Dear writers: Please be aware of ongoing scams by agent impersonators. Use extra caution with any unsolicited offers from agents. Reputable agents will not ask for upfront fees of any kind. For more information, look at sites such as Writer Beware (https://writerbeware.blog/). Please always check email addresses/spellings. All official emails from Donald Maass Literary Agency will come from an address that ends in @maassagency.com (2 A's, 2 S's in MAASS).

Starred Review: Second Spear by Kerstin Hall

Feb 252022
 

Booklist: The second book in Hall’s Mkalis Cycle will not disappoint readers of her standout fantasy The Border Keeper (2019). When readers reenter this rich, complex world of twisting godly politics and rule-based realms, Hall zooms them in on Tyn. She’s still recovering from the last book’s events, hurt and reeling, trying to balance new revelations with her loyalty to Res Lfae, ruler of Tahmais. When a lying villain with an impossible weapon comes to her realm to tear it apart, Tyn has to band together with the reticent First Spear Vehn, who hates her, and the cynical Rion, who’s still new to Mkalis and completely lost. All three characters go through convincing transformations in this eerie, suspenseful story based in Hall’s deeply unsettling world that gleams at the corners. The scenes are cinematically visceral, with pages soaked in sensory detail, atmosphere, and the tense promise of danger lurking at the edges of every rule-bound realm. Readers will feel they’re dropped into the story—and that will undoubtedly make their skin crawl, in all the right ways. This horror-fantasy will have readers waiting impatiently for the next volume in Hall’s dark series.

 February 25, 2022  Tagged with: ,

Review: Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett

Feb 212022
 

Publishers Weekly: Gods collide in the high octane finale to Bennett’s epic fantasy Founders Trilogy,… Bennett advances the plot precipitously and raises his characters’ power levels to the “nigh-incomprehensible,” but the grounding themes of family and love as Sancia and Berenice risk their happiness to save the world, are what readers will take away.

 February 21, 2022  Tagged with: ,

Review: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

Jan 072022
 
Locus: I’ve seen Darcie Little Badger’s A Snake Falls to Earth described as young-adult fantasy and young-adult science fiction, but it’s really young-adult Indigenous futurism.

In a novel full of remarkable things, one of the most remarkable is the narrative itself….The way Little Badger jumped between Oli and Nina, between first and third person, between mainstream and traditional narratives, is really quite something. It should feel jarring and disjointed, but it doesn’t. It flows seamlessly while also letting the structure act almost like a third main character.

Even the endings – Oli’s, Nina’s, and the book as a whole – show the depth of Little Badger’s vast talent. Throughout A Snake Falls to Earth, Nina and Oli encounter inexplicable things or mysterious animal people, but they never let their curiosity intrude on another person’s life. They recognize that they don’t need to have the answers to all their questions in order to be able to empathize, make wise decisions, or behave in a socially responsible manner. They can be respectful without analyzing or critiquing. Sometimes we can just let things be as they are without demanding “why” and “how.” These are not plot holes or loose threads but a clever, powerful way to bring Little Badger”s cultural storytelling traditions into a Western medium.

If Elatsoe was a ten out of ten, then A Snake Falls to Earth is a solid 11. This book could have been twice as long and I still would have begged for more. Although aimed at a young-adult audience, it has the kind of easy appeal and heartfelt tone that will entice younger kids and older adults as well. Anyone reading or buying YA needs to add this to their shelves immediately.

 January 7, 2022  Tagged with: ,

Starred Review: Howl by Shaun David Hutchinson

Jan 062022
 

Booklist: Shortly after moving from Seattle to his father’s hometown of Merritt, Florida, Virgil Knox, 15, is attacked by a monster. Barely clinging to his sanity and bleeding copiously from his injuries, he makes his way to a parking lot and collapses. In spite of his wounds, however, people either don’t believe him, laugh at him, or say he asked for it by walking alone in a deserted area at night, and when he starts school, the pranks and teasing are nonstop. Virgil relives the attack at the slightest trigger, but all anyone tells him is to get over it. Virgil has more to worry about, however; he wonders whether he will become a monster as well. Hutchinson is known for offbeat, edgy books, and this is no exception. Convincing, well-rounded characters come to life in Hutchinson’s lyrical, punchy writing, and his skills for maintaining suspense and intrigue mean the story never drags. There are echoes of a werewolf story here, but Virgil’s experiences after the monster attack mirror the treatment of victims of sexual assault, which adds a dynamic level to the story. As Virgil starts to make connections in his new home, from irrepressible classmate Tripp to his seemingly dour grandmother, he realizes that he has more choices than he thought. Hutchinson never misses a beat in this gripping, dynamic novel.

