A farfetched but entertaining blend of mysticism, romance, and adventure.
Long’s historical novel combines fanciful, romantic adventure with occult themes.
The tale begins in 1940 with a young couple, English heiress Marian Graves and Montenegrin scholar Stevan Romanov, setting out in a hand-built flying boat to support Stevan’s relatives against the Axis powers. On the way, they encounter Festus Griveaux, a minor despot who harbors demonic servants and plans for nothing less than world domination. The narrative shifts to Egypt in 1945, where Amon-Ra and Dodi, two poor brothers, find a mysterious cache of books while searching for ancient artifacts they can sell. The books are sacred Gnostic texts from the lost Nag Hammadi Library, and are sought after by many, including Stevan and Festus. The story then jumps forward to California in 1973, where Claremont professor of antiquities Griffin MacRobbin is fascinated by a new grad student, the brilliant, beautiful heiress Anastasia Romanov, who has provocative ideas about Gnosticism and the mystical content of the texts. Griffin and Anastasia set off on a globe-trotting adventure through New York City, Yugoslavia, England, and Ireland in search of a sacred object. Aided by friends and relatives, they face hair-raising challenges and bizarre mystical experiences together and separately. The narrative’s opening sections are told in the third person; the characters aren’t well-rounded, and the dialogue often feels artificial (“Stevan said, ‘It seems, Marian, your little exploration underground will be of benefit. You say the passage is adjacent to this garage?’”) For the rest of the novel, the point of view shifts to first person in the quirky voice of Griffin, who combines matter-of-factness with whimsy and snark. The other characters, including Griffin’s colleague Dr. Moe Littlejohn, Anastasia’s aunt and uncle, a Wagner-loving spelunker, and Dick McBride, an Irish mechanic and bishop, are eccentric and colorful. The story fancifully combines elements such as ancient standing stones, runes and hieroglyphs, shapeshifting demons, snippets of poetry and song, antique and modern aircraft, and psychedelic experiments into an implausible but entertaining saga.
A farfetched but entertaining blend of mysticism, romance, and adventure.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2023
ISBN: 9798988817604
Page Count: 502
Publisher: North House Creative Arts
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
