A beloved cornerstone of the genre brought vividly to life through striking illustrations.
An ambitious young wizard embarks on a perilous quest to correct a mistake made from hubris in this graphic adaptation of Le Guin’s well-loved 1968 classic.
Duny is nearly 13 when he’s visited by Ogion the Silent, a mage who gives him his true name, Ged, a coming-of-age milestone. As Ogion’s apprentice, Ged begins his long journey of understanding the consequences of magic and the importance of maintaining the world’s balance. Ged studies wizardry at the School of Roke, where he performs a spell summoning the dead and calls up an evil shadow force that starts following him. Ged must defeat it before it can take over his body and use him to enact dark magic. Fordham’s watercolor-style art brings the story’s world to life, beautifully portraying seaside villages, starlit nights, the stone-walled school, and more. Wordless spreads seamlessly propel the plot, as when Ged battles fierce flying dragons off the coast of Pendor. While the story moves quickly, visual clues such as changing seasons signal Ged’s growth and the passage of time. The concise narration and dialogue enhance the story’s drama. A preface by Theo Downes-Le Guin, the author’s son, discusses the intentionality and mindfulness behind the illustrations, as for example, in the portrayal of Ged as “a young copper-skinned man” rather than the “white, often middle-aged man” shown in other versions, which Le Guin felt betrayed her original vision.
A beloved cornerstone of the genre brought vividly to life through striking illustrations. (map) (Graphic fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063285767
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
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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