An impressive and intricate novel that’s rich in character and full of action.
Fox’s novel of adventure and intrigue, set in Scandinavia at the turn of the 11th century, follows a young woman from Lapland on a quest to save her family.
As the story opens, 6-year-old Hilja is left alone after her mother and sister are kidnapped by Norsemen. Soon afterward, the local shaman, Taika—also called “the Lady of the Wood”—takes Hilja under her wing and trains her as an apprentice. The training gives the girl an intimate knowledge of the natural world and allows her to communicate with animals. Hilja’s final test, at the age of 14, is a journey to the Underworld, where she receives a cryptic mission from one of its spirits: “You must cross the water to save the bear, heal the devil, find your sister, and help your son unite your land!” Elsewhere, the rulers of the Scandinavian countries plot their alliances and futures. Denmark’s king, Svein Forkbeard, favors his elder son, Harald, as his heir, but he asks Thorkell the Tall, a warrior of renown, to train his younger son, Canute. In Canute, Thorkell sees the potential for greatness, but his wife, the powerful witch Hekka, has her own plans for Norway. Intrigue abounds as Thorkell and Gunnhilde, queen of Denmark, struggle to suppress their mutual attraction. Svein, meanwhile, aims to marry the widow Sigrid of Uppland, whose son is heir to the Swedish throne. Somehow, Fox manages to juggle all of these many and varied storylines with grace and even finds room to write evocatively of real-life customs and rituals of the time and place in which his characters live. The depiction of Beltane, an ancient May Day celebration, is especially vivid. Along the way, the author also artfully embroiders the novel with plenty of historical, cultural, and even religious context; for example, after a fight with a Russian warrior that partly hinges on the definition of the term “Viking,” Thorkell announces to his men, “We can either be Vikings or vassals of Rome, never both.”
An impressive and intricate novel that’s rich in character and full of action.Pub Date: March 12, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 420
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
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
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