 January 6, 2022  Tagged with: ,

Review: Crowbones by Anne Bishop

Dec 082021
 

Library Journal: A new entry (following Lake Silence) in Bishop’s “World of the Others” urban fantasy series set in an alternate North America. It’s Trickster Night in Lake Silence, a celebration of ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. Lake Silence is a mostly human settlement in an area controlled by the terra indigene, or the Others (a group of supernatural beings and cryptids), making Trickster Night a perfect chance to generate tourism from humans who want to walk a bit closer to the real wild side. It’s all fun and games and just a bit of a fright, until someone uses those small fears to turn humans and terra indigene against each other in order to cause trouble and learn how to get the better of the powerful Others. It’s up to the human storyteller, the police chief, and the local vampire leader to figure out what’s gone rotten in town before the overseeing council sweeps in with a permanent and deadly solution.

VERDICT A compelling exploration of manipulative personalities, small town murders, and the lengths to which these fascinating and beloved characters will go in order to protect one of their own.

 December 8, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly

Dec 072021
 

Kirkus: Can perfume kill?

Scent is everything in Donnelly’s unique, voluptuous thriller. Not only does suave antihero Vic Fowler analyze the mix of odors emanating from every person and place he encounters; Donnelly’s introductory list of characters describes them in terms of their “base notes.” She opens each chapter with an analysis of its content in scent—for example, Chapter 1: “Notes de Tête: Whiskey, Jasmine, Oakmoss. Notes de Cœur: Old Cigarettes and Stale Coffee. Notes de Fond: Mildew, Charcoal, Barbicide.” The death of iconoclastic perfume magnate Jonathan Bright has left his company, Bright House, in tatters under the stewardship of Vic, his lover and protégé. Vic’s brilliant invention is a line of perfumes that allows the wearer to relive memories. Down at the heels and subletting a bas ement apartment in Harlem, Vic is determined to use his considerable charm and sex appeal to return to his former glory and exact revenge upon Joseph Eisner, the man he blames for bringing him low. As Vic is implicated in both Jonathan’s death and the disappearances of wealthy Conrad and Caroline Yates, dogged detective Pip Miles lurks in methodical pursuit of the truth. Details of those crimes are doled out in tidbits over hundreds of pages. Vic accepts a commission from Eisner to devise a fatal scent and, with an offbeat trio of sexy sidekicks—bartender, barber, and tailor—hopes to use it as the vehicle of his vengeance. Donnelly offers physical descriptions nearly as rich as the olfactory, and she colorfully depicts a pre-Covid New York City, heavy with detail and likely to trigger nostalgia. But her plot moves at a glacial pace. The question for readers to ponder: Is the journey luscious enough to mitigate a long-delayed destination?

Manhattan’s beau monde served up in juicy, evocative prose.

 December 7, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly

Dec 022021
 

Publishers Weekly: New York City perfumer Vic Fowler, the narrator of this clever standalone from Donnelly (the Amberlough Dossier series), has a somewhat less respectable sideline—murder for hire. To save his financially strapped perfume business, Vic accepts a contract from Joseph Eisner to kill the three partners in Eisner’s asset management company. A further condition is that before Vic disposes of the victims’ bodies, he must produce a fragrance that evokes a particular memory in Eisner, a task Vic has no idea if he can accomplish. Vic’s previous victim was Caroline Yates, whose death was ordered by her husband, a partner of Eisner and now one of Eisner’s intended targets. When an investigator comes to interview Vic about Caroline’s disappearance, Vic knows he can no longer do Eisner’s job himself without raising suspicion. He decides to find three other people to carry out the murders. Whom he picks and how he convinces them to do his bidding develops into a fascinating psychological drama. This intoxicating thriller keeps the reader guessing. With luck, Vic will be back for an encore.

 December 2, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Horror Hotel by Faith McClaren and Victoria Fulton

Nov 232021
 

Kirkus: Creepy hotel managers, jump scares, and an overall eerie atmosphere are entertaining, and the plot moves swiftly…. A brief, engaging, and at times grisly mystery that will keep readers guessing.

 

 November 23, 2021  Tagged with: ,
 Older Entries  Newer Entries