Longtime fans will be delighted by the torturous pining in this slow burn, but this isn't a book for series newbies.
Two angels work to repair their friendship amid grief and trauma and finally give in to a centurieslong yearning in Singh's latest Guild Hunter romance.
Illium and Aodhan have known each other for 500 years. They grew up together, joined the same brotherhood, and have always been each other's emotional bedrock. Through it all, they remained simply friends. When Aodhan went missing, Illium was dogged in searching for him; when he finally rescued Aodhan from his kidnappers, he stepped into the role of protector and caretaker. While Aodhan appreciates all Illium has done, he feels suffocated by his concern and decides to put space between them by taking the role as Second to the new Archangel of China. Eventually, the pair are reunited, with Illium joining Aodhan in China, bringing their simmering issues to the forefront. Aodhan and Illium share a painful honesty with one another, and this feels like a relationship pushed to the breaking point as the men explore their shared trauma: Aodhan's capture and the loss Illium feared he had suffered. It's an emotional gut punch that would put any reader through the wringer. As in many Guild Hunter titles, there's a larger plot happening in tandem with the slow-burn romance. China is rebuilding after having been freed from the grasp of an evil archangel, but remnants of that time have started to appear once more. This isn't a book for the uninitiated—the ancient mythos of angels, demons, and vampires Singh has created in this series has progressed over a dozen books. However, as each chapter alternates between a present-day Aodhan and Illium and important moments in their past, there is an opportunity to fill in some gaps.
Longtime fans will be delighted by the torturous pining in this slow burn, but this isn't a book for series newbies.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593198-14-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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