An ambitious and original work but one that lacks the narrative pull of a more traditional novel.
Lyon presents a collection of tales that form the mythology of a new epic fantasy series.
Upon his father’s death, Almon Plum-Kilmer, the last of his line, is guided by a ghost to the top of the Dragonbreath Mountain. There he meets the Supreme Historian, an elderly man whose memory contains the Provenance—origin stories of the land of Odessa. Almon learns of the twin gods Hexor and Heironomus, whose mutual enmity mirrors the balance between life and death. He hears of the goddess Ehlona, who slept with both gods and then gave birth to twin demigods Marus and Hazor, equally opposed in nature; Ehlona later became a witch and created the Timmutes, tiny “glowing orbs” with “a collective intelligence and frightening abilities.” The Supreme Historian next recounts how Marus founded an order of warrior monks to oppose his brother’s evil and how Hazor forged the ultimate weapon using blood magic and sacrificed his followers. Finally, the Historian tells Almon of the orphan Leopold, who was marked by Hazor and who tried to forge a kingdom—the first Empire of Odessa. Lyon writes in a simple, sprawling style, inviting readers to invest themselves in the subject matter. The dialogue is often stylized in the manner of epic, heroic fantasy, but the prose can be awkward at times; for example, the author has a tendency to use pronouns as if the object of one sentence has become the subject of the next: “Almon reached his arms under Erland’s and dragged him out of the sun….Being pulled away, he exclaimed, ‘What are you doing?’ ” This is a compendium in the style of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion(1977) rather than a novel per se, and as such, it presents a plot that feels more like a tapestry than direct narrative. A storyline does emerge, but it remains secondary to the worldbuilding and character development, which Lyon handles astutely; most notably, he explores the idea that evil forces may just be the natural corollary of goodness brought to bear.
An ambitious and original work but one that lacks the narrative pull of a more traditional novel.Pub Date: July 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-956189-01-8
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Lyonic LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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