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Dark Talents #3
Nest of the Monarch
Kim Tavistock, undercover in Berlin as the wife of a British diplomat, uncovers a massive conspiracy that could change the course of the war—and she’s the only one in position to stop it in the electrifying conclusion to the Dark Talents series.
November, 1936. Kim Tavistock is in Berlin on her first Continental mission for SIS, the British intelligence service. Her a sham marriage to a handsome, ambitious British consul. Kim makes the diplomatic party circuit with him, hobnobbing with Nazi officials, hoping for a spill that will unlock a secret operation called Monarch. Berlin is a glittering city celebrating Germany’s resurgence, but Nazi brutality darkens the lives of many. When Kim befriends Hannah Linz, a member of the Jewish resistance, she sets in motion events that will bring her into the center of a vast conspiracy.
Forging an alliance with Hannah and her partisans, Kim discovers the alarming purpose of Monarch: the creation of a company of enforcers with augmented Talents and strange appetites. Called the Progeny, they have begun to compel citizen obedience with physical and spiritual terror. Soon Kim is swept up in a race to stop the coming deployment of the Progeny into Europe. Aligned against her are forces she could never have foreseen, including the very intelligence service she loves; a Russian woman, the queen of all Talents, who fled the Bolsheviks in 1917; and the ruthless SS officer whose dominance and rare charisma may lead to Kim’s downfall. To stop Monarch and the subversion of Europe, she must do more than use her Talent, wits, and courage. She must step into the abyss of unbounded power, even to the point of annihilation. Does the human race have limits? Kim does not want to know the answer. But it is coming.
November, 1936. Kim Tavistock is in Berlin on her first Continental mission for SIS, the British intelligence service. Her a sham marriage to a handsome, ambitious British consul. Kim makes the diplomatic party circuit with him, hobnobbing with Nazi officials, hoping for a spill that will unlock a secret operation called Monarch. Berlin is a glittering city celebrating Germany’s resurgence, but Nazi brutality darkens the lives of many. When Kim befriends Hannah Linz, a member of the Jewish resistance, she sets in motion events that will bring her into the center of a vast conspiracy.
Forging an alliance with Hannah and her partisans, Kim discovers the alarming purpose of Monarch: the creation of a company of enforcers with augmented Talents and strange appetites. Called the Progeny, they have begun to compel citizen obedience with physical and spiritual terror. Soon Kim is swept up in a race to stop the coming deployment of the Progeny into Europe. Aligned against her are forces she could never have foreseen, including the very intelligence service she loves; a Russian woman, the queen of all Talents, who fled the Bolsheviks in 1917; and the ruthless SS officer whose dominance and rare charisma may lead to Kim’s downfall. To stop Monarch and the subversion of Europe, she must do more than use her Talent, wits, and courage. She must step into the abyss of unbounded power, even to the point of annihilation. Does the human race have limits? Kim does not want to know the answer. But it is coming.
449 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 2019
11 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Kay Kenyon
43 books254 followersKay Kenyon is a fantasy and science fiction author. She is now working on her 21st novel, a fantasy. She has been a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award and several others and recently had a trilogy optioned for film, The Dark Talents: At the Table of Wolves.
Her newest fantasy series is The Arisen Worlds quartet. Book 1, The Girl Who Fell Into Myth, Book 2, Stranger in the Twisted Realm, Book 3, Servant of the Lost Power and Book 4, Keeper of the Mythos Gate. "A story of powers and magic on a grand scale.” —Louisa Morgan, author of The Secret History of Witches.
Her acclaimed 4-book series, The Entire and The Rose, has been reissued with new covers: Bright of the Sky. Called "a splendid fantasy quest" by The Washington Post.
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at http://www.kaykenyon.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.
Her newest fantasy series is The Arisen Worlds quartet. Book 1, The Girl Who Fell Into Myth, Book 2, Stranger in the Twisted Realm, Book 3, Servant of the Lost Power and Book 4, Keeper of the Mythos Gate. "A story of powers and magic on a grand scale.” —Louisa Morgan, author of The Secret History of Witches.
Her acclaimed 4-book series, The Entire and The Rose, has been reissued with new covers: Bright of the Sky. Called "a splendid fantasy quest" by The Washington Post.
