nonfiction

CAINE’S LAW
Stover, Matthew
Del Rey/Ballantine (496 pp.)
$16.00 paperback | Apr. 3, 2012
978-0-345-45589-5
Continuing the blended fantasy/science
fiction adventures of Stover’s homicidal
antihero (Caine Black Knife, 2008, etc.).
If you’re unfamiliar with the Caine saga,
the first 100 pages offer a rapid-shuffle blur
of riotous confusion, but patient readers
eventually will grasp that the near-future Earth is a disastrously
overpopulated, caste-ridden dictatorship whose instrument of
control is the dreaded Social Police. The downtrodden masses
dream of escaping to Overworld, a planet accessible via advanced
technology where magic works and fantasy tropes like dragons and
elves are real. However, only Actors trained in violence and magic,
equipped with “thoughtmitters” that beam back virtual-reality live
access to their experiences, get to go there. Actor Caine, under
multiple identities, has been making mayhem at his sponsors’ bidding
for more than 50 years, battling gods, demons, enemies and
friends alike. Perpetually bruised and battered, he survives only
through healing magic and his indomitable will. When we first
meet him, he’s a prisoner and crippled, about to receive an infusion
of black-oil god-ichor. Eventually, however, he will meet the horsewitch,
a mysteriously gifted immortal who remembers everything,
even events that have “unhappened,” and whom various factions
want to kill. The horse-witch, in passages of remarkable tenderness,
helps Caine begin to understand the turmoil of conflicting
impulses and rage that form his soul—and that, contrary to popular
belief, what matters is not gods deserving of better people,
but that people deserve better gods. And when he discovers that
reality itself has been altered, he decides it’s time to make some
changes of his own. Expect multiple plot threads that loop wildly
and unpredictably between past and present, expletive-laden dialogue,
havoc, torture and mass destruction. For starters.
Brutal, witty, insightful, addictive, frequently baffling
and altogether astonishing. (Agent: Howard Morhaim)
RAGE OF THE DRAGON
Weis, Margaret & Hickman, Tracy
Tor (368 pp.)
$25.99 | Apr. 24, 2012
978-0-7653-1975-3
Weis and Hickman (Secret of the Dragon,
2010, etc.), co-authors of more than a
dozen fantasy novels in the popular Dragonlance
series and the seven-part Death
Gate Cycle, among other works, again
team up for the third book in their Dragonships
of Vindras series.
The story, which began with 2009’s Bones of the Dragon, continues
as Skylan Ivorson and his Vindrasi warriors press on in their
seafaring search for four of the fabled five Vektia spiritbones, in
order to keep the insurgent Gods of the New Dawn from defeating
Torval and the Old Gods. They again battle their treacherous
enemy Raegar (who, like Skylan, has a magical dragonship with a
summonable dragon) and tackle new dangers, including a monstrous,
tentacled kraken. They also encounter the pacifist and
matriarchal Aquin sea-people, who have built an impressive city
deep inside a mountain. This entry offers few surprises, but the
battle scenes are lively. It can be a bit plodding at times—particularly
in a long section centering on the bland Raegar—and readers
may wish for more dragon battles, or more world-building detail
regarding the Aquins. But a late plot twist will leave fans of the
series eager for the next entry.
A middling fantasy adventure that will appeal mainly
to the authors’ longtime fans.
nonfiction
These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
THE OCCUPY HANDBOOK by Janet Byrne ................................. p. 810
FREEDOM’S FORGE by Arthur Herman .....................................p. 820
DREAM NEW DREAMS by Jai Pausch .........................................p. 828
WHAT MONEY CAN’T BUY by Michael J. Sandel ...................... p. 831
ERNIE K-DOE by Ben Sandmel ..................................................... p. 832
DREAM NEW
DREAMS
Reimagining My
Life After Loss
Pausch, Jai
Crown Archetype
(288 pp.)
$24.00
May 15, 2012
978-0-307-88850-1
JASMINE AND FIRE
A Bittersweet Year in Beirut
Abdelnour, Salma
Broadway (304 pp.)
$14.00 paperback | Jun. 5, 2012
978-0-307-88594-4
978-0-307-88595-1 e-book
A food-focused travel memoir through
the streets of Beirut.
Although she fled Beirut as a child
during the Lebanese civil war, food writer
Abdelnour never forgot the city or the sense of longing she felt
to return. Disgruntled by her inability to feel at home in America
despite 30 years in the country, the author left her friends,
career and love interest in New York City to spend a year in her
parents’ Beirut apartment. She was determined to reconnect
with her roots. Relatives and old friends who remained in the
country during the war eased the transition from one city to
the other. By taking daily walks through her old neighborhood,
the author slowly felt the essence of Beirut sinking into her
pores. Detailed street descriptions allow readers to meander
with the author as she widens her berth, exploring new sections
of the war-ravaged city. Abdelnour places special emphasis on
the Lebanese food she ate on her walks or was served at one of
the many family gatherings she attended. An expanding social
circle of new friends and the ability to write about Lebanon
helped her accept her background while maintaining her American
identity. Despite the political unrest of the region, Abdelnour
found peace in her new surroundings. Having embraced
her Lebanese culture fully, the author realized she carried the
sense of home inside her and ultimately returned to New York
to live, at least for most of the year. Though the book includes
recipes, a street map would have been a useful addition.
Recommended for readers of food memoirs and those
interested in Lebanon.
806 | 15 april 2012 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com |
| kirkusreviews.com | nonfiction | 15 april 2012 | 807