It ends with one princess in exile and the other separated from her true love; whether there’s a sequel to wrap up the...
A tale of two princesses and a fair amount of magic.
Ailsbet is a princess of Rurik, and Marlissa—Issa—is a princess of Weirland, two island kingdoms not quite at war with each other. Issa is strong in neweyr, women’s magic of the Earth and growing things; Ailsbet, who thought herself unweyr, without magic, turns out to be strong in taweyr, men’s magic of blood, death and war. Taweyr in a woman makes her ekhono—tainted—and thus considered worthy of burning by Ailsbet’s father, King Haikor, who rules capriciously and with the power of his own taweyr. However, he betroths her to Lord Umber of Weirland, and Ailsbet’s younger brother to Issa, as the king hopes to combine both kingdoms under his own iron rule. For most of the book, the two princesses circle around each other; after 400 pages, there is a stopping point but no resolution. There’s a certain amount of murderous violence and a small amount of kissing, both oddly passionless. What passion there is comes in Ailsbet’s love for her flute and the making of music, which is delineated beautifully and boldly, as is the overwhelming response Ailsbet has to her taweyr in a hunt in which she takes down a stag. Talk about duty and honor, about laying aside one’s feelings for the good of the kingdom and about not knowing one’s self or one’s companions dominates, though.
It ends with one princess in exile and the other separated from her true love; whether there’s a sequel to wrap up the dangling plotlines is unclear. Also unclear is whether readers will want it. (Fantasy. 11-15)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-60684-365-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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
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
SEEN & HEARD
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