[A] stirring debut ... riveting and surprising ... part intense adventure story, part morality tale ... Kingdomtide braids two narrative strands that cut like intersecting streams through the valley of this novel ... One of Kingdomtide's concerns is with the vagaries of desire, and Curtis doesn't stint on sometimes wince-inducing details that are not for the fastidious ... Curtis keeps us turning pages.
It's going to be darn hard not to love this book. It's amazing. Equally amazing is that someone so young could write it with such insight and understanding of the characters, one of them a 72-year-old woman. His depiction of her is wonderfully honest ... Some readers and reviewers have called this book weird, funny, and its characters quirky and oddball, but not so. They may look odd and act funny and swear a lot and drink too much, but they are as complex and full of goodness as the soul of mankind ... more than a book. It's an unforgettable experience. The author is an extraordinary writer whose books will surely be eagerly anticipated and welcomed with glee.Fans of Jess Montgomery, William Kent Krueger and Tim Johnston will be first in line at the bookstore for the next Rye Curtis novel.
... although Mr. Curtis again complicates the expected adventure-novel payoff, the truth is that Debra just isn’t interesting enough to justify the amount of ink used on her ... Or maybe she’s only uninteresting compared to Cloris, whose narration grows increasingly vulnerable, surprising and profound.
... deep and surprising ... Cloris’ survival narration is exciting, with devastating vistas and a mysterious savior in the form of a possible fugitive, but her musings on her past life and life in general are some of the book’s very best moments ... like its subject, Lewis’ story is, well, rangier, and a worthy foil ... Gloriously unexpected.
Curtis’s intense debut pairs two narratives, one of which is better realized than the other ... Cloris’s gritty, nightmarish story, as well as her strong voice and personality, will make her a reader favorite. Though uneven, this story of survival will keep readers quickly turning the pages.
... darkly humorous ... Cloris’ chapters are by turns thrilling, poignant, and hilarious, carried along by her irresistible first-person narration. She is so matter-of-fact, wry, and indomitable it’s not hard to imagine she’s a granddaughter of True Grit’s Mattie RossFargo-esque humor can seem strained. And Lewis’ alcoholism is so prodigious that, after she’s guzzled six or seven bottles of wine in one day, it’s hard to credit her staying conscious, much less driving mountain roads. But both she and Cloris find paths to self-discovery, and eventually some will be saved ... A captivating survival story alternates with a less satisfying look at a midlife crisis in this promising first novel.
