June 26, 2023
Carrick, the pseudonym for author duo Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, sends out the Rook & Rose trilogy (after The Liar’s Knot) with a laborious epic fantasy. Heroine Ren has spent the series wearing many masks, but now they all fall off as the secrets of the city of Nadežra gradually come to light. The city is buckling under an ancient curse with a mysterious connection to a set of lost medallions that Ren and her allies, Capt. Grey Serrado of the city Vigil and crime lord Derossi Varg, set out to gather and destroy. Meanwhile, Grey’s old demons return—this time in the flesh. There are so many dominos set up in the previous books that need to fall, and the unfortunate result of the author’s diligently hitting them all is glacial pacing and a lack of suspense in the ultimate showdown. The third act is especially slow going, eaten up by overly detailed discussions of tarot card spreads. The result is an arduous trek through a murky world. Agents: for Brennan, Eddie Schneider, Jabberwocky; for Helms, Paul Stevens, DMLA.
June 10, 2024
Narrator Nikki Massoud paints a richly textured audioscape enlivening the conclusion to M.A. Carrick's (pseudonym of the team Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms) "Rook & Rose" trilogy. In a city suggestive of Venice, with politics mirroring those of a Renaissance Italian court, con artist Ren has attached herself to a noble house by pretending to be a long-lost relative. While attempting to secure a fortune for herself and her sister, she has become reluctantly entangled with a vigilante and a crime lord who enmesh her in aristocratic feuding, dangerous magic, and the violence of an underclass yearning to break free of the foreign nobility who rule the city. With shifting accents and tones, Massoud conveys the different personas Ren adopts during her long game. Massoud ably handles Carrick's intricately built world, including the complex names and vocabulary relating to numinatria, the sacred numerology that underpins this magical society. The glossary and list of characters found in the print edition are not included in the recording, which is a loss. VERDICT Recommended for those who enjoy fantasy in the vein of Lee Bardugo's Six of Crows, Foz Meadows's "Tithenai Chronicles," or E.E. Holmes's "Riftmagic Saga" series.--David Faucheux
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