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at http://www.kaykenyon.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 29, 2019
You may recall that I really enjoyed Kay Kenyon's alternate history fantasy novels, At the Table of Wolves and Serpent in the Heather. And while the first installment was an introduction to what appeared to be a vaster and more ambitious tale, the second volume was even better. Building on the events and storylines from its predecessor, the author raised the bar higher and elevated this series to another level. So when I realized that Nest of the Monarch was about to be published and I had yet to receive a review copy, I was quick to contact Kenyon so the situation could be rectified.
And having now read the third installment, it feels as though Kenyon's Dark Talents series just might be the genre's best-kept secret of recent years. And to think that at first I was concerned that it would be too similar to Ian Tregillis' excellent Milkweed Triptych trilogy, which to this day remains one of the very best speculative fiction series of the new millennium. The premise might bear resemblance to that of Tregillis, yet the plot is completely different. What both series do have in common, however, is the fact that they are decidedly underappreciated and almost criminally unread by the masses. Do yourself a favor and check out both series if you haven't already. You'll thank me!
Here's the blurb:
Kim Tavistock, undercover in Berlin as the wife of a British diplomat, uncovers a massive conspiracy that could change the course of the war—and she’s the only one in position to stop it in the electrifying conclusion to the Dark Talents series.
November, 1936. Kim Tavistock is in Berlin on her first Continental mission for SIS, the British intelligence service. Her cover: a sham marriage to a handsome, ambitious British consul. Kim makes the diplomatic party circuit with him, hobnobbing with Nazi officials, hoping for a spill that will unlock a secret operation called Monarch. Berlin is a glittering city celebrating Germany’s resurgence, but Nazi brutality darkens the lives of many. When Kim befriends Hannah Linz, a member of the Jewish resistance, she sets in motion events that will bring her into the center of a vast conspiracy.
Forging an alliance with Hannah and her partisans, Kim discovers the alarming purpose of Monarch: the creation of a company of enforcers with augmented Talents and strange appetites. Called the Progeny, they have begun to compel citizen obedience with physical and spiritual terror. Soon Kim is swept up in a race to stop the coming deployment of the Progeny into Europe. Aligned against her are forces she could never have foreseen, including the very intelligence service she loves; a Russian woman, the queen of all Talents, who fled the Bolsheviks in 1917; and the ruthless SS officer whose dominance and rare charisma may lead to Kim’s downfall. To stop Monarch and the subversion of Europe, she must do more than use her Talent, wits, and courage. She must step into the abyss of unbounded power, even to the point of annihilation. Does the human race have limits? Kim does not want to know the answer. But it is coming.
In my reviews of the first two installments, I opined that the worldbuilding was very interesting and opened up countless possibilities. No one knows how the bloom came about, but it is widely believed that the deaths and the suffering engendered by the first World War generated the birth of the Talents, those supernatural abilities in ordinary men and women, especially in the countries which dealt with the Great War. The action occurs a few months following the events of Serpent in the Heather. Needless to say, 1936 has been a busy and crazy year for Kim Tavistock. The Nazis have risen to power and Germany is rearming, preparing for the great conflict to come. The British, with their heads still up their asses for the most part, now seem willing to at least face the fact that war appears to be coming again. And although they have begun their own program and are making good progress, they remain far behind the Germans in terms of training people with Talents for warfare. Reading the first two volumes, it felt as though there was so much room for growth concerning the Talents and I was looking forward to see what Kenyon had in store for her readers in that regard. What we saw in At the Table of Wolves barely scratched the surface and the potential for more was enormous.
And although we do learn more about Talents in general in both Serpent in the Heather and Nest of the Monarch, the sad truth remains that the British know very little compared to their German counterparts. Once more, I often felt that Kenyon plays her cards way too close to her chest. We keep discovering things at the same pace as the POV characters, so learning such secrets by small increments is understandable. But as I mentioned before, I fear it could be detrimental to the series in the long run. The addition of Dries Verhoeven's Talent to the mix in the second installment was great. And so were Irina Dimitrievna Annakova and Hannah Linz's Talents in this book. Again, we just need to see more Talents unveiled to add more layers to what is becoming a more complex tale with each new novel. I understand that it's still early on in this lead up to World War II and that this series isn't exactly the second coming of The X-Men, but I feel that more powerful Talents need to come to the forefront and have more of an impact on the plot.
