If the bleak world Lozen’s people and their allies have inherited is deeply scarred, this gripping saga suggests that where...
In the series’ third volume, Lozen—now healed of her deadly sickness—vows not to take another human life even as dangerous enemies stalk the residents and refugees of Valley Where First Light Paints the Cliffs, who depend on her to keep them safe.
As she turns from killing, Lozen discovers she can gather great power in her hands and direct it as needed when, through her growing ability to communicate mind to mind, she perceives deadly enemies bent on her community’s destruction. One of Haven’s four overlords is dead and the Dreamer has become an ally, but the Jester and Lady Time retain formidable powers and an implacable hatred for their former servants, Lozen especially. And Luther Little Wound—a cruel, solitary killer—survives, a fearsome enemy. Lozen draws strength from her life partner, Hussein; from the bibliophilic Dreamer; from the strange creature Hally; and from the land itself, home of her Chiricahua ancestors, including the first Lozen. Their stories, her birthright, ground and sustain her, imparting valuable life lessons. Lozen’s one of literature’s rare female superheroes: a down-to-earth leader whose crushing burden of responsibility is leavened by humility, humor, and a willingness to ask for help and accept advice. Her multidimensional journey has evolved with the series.
If the bleak world Lozen’s people and their allies have inherited is deeply scarred, this gripping saga suggests that where change is possible, hope for the future remains. (Science fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: June 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62014-330-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tu Books
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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