Enthralling characters usher readers into a fascinating, mysterious, and war-torn world.
A band of banished people form alliances and battle the vicious foes surrounding them in Lewis’ fantasy novel.
In a forgotten, ruined world, “the awakened” slowly emerged. They gradually brought back what this world once had—the social constructs of religion, tribes, nations, and war. Now, The Nine Nations encircle the Durajan, where branded individuals are sent as punishment for various offenses. One such exile is Samike, a young woman who stumbles upon and frees former soldier Dothemides, who’d been left in a cage. The duo’s ensuing bond leads to their decision to bring order to the Durajan and unite the branded, who hail “from all walks of life.” They ultimately form the city of Dothemia and unofficially name Dothemides and Samike king and queen. Expanding Dothemia requires making alliances with clans residing between nations, but not everyone wants this city to grow; the biggest threat comes from the Creed, whose grim belief is that this Awakened World was better off lingering in “the silence,” a time devoid of emotion and memory. From the beginning, Lewis establishes an unhurried pace, affording time for assiduous worldbuilding. Readers quickly learn where each of the Nine Nations is, both geographically and politically. While the cast is extensive, an engaging few get the spotlight, including Dothemides and Samike, who were both enslaved as children; Valloch, a competent and much-feared warchief; and the mysterious shaman Ailis. (Numerous journal excerpts appear throughout the text, but provide only a modicum of distinction between the characters’ myriad voices.) Some subplots don’t hold much weight; a woman falling for Dothemides, for instance, means little when he very clearly isn’t a one-queen king. This novel, the first in a series, leaves plenty of narrative avenues to explore.
Enthralling characters usher readers into a fascinating, mysterious, and war-torn world.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798998845802
Page Count: 479
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
A standout genre-bending adventure with a tender romantic streak.
Two women on opposite sides of a long and bitter conflict each hear a prophecy that she holds the key to victory…but not which one of them will actually triumph.
On a far-in-the-future Earth, most of the human race is dominated by the Talusar empire. The Talusar worship the Fever, a strange illness that kills all who contract it. Half of those people stay dead, but the other half return to live with some kind of psychic gift, most commonly the ability to see the past. A smaller civilization, the Cedre, believe the mortality rate is not worth the loss of life, and fight to keep themselves quarantined. The Talusar have pushed the Cedre to a few small areas of the planet and to a space station in Earth’s orbit. Elegy Ahn is the second daughter of the Sword of Cedre, the Cedre’s most powerful political figure; she’s used to being the “spare” to her elder sister’s "heir." When the “augurs,” revered (and politically neutral) Talusar people with the rare Fever gift of seeing into the future, summon both Elegy and Rava Vidar, a ruthless Talusar general, they tell the women that each has the potential to lead their nation to victory over the other. As to which will triumph? Separately, the augurs give both Elegy and Rava cryptic clues. Elegy is told of three mysterious figures she’ll need to find, including a man with whom she will fall in love. Elegy is skeptical, especially since she’s already happily married. But when Rava Vidar takes swift and violent action against Elegy and Cedre, Elegy is forced to embrace her pivotal role in her people’s survival. Roth’s worldbuilding is detailed without being overwhelming; she focuses more on dystopia in this book and promises to dive deeper into speculative SF adventure in the next installment of the duology. The romance element is seamlessly woven into the plot and comes off elegantly as a result of Roth’s excellent character development.
A standout genre-bending adventure with a tender romantic streak.Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9781250347909
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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