Kim Tavistock is an ordinary woman with a peculiar Talent who managed to save her country not once but twice. Having played a large role in thwarting the Germans' plan to conquer Great Britain, Kim went through training in the arts of espionage. Nevertheless, even with two successful missions under her belt, she remains a somewhat raw recruit. Her conscience is seldom at ease with what she is required to do and what she's becoming. A do-gooder with her heart always in the right place, Kim will have trouble dealing with what she witnesses in Nazi-dominated Germany. Her actions will put her at odds with the British intelligence service and the Foreign Office, which will force her to follow her intuition and go down a path that might get her dismissed. If she survives. For the more she uncovers about the Monarch program, the more she realizes just how dangerous and downright foolhardy her plan appears to be. In addition to Kim's point of view, Nest of the Monarch also features the perspective of Irina Dimitrievna Annakova, a Russian noblewoman who fled the Bolsheviks and who wants her son to take his rightful place as tsar with the help of the Nazis and who has the most potent Talent ever unveiled thus far, as well as that of Hannah Linz, a reckless young woman part of a secret Jewish resistance cell who is willing to sacrifice her life to avenge that of her father and other loved ones. Julian's POV returns occasionally to give us an idea of how Kim's actions are perceived by her superiors back in London. Once again, the supporting cast is made up of a number of engaging men and women, chief among them Rachel Flynn and Evgeny Borisov.
The pace was perfect, making Nest of the Monarch a page-turner that you go through rapidly. The tension keeps building up, moving the plot through lots of twists and turns toward another thrilling endgame that delivers on all fronts. I'm quite curious to find out what Kay Kenyon has in store for these characters now that we have reached 1937 and the beginning of WWII is looming closer.
My only complaint regarding the first two installments was their episodic format. I felt that Kay Kenyon would have to raise the bar even higher and not just throw Kim into danger in the hope that her Talent would force someone to reveal secrets while she pretended to be a journalist working on a new story. Given the quality of both At the Table of Wolves and Serpent in the Heather, the potential for bigger and better things was definitely there and expectations would understandably be higher in the future. Well, I should have known that the author woulld rise to the occasion. And if Kim's first Continental mission for SIS is any indication, it bodes well for whatever comes next for the Dark Talents series.
I have a feeling that these first three volumes were meant to lay the groundwork and set the stage for more ambitious and rewarding storylines to come. It's too early to tell if the Dark Talents will be as good as The Entire and the Rose turned out to be. But one thing's for sure. These novels deserve to be more widely read.
I definitely commend this series to your attention. If you're looking for something different, look no further and give the Dark Talents a shot!
For more review, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
And having now read the third installment, it feels as though Kenyon's Dark Talents series just might be the genre's best-kept secret of recent years. And to think that at first I was concerned that it would be too similar to Ian Tregillis' excellent Milkweed Triptych trilogy, which to this day remains one of the very best speculative fiction series of the new millennium. The premise might bear resemblance to that of Tregillis, yet the plot is completely different. What both series do have in common, however, is the fact that they are decidedly underappreciated and almost criminally unread by the masses. Do yourself a favor and check out both series if you haven't already. You'll thank me!
Here's the blurb:
Kim Tavistock, undercover in Berlin as the wife of a British diplomat, uncovers a massive conspiracy that could change the course of the war—and she’s the only one in position to stop it in the electrifying conclusion to the Dark Talents series.
November, 1936. Kim Tavistock is in Berlin on her first Continental mission for SIS, the British intelligence service. Her cover: a sham marriage to a handsome, ambitious British consul. Kim makes the diplomatic party circuit with him, hobnobbing with Nazi officials, hoping for a spill that will unlock a secret operation called Monarch. Berlin is a glittering city celebrating Germany’s resurgence, but Nazi brutality darkens the lives of many. When Kim befriends Hannah Linz, a member of the Jewish resistance, she sets in motion events that will bring her into the center of a vast conspiracy.
