A thoroughly entertaining tale of royalty, loyalty, and love.
A princess contends with a love triangle while competing with her siblings for the throne in Cammaratta’s fantasy novel.
For generations, the kingdom of Alchos has been ruled by royals who possess the magical power to bend the elements to their will. Traditionally, this ability goes to a single heir, who leaches it from their predecessor. But Queen Elea Exos divided her power equally among her four children: Prince Rylan, Princess Arabella, Prince Marcus, and Princess Nina have command over earth, air, water, and fire, respectively. Rylan, the eldest, is the presumed heir to throne, but before his coronation, Queen Elea tells her children that she has decided that all four siblings will instead compete with each other for the job in a series of trials. “Power to rule came with magic. With the magic split…it’s agreed that each of the four of you have equal claim to the throne,” she explains. Arabella doesn’t want to compete with her siblings. She’s betrothed to Prince Jamys Merrick of the neighboring kingdom Ceraun—meaning that, if she wins, she will be both Queen of Alchos and Queen-Consort of Ceraun, and the prospect of such a responsibility is unbearably overwhelming. Arabella isn’t thrilled about her betrothal, but the marriage would solidify the alliance between the two kingdoms, and she feels a strong sense of duty to both her family and her country. She intends to make the best of it…but her heart belongs to another. Cammaratta’s novel is an exciting blend of fantasy, romance, and palace intrigue. Arabella is a compelling and complex protagonist who narrates with both earnestness and a dry wit. The story is well paced and engaging, with memorable characters and plenty of magical mischief and mayhem. Readers may find some parts predictable, but this doesn’t overly detract from the story.
A thoroughly entertaining tale of royalty, loyalty, and love.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9798986505367
Page Count: 408
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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