The City Beneath the Hidden Stars

July 18, 2022
The magical and the mundane mix in Kudei’s over-the-top debut, which throws together three mismatched and unlikely heroes. Barbara Cilli, the Black Queen, once ruled Zagreb, the White City, with an iron fist, but in the ages since her demise, she’s been reduced to nothing more than a bogeyman to frighten children. When a group of schoolmates plays the taboo game Black Queen One-Two-Three, one of them, Stella, is disconcerted to catch a glimpse of a mysterious figure who she becomes convinced is the Black Queen herself. Meanwhile, the celestial Star Council notices signs that the Black Queen might return and sends Leo Solar, a star daimon who was involved with the Black Queen’s initial rise to power, to stop her. The third protagonist is a philosophy student turned part-time proofreader, subeditor, and administrative assistant, Dario Taubek, who has a series of strange experiences, including receiving a prophecy about the Black Queen returning. Stella, Dario, and Leo all have parts to play as they race to stop the Black Queen’s agents from freeing her. As the haphazard adventure unfolds, Kudei’s prose strains a bit too hard to imitate the heightened absurdity of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, never quite reaching its target. Still, readers with a taste for madcap fantasy will find something to enjoy.

August 5, 2022
The city of Zagreb, Croatia, is under threat. The Black Queen, with the help of her frightening minions, is threatening to rise again from her prison beneath Bear Mountain. Hapless bystanders, a man named Dario and a first-grader named Stella, are pulled into the fight to keep her from coming back into power. And a banished star daimon named Leo is posted to the scene to try and figure out how the Queen is attempting her escape. Children's games, spiders that are much too big, threatening ravens, harsh school teachers, confused tram fairies, and a suspicious, ever-watching cat all populate the novel's 300 pages. The pacing is particularly slow for the first half, but overall, Kudei promises to be an exciting talent. This novel is a fun stand-alone that combines glimmers of Croation folklore, the atmosphere of an invented underground magical Zagreb, and the snarky, ironic energy of Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

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