A romantic maritime epic and a charming tribute to mapmakers, calligraphers, and explorers.
Mysterious maps from opposite ends of the sea cast doubt on the whereabouts of two princes, long presumed dead.
Nineteen-year-old Lord Elias, whose father, Lord Antoni, was the Royal Navigator of the kingdom of St. John del Mar, is summoned by the king, his dear friend Ulises, to examine two recently created maps that have just been discovered. They bear no identifying cartouches and yet they have unmistakably been painted by his late father. Even stranger, they hint that not only Lord Antoni, but also the rightful heirs to the throne are still alive. Eighteen years ago, Elias’ father disappeared and the royal princes were kidnapped by the neighboring kingdom of Mondrago. Eager to find Lord Antoni and the king’s brothers, Elias, Ulises, and Mercedes, Ulises’ beautiful and capable cousin, chase clues gleaned from the parchments, traveling to distant lands through serpent-infested waters only to suspect that the biggest threat to their kingdom lies within their own castle walls. Elias has long, wavy, sun-lightened brown hair, while Mercedes, half Mondragan, half del Marian, struggles with the disdain of her countrymen; she has black hair and golden skin, however her green eyes and freckles are a sign of her Mondragan ancestry.
A romantic maritime epic and a charming tribute to mapmakers, calligraphers, and explorers. (Fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-96857-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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
Sanderson (Legion, 2018, etc.) plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too.
Eager to prove herself, the daughter of a flier disgraced for cowardice hurls herself into fighter pilot training to join a losing war against aliens.
Plainly modeled as a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Conan the Barbarian (“I bathed in fires of destruction and reveled in the screams of the defeated. I didn’t get afraid”), Spensa “Spin” Nightshade leaves her previous occupation—spearing rats in the caverns of the colony planet Detritus for her widowed mother’s food stand—to wangle a coveted spot in the Defiant Defense Force’s flight school. Opportunities to exercise wild recklessness and growing skill begin at once, as the class is soon in the air, battling the mysterious Krell raiders who have driven people underground. Spensa, who is assumed white, interacts with reasonably diverse human classmates with varying ethnic markers. M-Bot, a damaged AI of unknown origin, develops into a comical sidekick: “Hello!...You have nearly died, and so I will say something to distract you from the serious, mind-numbing implications of your own mortality! I hate your shoes.” Meanwhile, hints that all is not as it seems, either with the official story about her father or the whole Krell war in general, lead to startling revelations and stakes-raising implications by the end. Stay tuned. Maps and illustrations not seen.
Sanderson (Legion, 2018, etc.) plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too. (Science fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-55577-0
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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