A relentlessly paced and audaciously violent thrill ride through a richly described urban landscape.
In the final volume of Eliott’s Shadow Bidder trilogy, an ambitious assassin must bring together a dangerous team to complete a deadly mission.
The once-glorious city of Sullward, now known as Hell’s Labyrinth, is at a crossroads, as is the entire Tergonian Empire. High Lord Ulan Gueritus, a power-hungry sadist (nicknamed the Raving Blade) prepares to consolidate his allies and bring tyranny to the fallen city, and time is running out for Vazeer the Lash, a killer who was commissioned to assassinate the notorious underworld boss. Vazeer has dreams of rebuilding the coastal locale, which was destroyed centuries earlier in a cataclysm called the Great Storm, and bringing it back to its former cultural grandeur. To accomplish his task of killing the Blade, he’ll need to unite a group of elite criminals, some of whom want Vazeer dead. Complicating matters further are Vazeer’s intimate connections with numerous women, including a former lover, the deadly contract killer Terza Falconbrow; a killer named Shade of Night, who’s preoccupied with having sex with and torturing Vazeer (sometimes simultaneously); and a mysterious woman who could be a legendary actress with an almost mythical reputation. Although the book’s exploration of the complex character dynamics slows the momentum in places, there’s a lot to enjoy about this novel. The worldbuilding is extraordinary, meticulously describing the current fallen city but also giving readers valuable insights into Sullward’s and the Empire’s backstory, particularly through the device of a former empress’ memoir.
Complementing the razor-sharp worldbuilding is the author’s use of varied sensory description, which immerses readers in the dark and dangerous world to create an intimate and intense reading experience: “There was a loud knock on the front door… a sound so concussive it felt like being struck on the side of a metal helmet with a club, and my eyes snapped violently open.” Another noteworthy element is the depth of the writing, which can be likened to a complex narrative tapestry. Throughout the complex characterization and immersive atmospherics, the author weaves in subtle imagery, symbolism, and philosophical components, which give the novel a poetic sheen: “Time is a blade that will claim us all in the end. Before that day comes, let the sharp steel of your own dream razor a pathway to the light.” However, the biggest potential selling point is the offbeat nature of the story as a whole. In a genre that often embraces stereotypical characters and formulaic plotlines, Eliott’s narrative features a cast of original and memorable players, an impressive number of unexpected plot twists, and a conclusion that is as unpredictable as what preceded it. Readers may also find the circular nature of the story—which ends with powerful imagery that calls back to the opening scene—to be perfectly fitting. Ultimately, this trilogy could effectively serve as a prequel of sorts—a foundation to a more expansive story arc, both in terms of scope and theme.
A relentlessly paced and audaciously violent thrill ride through a richly described urban landscape.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9798986706566
Page Count: 518
Publisher: Further Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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