Requiem

April 29, 2013
After three books (Lamentation, Canticle, and Antiphon) and a three-year break, Scholes resumes the Psalms of Isaak series with this intricate adventure. Rudolfo, the Gypsy King, deals with political intrigue, treachery, and the constant threat of the Y’Zirite armies. Isaak, the wayward mechoservitor, is found by the farmgirl Marta. Pope Petronus delves into ancient secrets, laying bare the layers of myth stretching over the centuries. Rumors and prophecies suggest that soon the long-broken world will be healed at last. Fitting with the frequent incorporation of dreams into the story, the narrative has a removed, almost hallucinatory feel; even when things happen, they happen in nebulous ways. Science fiction and fantasy elements overlap seamlessly, bringing Scholes’s far-future post-apocalyptic world to life in captivating detail. While new readers will be lost in the myriad plotlines, characters, and alien concepts, fans will undoubtedly enjoy this continuation of the saga. Agent: Jennifer Jackson, the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Starred review from May 1, 2013
The long-awaited fourth and penultimate installment of the sci-fi/fantasy saga The Psalms of Isaak (Antiphon, 2010, etc.) takes off running and doesn't stop. A generations-spanning plan has borne its violent fruit, and the Y'Zirites, an empire of religious zealots who believe that ritual bloodletting and scarification "heal the world," are on the verge of conquering the Named Lands. However, various factions of resistance are prepared to make their last stand. The remaining armies plot one final, devastating act of sabotage. In accordance with a message from her long-dead grandfather, Lady Jin Li Tam intends to assassinate Y'Zir's mysterious Crimson Empress. Jin's husband, Gypsy King Rudolfo, pretends to collaborate with the conquerors while secretly plotting their defeat. Meanwhile, Jin's father, Vlad Li Tam, now possessed of a devastating magical artifact, pursues his own terrible purpose in Y'Zir. And those are only some of the threads of a complexly woven story (others include exploring the ruins of a highly advanced civilization on the moon and the desperate flight of an amnesiac mechoservitor and the little girl who loves him). Jumping into the series at this point is decidedly inadvisable, but readers of previous volumes will be enthralled--and entirely occupied with keeping track of which side everyone's on, as the genuine and the elaborately faked betrayals pile up. As various parts of the epic's plotlines become clearer, motivations become murkier; it's still anyone's guess how this will end. Exciting, dizzying, heartbreaking.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 15, 2013

The Named Lands find no end to conflict, as the Y'Zrite faithful battle followers of the Androfrancine Order, and Rudolfo, the Gypsy King, tries to maneuver through a minefield of intrigue and politics. But his wife and infant son are endangered by a member of his household, and the mechaservitor Isaak is believed destroyed in an underground explosion. VERDICT The latest novel in "The Psalms of Isaak" series (Lamentation; Canticle; Antiphon) takes the action and political machinations a step higher in terms of complexity and subtlety. While newcomers should start with the first book, series fans should have no trouble keeping up. A glossary of people, places, and terms provides useful definitions, particularly for those fresh to the series.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
This is the fourth installment in a projected five-part series; if you're coming in cold, you may want to familiarize yourself with the preceding three books first, as the author jumps right in, providing minimal backstory on the myriad characters and plotlines. The series is set in a postapocalyptic future, one in which technology and magic mix (sometimes uneasily). In the beginning (Lamentation, 2009), a terrible weapon destroyed Windwir, the Named Lands' most important city, and an assortment of characters set out to determine who was responsible. Multiple story lines have taken various characters off in their own directions in subsequent volumes, and, now, in the penultimate book, we begin to see that some of the stories are coming back together. An entertaining mixture of magical fantasy and postapocalyptic SF, which boasts a highly detailed world and finely drawn characters, this latest chapter finds the fate of the Named Lands, now conquered by the mysterious Crimson Empress, and of Isaak, the artificial man at the center of it all, still very much up in the air. Fans will be clamoring for the series finale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)