Forging an alliance with Hannah and her partisans, Kim discovers the alarming purpose of Monarch: the creation of a company of enforcers with augmented Talents and strange appetites. Called the Progeny, they have begun to compel citizen obedience with physical and spiritual terror. Soon Kim is swept up in a race to stop the coming deployment of the Progeny into Europe. Aligned against her are forces she could never have foreseen, including the very intelligence service she loves; a Russian woman, the queen of all Talents, who fled the Bolsheviks in 1917; and the ruthless SS officer whose dominance and rare charisma may lead to Kim’s downfall. To stop Monarch and the subversion of Europe, she must do more than use her Talent, wits, and courage. She must step into the abyss of unbounded power, even to the point of annihilation. Does the human race have limits? Kim does not want to know the answer. But it is coming.
In my reviews of the first two installments, I opined that the worldbuilding was very interesting and opened up countless possibilities. No one knows how the bloom came about, but it is widely believed that the deaths and the suffering engendered by the first World War generated the birth of the Talents, those supernatural abilities in ordinary men and women, especially in the countries which dealt with the Great War. The action occurs a few months following the events of Serpent in the Heather. Needless to say, 1936 has been a busy and crazy year for Kim Tavistock. The Nazis have risen to power and Germany is rearming, preparing for the great conflict to come. The British, with their heads still up their asses for the most part, now seem willing to at least face the fact that war appears to be coming again. And although they have begun their own program and are making good progress, they remain far behind the Germans in terms of training people with Talents for warfare. Reading the first two volumes, it felt as though there was so much room for growth concerning the Talents and I was looking forward to see what Kenyon had in store for her readers in that regard. What we saw in At the Table of Wolves barely scratched the surface and the potential for more was enormous.
And although we do learn more about Talents in general in both Serpent in the Heather and Nest of the Monarch, the sad truth remains that the British know very little compared to their German counterparts. Once more, I often felt that Kenyon plays her cards way too close to her chest. We keep discovering things at the same pace as the POV characters, so learning such secrets by small increments is understandable. But as I mentioned before, I fear it could be detrimental to the series in the long run. The addition of Dries Verhoeven's Talent to the mix in the second installment was great. And so were Irina Dimitrievna Annakova and Hannah Linz's Talents in this book. Again, we just need to see more Talents unveiled to add more layers to what is becoming a more complex tale with each new novel. I understand that it's still early on in this lead up to World War II and that this series isn't exactly the second coming of The X-Men, but I feel that more powerful Talents need to come to the forefront and have more of an impact on the plot.
Kim Tavistock is an ordinary woman with a peculiar Talent who managed to save her country not once but twice. Having played a large role in thwarting the Germans' plan to conquer Great Britain, Kim went through training in the arts of espionage. Nevertheless, even with two successful missions under her belt, she remains a somewhat raw recruit. Her conscience is seldom at ease with what she is required to do and what she's becoming. A do-gooder with her heart always in the right place, Kim will have trouble dealing with what she witnesses in Nazi-dominated Germany. Her actions will put her at odds with the British intelligence service and the Foreign Office, which will force her to follow her intuition and go down a path that might get her dismissed. If she survives. For the more she uncovers about the Monarch program, the more she realizes just how dangerous and downright foolhardy her plan appears to be. In addition to Kim's point of view, Nest of the Monarch also features the perspective of Irina Dimitrievna Annakova, a Russian noblewoman who fled the Bolsheviks and who wants her son to take his rightful place as tsar with the help of the Nazis and who has the most potent Talent ever unveiled thus far, as well as that of Hannah Linz, a reckless young woman part of a secret Jewish resistance cell who is willing to sacrifice her life to avenge that of her father and other loved ones. Julian's POV returns occasionally to give us an idea of how Kim's actions are perceived by her superiors back in London. Once again, the supporting cast is made up of a number of engaging men and women, chief among them Rachel Flynn and Evgeny Borisov.
The pace was perfect, making Nest of the Monarch a page-turner that you go through rapidly. The tension keeps building up, moving the plot through lots of twists and turns toward another thrilling endgame that delivers on all fronts. I'm quite curious to find out what Kay Kenyon has in store for these characters now that we have reached 1937 and the beginning of WWII is looming closer.
My only complaint regarding the first two installments was their episodic format. I felt that Kay Kenyon would have to raise the bar even higher and not just throw Kim into danger in the hope that her Talent would force someone to reveal secrets while she pretended to be a journalist working on a new story. Given the quality of both At the Table of Wolves and Serpent in the Heather, the potential for bigger and better things was definitely there and expectations would understandably be higher in the future. Well, I should have known that the author woulld rise to the occasion. And if Kim's first Continental mission for SIS is any indication, it bodes well for whatever comes next for the Dark Talents series.
