A creative but overstuffed conclusion to the series.
The Highgladeseries concludes in this third and final tale of factions battling across a vast fantasy land.
As Jennings’ newest installment opens, the fate of the Athrani people hangs in the balance of a dying warrior, the noble hero Miera. Having sealed off the Otherworld—or so she hopes and believes—she breathes her last, and we are dropped into the ruinous landscapes of the world she left behind. In the wasteland of Khulakorum, Seralith Edos—or “Sera,” as readers come to know her—is mourning the death of her father figure, Gen. Aldis Tennech. Our first encounter with her is more somber than when we meet Alysana, who quickly wins readers over with a bit of cloak-and-dagger action (literally) to fell a guard and release prisoners we can only assume are wrongly jailed. The very next chapter, we meet Duna (each chapter features a different character’s perspective), who can’t help but be memorable, given that she is recently ascendant to throne of Haidan Shar. Next comes Thornton and his Hammer (hmm…) of Worldforge, followed by Kethras and then Asha, each of them a sort of demi-god whose help—or interference—plays out with drastic consequences throughout the battles that pepper this series. Jennings’ prose is typical warrior-fantasy fare, “She had dealt with power-hungry madmen before, but admittedly, this was her first time dealing with a power-hungry madman who also happened to be a god.” The well-imagined plot unfolds with nonstop action: Families are torn asunder, characters once thought dead are reincarnated in shady deals, and the bonds of loyalty and notions of honor and nobility will be tested in battle. But this third installment simply has too many perspectives for readers to truly connect with any of them. Though much thought has been put into this storyline and the humans and gods who live it, the end result feels unfocused.
A creative but overstuffed conclusion to the series.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781954676756
Page Count: 590
Publisher: Indigo River Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.
When Vis is copied into two other realities, he must stop a god from repeatedly culling almost everyone back home.
Thousands of years ago, to prevent the Concurrence from enslaving everyone, the world was split into three near-identical copies: Res, Obiteum, and Luceum. To exist in all three worlds, to wield Will there, is to achieve synchronism. After the events in The Will of the Many (2023), which cost Vis his arm and the life of his friend, Vis achieves Synchronism. While Res-Vis must continue to play Hierarchy politics to find his friend’s killer, Obiteum-Vis finds a ruined world, where the dead are reanimated and used by Ka, the Concurrence, and the only other person to exist in synchronism. Meanwhile, Luceum-Vis is forced into a dispute between druids, their High Council, and their kings—with one king intent on killing him—and Vis has no idea why. On all worlds, Vis is as shrewd as ever, weighing his options, planning ahead, and doing what he must to survive. However, he, too, slowly diverges, doing things he swore he never would: cede his Will, use Will to control someone else, and reveal his true name. If at least one Vis cannot use his synchronism and power of Will to kill the Concurrence, no Vis will be safe, and another Cataclysm will cull those he loves on Res. Book Two of the Hierarchy series is a speculative fantasy that is at once Egyptian post-apocalyptic, Celtic medieval, and Roman dystopian, thanks to the multidimensional setting. Although the sprawling narrative at times overextends itself, Islington rewards patient readers with a compelling story, a cast of complex and diverse characters, and a glimpse into how far a good man can go before he’s lost. A symbol at the start of each chapter delineates which world and Vis it’s about. Readers should read The Will of the Many before attempting this volume, or they may be confused for the first several chapters and beyond.
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781982141233
Page Count: 736
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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