Review by Booklist Review
Hopeland begins in a very different 2011 than our own, when Raisa Peri Antares Hopeland enlists the help of Amon Brightbourne to win a parkour race along the rooftops of Soho, London. Now an ally, Amon enters into her family nation of Hopeland as she gains access to a Tesla coil of great antiquity. Churches designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor form a citadel of Tesla coils that protect the city. Brightbourne is of a more traditional but ancient family. As a first-born male, Amon is cursed with the Grace and the Price: he always lands on his feet, but the price is that those around him, if he overstays, suffer. Brightbourne's family estate is home to his grandfather's self-generating, thousand-year-long song. Eventually, Raisa has to leave London and travels to Iceland, where she begins the great work of changing the ecology of energy use in the Northern Hemisphere, while raising Brightbourne's child. Amon must stay away and eventually takes his phenomenal musical skills to the island of Ava'utapu. McDonald writes with spellbinding lyricism, weaving together insights regarding Icelandic culture, South Pacific societies, and gender identity, in this sprawling fantasy of a possible future.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This techno-thriller, with settings ranging from Iceland to Polynesia, provides a unique take on time-travel and electromancy. It opens with a desperate heart-pumping race through 20th-century London, where the lives of Amon Brightbourne and Raisa Hopeland collide in the midst of anarchy. Wielding lightning, Raisa seizes the Tesla coil for her people, becomes the Arcmage of Spitalfields, and triggers cataclysmic events that will play out for decades. Mesmerized by Raisa, Amon follows her into the bizarre world of the Hopelands. If every person is a star, the Hopelands are a constellation, a cultish people with a story. He's drawn to their family because he was exiled from his own, due to the Grace, which grants him a charmed life to the detriment of those around him. VERDICT An eccentric and adventurous love story mixed with a rich and picturesque family saga. The popping action sequences reinforce McDonald's (The Menace from Farside) swift and distinctive writing style. Perfect for fans of Stephen Baxter.--Andrea Dyba
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