I have a feeling that these first three volumes were meant to lay the groundwork and set the stage for more ambitious and rewarding storylines to come. It's too early to tell if the Dark Talents will be as good as The Entire and the Rose turned out to be. But one thing's for sure. These novels deserve to be more widely read.
I definitely commend this series to your attention. If you're looking for something different, look no further and give the Dark Talents a shot!
For more review, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
August 11, 2019
This is the third book in a series taking place in an alternate-world timeline during World War II where some people have psychic, or "dark" talents. Kim Tavistock is a "spill," meaning she can get people to inadvertently share secrets with her, a good ability for a spy. Kim grew up in America as a journalist and is now in England working for SIS, British intelligence. There is disgruntlement because her father is high up in SIS and he in turn is a favorite of E, the head of SIS (and she's a woman, so it must be nepotism that she's in the ranks).
Kim is sent to Berlin as the wife of a minor diplomat to use that access to collect any inadvertent "spills". She witnesses the brutal treatment of the Jews and the indifference of both the public and her colleagues (both her "husband" and her SIS contacts) to their treatment. She is approached by Hannah Linz, a Jewish rebel who wants to undermine a Nazi plot to augment the psychically talented so they can be used to incite and inflict terror and death. The unseated tsarina of Russia has a previously unknown talent called catalysis that can be used to do this. She is not aware of the aftereffects of multiple augmentations, which can include madness and blood-drinking. Despite the insistence of her superiors in the SIS, Kim is convinced by Hannah to go undercover in an attempt to disable the tsarina's talent. As always in any kind of spy thriller, things do not go exactly as planned. It's a thrill ride and a compelling read, my only sadness that we don't get to see how many things wrap up as Kim is not informed of what happens to any of the people rescued during the mission. Kim's father retires and presumably that will make way for her to continue working for SIS in future cases. I hope.
Kim is sent to Berlin as the wife of a minor diplomat to use that access to collect any inadvertent "spills". She witnesses the brutal treatment of the Jews and the indifference of both the public and her colleagues (both her "husband" and her SIS contacts) to their treatment. She is approached by Hannah Linz, a Jewish rebel who wants to undermine a Nazi plot to augment the psychically talented so they can be used to incite and inflict terror and death. The unseated tsarina of Russia has a previously unknown talent called catalysis that can be used to do this. She is not aware of the aftereffects of multiple augmentations, which can include madness and blood-drinking. Despite the insistence of her superiors in the SIS, Kim is convinced by Hannah to go undercover in an attempt to disable the tsarina's talent. As always in any kind of spy thriller, things do not go exactly as planned. It's a thrill ride and a compelling read, my only sadness that we don't get to see how many things wrap up as Kim is not informed of what happens to any of the people rescued during the mission. Kim's father retires and presumably that will make way for her to continue working for SIS in future cases. I hope.
November 17, 2019
The gripping third Dark Talents novel.
Nest of the Monarch (A Dark Talents Novel Book 3) is the third Kim Tavistock novel. Her dark talent, the spill, is tested as she is sent to Berlin. The year is 1936, and some British still play the dangerous path of helping the Third Reich. Kim goes undercover as the wife of a British trade envoy. He does not like the arrangement, and moreover he does not like women spies. At home, the attitude is that spies should be from Eton, an all-male school. Her handler thinks that clear-eyed Kim is emotional. Being Kim, spill or no spill, people tell her the truth, trust her, and she uncovers a chilling secret program. Kenyon captures the essence of the true British attitude toward Germany and Hitler during the interlude between the wars. This may be the third of a trilogy, but I hope that there will be more Kim Tavistock novels. Kim is the literary inheritor of John le Carré's George Smiley.
Nest of the Monarch (A Dark Talents Novel Book 3) is the third Kim Tavistock novel. Her dark talent, the spill, is tested as she is sent to Berlin. The year is 1936, and some British still play the dangerous path of helping the Third Reich. Kim goes undercover as the wife of a British trade envoy. He does not like the arrangement, and moreover he does not like women spies. At home, the attitude is that spies should be from Eton, an all-male school. Her handler thinks that clear-eyed Kim is emotional. Being Kim, spill or no spill, people tell her the truth, trust her, and she uncovers a chilling secret program. Kenyon captures the essence of the true British attitude toward Germany and Hitler during the interlude between the wars. This may be the third of a trilogy, but I hope that there will be more Kim Tavistock novels. Kim is the literary inheritor of John le Carré's George Smiley.
