A somewhat dense but ultimately enjoyable questing tale.
An adventurous fantasy series starter that follows a captain and his crew as they search for the fabled Grimstone.
In the year 3203, in the kingdom of Tuscawny, Capt. Zale “The Gale” Murdoch is incredibly close to reaching a level of mastery in his seafaring guild, which would allow him to semiretire. Then the bar for mastery is raised again, so Zale is eager to take on something big—something guaranteed to make him a lot of money. Nobleman Vidimir Tefu has a mission, but it doesn’t seem promising at first; he wishes Zale to hunt down the mysterious and powerful Grimstone, which Zale isn’t even sure exists. Zale’s new healer tells him about the stone’s legendary power—and how Zale’s family name is attached to it, which changes his view of the assignment. After his ship is nearly destroyed by magical fire, he and his crew are forced to set sail earlier than planned, but he’s more determined than ever to find the stone. Then Zale’s semi-estranged teenage daughter, Starlina, is found onboard despite the fact that she loathes the sea; she’s enamored with a member of his colorful crew and ended up on the craft by accident. Her presence adds an unexpected element to what proves to be quite an adventure. Kramer’s introductory installment to a new series is set in another time and another world, and the necessity of describing these things means that the narrative can get bogged down in details of the setting and its history; the introductions of the various crew members, as well as the backstory of the Grimstone, may also overload casual readers. Others, however, will enjoy the feeling of immersion in a complex setting with well-developed characters. Once the search begins in earnest, however, the story moves at a quick, steady pace and becomes more enjoyable to read. The novel also includes maps of relevant places and a diagram of Zale’s ship, both of which prove useful.
A somewhat dense but ultimately enjoyable questing tale.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-955997-30-0
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Heroes of Time Productions, LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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