An engaging and magical tale with a few weak spots.
A team of demon hunters races against the clock to stop a supernatural threat in Lyons’ fantasy novel.
In contemporary York, England, supernatural beings live in hiding, and the Queen’s Guard brutally upholds the secret of their existence, claiming to citizens that no such beings survived the purge of the past. As a child, Harper Ashbury was adopted into the De Santos family—a family that just happens to have a long line of demon hunters in its tree. Harper works as an archivist for the Council of Faiths, and her sister, Grace, is a vet. When a mysterious entity begins a spate of killings, Harper and Grace team up to investigate and stop it. Unknown to most, Harper is a witch; she does not have full control of her abilities, however. In her search for information, Harper accidentally summons a deceptive spirit, whom she dubs “Heresy,” and engages the creature to teach her how to use her powers more successfully. Lyons’ setting is wonderful, a perfect evocation of historical creepiness that allows readers to imagine supernatural beings crawling through the streets of York. The author entrancingly describes the various supernatural goings-on of the city, particularly the underground auction, which is equal parts mystical and terrifying. (“When midnight tolls, it will begin. The buyers will soon be gathered. Here you will find great wonders, if you wish to bid.”) The addition of Heresy is welcome, as the spirit adds a healthy dose of wry comic relief when needed. The story has a few problems, the first being a potential romantic subplot that’s swiftly abandoned, making its inclusion unnecessary. Secondly, Harper’s problem (being a witch who works for a religious-based organization and is forced to hide her abilities) is referenced to an irritating degree but not really explored—seeing her really struggle to reconcile the seemingly disparate parts of herself would add more emotional heft to the tale. Despite these issues, Lyons presents a story with exceptional bones.
An engaging and magical tale with a few weak spots.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781957537832
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Brigids Gate Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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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