At the Table of Wolves

Starred review from May 8, 2017
Veteran SF/F author Kenyon turns to historical paranormal fantasy in this compelling recreation of an alternate 1936 Britain rife with espionage, intrigue, and moral ambiguities. Idealistic young journalist Kim Tavistock, raised in America but now settled into her father’s stately home in Yorkshire, grapples with the suspicion that her father may be, like many of his aristocratic class, a Nazi sympathizer. King Edward will soon abandon the throne for “that woman,” Wallis Simpson, who is herself dangerously close to Erich von Ritter, a character loosely based on the seductive real-life Nazi agent Joachim von Ribbentrop. Kenyon adds enormous fuel to this smoldering prewar scene with the bloom, a sudden appearance in 1918 of psychic talents affecting about one in 1,000 people. It’s suggested that this manifestation was produced by the mass trauma of the Great War. Kim’s psychic gift is spill, which causes others to reveal their deepest secrets to her. The Nazis are a decade ahead of the British in finding military uses for psychics, and Kim is drawn into a quixotic attempt to foil a Nazi plan for invading England, risking her heart and her life in the “tawdry, morally wretched” game of spying. Kenyon’s finely tuned historical atmospherics and her sure-handed development of even minor characters make this novel a superb adventure, worthy to launch a distinguished historical fantasy series.

June 15, 2017

Kim Tavistock possesses a hidden power known as the spill. People can't help but reveal their secrets to her, but she has very little control over when and how she uses her ability. Which is a shame, because it would sure come in handy when she tries to unmask Nazi agents operating in the heart of 1936 London. And when those agents also have paranormal powers and are plotting an invasion, England's very survival may be in jeopardy. Kenyon's ("The Entire and The Rose" series) focus is very much on creating a wartime spy thriller, and in that she succeeds. However, she could have spent more time developing her characters and exploring the consequences of their psychic abilities. VERDICT Fans of Connie Willis and V.E. Schwab should appreciate this historical fantasy, set in a pre-World War II Britain.--Laurel Bliss, San Diego State Univ. Lib.

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