 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Patricia A. McKillip |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
Publication date | 2016 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover), ebook |
| Pages | 346 |
| ISBN | 978-0-425-27176-6 |
Kingfisher is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover and ebook by Ace Books in February 2016. The first British edition was published in ebook by Gateway/Orion in June 2017. [1]
The novel is an Arthurian grail quest type of story set in a world "in which the modern lives side-by-side with the mythical," with kings, knights and magic co-existing with automobiles, electricity, and even cell phones. [2]
Restless young Pierce Oliver chafes in his life working for the restaurant of his sorceress mother Heloise. A band of lost knights gives him a taste of a larger world, and he decides to seek his fortune in Severluna, the capital of the Wyvern King Arden. This infuriates Heloise, who reveals that Pierce's absent father had himself been a knight of King Arden's court, and after living with Heloise a year had abandoned her and returned to it, taking with him their older son. Pregnant at the time with Pierce, and determined not to lose him as well, she had kept in ignorance of his heritage.
Despite this revelation, Pierce leaves anyway. On the way to Severluna he witnesses a strange ritual at the Kingfisher Inn in nearby Chimera Bay. We are introduced to a cook there, Carrie, daughter of Merle, who has her own family problems and mysteries.
Prince Daimon, illegitimate youngest son of King Arden, is a third viewpoint character, whose life is changed with his father reveals the truth about his mother and her hidden realm. In the wake of this revelation the king gathers his knights and announces a quest to find a magical cauldron, an ancient, powerful artifact, entangling the lives of all three protagonists.
Kirkus Reviews calls the novel a "delicately wrought, twinkle-eyed fantasy from the accomplished author of The Bards of Bone Plain ," who "skillfully blends a thoroughly modern passion for technology and seafood with folklore, myth, and magic in a narrative consistently full of surprises," though "[t]he characters ... aren't always fully drawn," and "[i]t's disconcerting to realize that most of McKillip's characters have, at first, no idea what's going on--and the few that do are saying nothing." The reviewer finds that "the overlarge back story too often merely tantalizes," but "Fantasy lovers looking for a lighter touch amid all those vampires, zombies, werewolves, and industrial-strength malefactors will find this a refreshing change of pace." [3]
Charles de Lint in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction writes "A NEW Patricia McKillip book is always a cause for celebration. McKillip has never disappointed me, regardless of how she flits about genres. She’s written high fantasy, contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and horror, leaving her own distinct fingerprint on each so that in the end the best classification is that she writes McKillip novels." He notes "The title of the book—Kingfisher—is a giveaway as to its underlying theme. This is an Arthurian story, through and through, with all the familiar elements set slightly askew but no less recognizable for that." He further states that "Kingfisher is McKillip writing at the peak of her game — which is amazing when you consider how long she’s been at it. I loved the richness of the story and characters, the mingling of old with new, mythic with contemporary, and can’t wait to reread it." [2]
Michelle West, also in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, gives the book a "highly recommended" rating, praising McKillip as "an author of my youth who has never been visited by the suck fairies — or, putting it another way, rereading her as I get older reveals layers and textures in her writing I missed the first time through." She notes that "[t]here is more — there's always more, in McKillip's work. She has always been adept at creating people who are profoundly human, but she has also been the master of magic, of creating magic that feels wild and larger than life and all-encompassing. In lesser hands, the magic becomes the focus; in McKillip's, it's wed, always, to the people whom it affects, and the results of this are almost alchemical; she takes the base materials and transmutes the whole into pure gold. She lets people be people in all their complications: their wrongs, their rights, their strengths and weaknesses." [4]
The novel was also reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in Locus no. 664, May 2016, and Gautam Bhatia (2016) in Strange Horizons , 12 September 2016. [1]
The novel won the 2017 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, and placed twelfth in the 2017 Locus Poll Award for Best Fantasy Novel. [1]
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Wonders of the Invisible World is a collection of fantasy short stories by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Tachyon Publications in October 2012. The title of both the collection and the first story in it derive from the 1693 book of the same title by Cotton Mather.
Dreams of Distant Shores is a collection of fantasy stories by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in ebook by Tachyon Publications in May 2016, with the trade paperback print edition following from the same publisher in June 2016.
Fool's Run is a science fiction novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover by Warner Books in April 1987, with a paperback edition issued by Questar/Popular Library in February 1988. The first British edition was published in paperback by Orbit in June 1987, with a hardcover edition following from Macdonald in August of the same year. The novel has also been translated into Italian.
The Bards of Bone Plain is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover and ebook by Ace Books in December 2010, with a book club edition issued simultaneously with the Science Fiction Book Club and a trade paperback edition following December 2011. The first British edition was published in ebook by Gateway/Orion in December 2015.
The Changeling Sea is a fantasy novel for juvenile readers by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover by Atheneum/Macmillan in October 1988, with a paperback edition issued by Del Rey/Ballantine in December 1989. It was subsequently reissued in paperback and ebook by Firebird/Penguin in April 2003. The first British edition was published in hardcover by Oxford University Press in September 1991, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in December 2015.
Something Rich and Strange is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip written for Brian Froud's Faerielands series under the inspiration of Froud's fantasy artwork. Its title is derived from a line in Shakespeare's The Tempest. The book was first published in hardcover by Bantam Spectra in November 1994, with a trade paperback edition following from ibooks in October 2005. It was later incorporated into the author's collection Dreams of Distant Shores, issued by Tachyon Publications in ebook and trade paperback in May 2016 and June 2016, respectively.
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The Moon and the Face is a science fiction novel for juvenile readers by Patricia A. McKillip, a sequel to her earlier novel Moon-Flash. It was first published in hardcover by Atheneum in September 1985, with a paperback edition issued by Berkley Books in October 1986. It was subsequently combined with its prequel Moon-Flash in an omnibus edition, also titled Moon-Flash, issued in paperback and ebook by Firebird/Penguin in March 2005.
The Cygnet and the Firebird is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip, a sequel to her earlier novel The Sorceress and the Cygnet. Despite a mixed reception, it was nominated for the 1994 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. It was first published in hardcover by Ace Books in September 1993, with a paperback following from the same publisher in September 1995. The first British edition was published in paperback by Pan Books in July 1994. It was subsequently combined with The Sorceress and the Cygnet into the omnibus collection Cygnet, issued in trade paperback by Ace Books in March 2007. It has also been translated into French.
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