July 5, 2019
Very interesting fantasy/sci-fi take on WWII. In this world some people have talents. Kim has the talent of spill, but she isn't high on the scale- 6. For her people spill their guts at times without knowing why. That's good if you are a spy! And she is. While pretending to be a British diplomat's wife she happens upon Hannah, who can help her know more about Monarch. It's a program where a talent can up someone's talent score. This would allow Germany to possibly win the war. Kim with the help of a special talent infiltrates one of the lairs with the hope of getting the special talent to cross over to Brittain's side.
It's interesting because I didn't know that this was book 3. Now I'd like to find out what happened before with Kim.
This was a very curious interesting book.
It's interesting because I didn't know that this was book 3. Now I'd like to find out what happened before with Kim.
This was a very curious interesting book.
July 23, 2019
3.5 Psi spies is a familiar premise and this 1936-set story reminds me a little of the novel MJ-12, which did the same thing in the post-WW II years. Except Nest of the Monarch is actually good.
Kim, the series protagonist, is a "spill" — just get near here and you start to blurt out your secrets. She's on an undercover mission in Germany posing as a diplomat's wife when a Jewish resistance fighter warns her about a sinister threat called "Monarch." To investigate and stop the threat, Kim has to go deep cover, unaware how reluctant her London handlers are to help her.
Technically this was very good all the way around, but it didn't grab me. It's possible it was just my mood, or that there was too much spy, not enough psi. But it's more a matter of taste than any flaw I can see in Kenyon's work.
Kim, the series protagonist, is a "spill" — just get near here and you start to blurt out your secrets. She's on an undercover mission in Germany posing as a diplomat's wife when a Jewish resistance fighter warns her about a sinister threat called "Monarch." To investigate and stop the threat, Kim has to go deep cover, unaware how reluctant her London handlers are to help her.
Technically this was very good all the way around, but it didn't grab me. It's possible it was just my mood, or that there was too much spy, not enough psi. But it's more a matter of taste than any flaw I can see in Kenyon's work.
October 11, 2021
Great series!
Loved this series! Wish there could be more , but maybe the storyline only works because it takes place in 1936, before WW2 actually starts. Anyway its a very original storyline and I enjoyed it very much. I will definitely check into this author's other books!
Loved this series! Wish there could be more , but maybe the storyline only works because it takes place in 1936, before WW2 actually starts. Anyway its a very original storyline and I enjoyed it very much. I will definitely check into this author's other books!
June 9, 2022
V impressed with this book considering I was able to understand most of it despite having accidentally picked up the last novel in the trilogy. It was fun! Spy stuff. Betrayal. Plans going awry. Kim is a charismatic main character. I want to read Book #1 too.
May 6, 2019
I really like this series.
February 15, 2020
Hm. A Lot Darker Than The Previous Ones.
Want to read
December 3, 2018PW Starred: Kenyon’s riveting third Dark Talents novel (after At the Table of Wolves and Serpent in the Heather) takes 33-year-old psychic spy Kim Tavistock undercover into febrile and menacing Nazi-dominated 1936 Berlin, her first European mission as an agent of British intelligence service SIS. While the British government, concentrating on bond payments, apparently fears the Soviets more than the Nazis, Kim’s father and handler Julian Tavistock hopes that her “spill” talent, which makes people want to tell her things, will provide information about Germany’s suspected new secret weaponry. Kim, ever favoring the underdog, witnesses Nazi anti-Semitic atrocities and decides to help Hannah Linz, a fervent Jewish saboteur. Together they penetrate a Nazi scheme to infiltrate Europe with vampiric augmented psychics. Kenyon successfully builds Kim’s insistence on defying authority on the foundations of her caring heart, her intuition, and her ethical judgment. Kim’s dicey espionage mission thus presents a universal dilemma: the choice between following questionable authority or becoming a rogue moralist. A rich cast of diverse characters and near-catastrophic escapes amid searing prewar tensions keep the pages of this outstanding historical fantasy turning. (Apr.)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews