of To Green Angel Tower (1993), the story begins with the once relatively peaceful realm being destabilized by fear, greed, and ignorance. A Sitha envoy en route to King Simon and Queen Miriamele, rulers of Osten Ard, is attacked on her way to the seat of the High Throne and left for dead. But the near-dead fairy—and her unrelayed message—is the least of the rulers’ worries. There are disturbing rumors surrounding an old ally, King Hugh of Hernystir, whose soon-to-be wife is said to be reviving the dark rituals of an ancient goddess of death. The immortal Norn queen Utuk’ku has awakened from her decadeslong sleep and is preparing for war against the mortals of the realm. There is a growing political unrest in the southern realms. And to make matters worse, Simon and Miriamele’s 17-year-old grandson, Morgan, heir to the throne, is a self-centered drunkard. With his kingdom falling into chaos, Simon is forced to ask himself: “They have left us a world, but have they left us enough wisdom to protect it?” A richly described, meticulously plotted, and multilayered narrative tapestry featuring a diversity of adeptly developed characters and multiple storylines, this is flawless epic fantasy. Building upon the revered history of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Williams has outdone himself by penning a 700-plus page novel that is virtually un-put-down-able. Powered by the dichotomy between breathtaking narrative scope and the emotional intensity and intimacy of individual storylines, Williams’ grand-scale storytelling mastery is on full display here.
Not just utterly readable—an instant fantasy classic.Pub Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7564-1060-5
Page Count: 736
Publisher: DAW/Berkley
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A somewhat fragmentary nocturnal shadows Jim Nightshade and his friend Will Halloway, born just before and just after midnight on the 31st of October, as they walk the thin line between real and imaginary worlds. A carnival (evil) comes to town with its calliope, merry-go-round and mirror maze, and in its distortion, the funeral march is played backwards, their teacher's nephew seems to assume the identity of the carnival's Mr. Cooger. The Illustrated Man (an earlier Bradbury title) doubles as Mr. Dark. comes for the boys and Jim almost does; and there are other spectres in this freakshow of the mind, The Witch, The Dwarf, etc., before faith casts out all these fears which the carnival has exploited... The allusions (the October country, the autumn people, etc.) as well as the concerns of previous books will be familiar to Bradbury's readers as once again this conjurer limns a haunted landscape in an allegory of good and evil. Definitely for all admirers.
Pub Date: June 15, 1962
ISBN: 0380977273
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962
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