Fast-paced, with nuanced characters and believable parallels to our own world.
In Beaumont’s fantasy novel, war erupts over control of the Stars.
The author skillfully explores the philosophical implications of power in her created world, the Star-Riven Settlements, in which each region uses their given Stars—asteroid-like objects that fell from the sky—differently. The two Stars of Gemynd enable its rulers to subjugate an adjoining region, Rask. Rask accepts its lesser status until dire circumstances compel its people to revolt, refusing to provide labor and goods to Gemynd any longer. Parlenta considers itself superior because it mines its Stars and sells the resulting product, Astamitra (a drink that fosters communion with the Stars), to the Gemyndians. In contrast to the rest, Aisren’s Stars are available to all in the form of energy. The story’s two principal characters come from opposite socio-economic backgrounds. Einya, from wealthy Gemynd, is newly trained as an Astrologer, one of an elite group with access to the cave housing the sacred Stars. Einya hopes to elevate her Raskian lover, Tollska, by wedding her, but Tollska has different plans, sacrificing herself to a loveless but expedient union with Einya’s cousin, Pearth, the leader of the Constellan Guard. While Einya and Tollska try to work from within to prevent a civil war, Einya’s brother travels to Parlenta, seeking an alliance with that region against Gemynd. A startling discovery by Einya furthers the ongoing crisis: Communicating directly with the Stars, she finds that, contrary to long-standing mythology, Gemynd isn’t the favored land at all. The Stars are neutral, caring only about “memory and truth,” desiring merely to be “historians.” But rulers such as Pearth shun that revelation, rounding up and executing Raskians under the guise of keeping the peace. Beaumont’s narrative mostly moves at a gallop. The characters, often hurtling through dangerous situations, are compelling and multidimensional; for example, Tollska, though in love with Einya, feels unexpectedly attracted to the unlikable Pearth. The story could have reached a smoother finish; it ends abruptly on a jarring note (Beaumont has a next installment planned).
Fast-paced, with nuanced characters and believable parallels to our own world.Pub Date: April 24, 2021
ISBN: 9781957537818
Page Count: 266
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 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
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.
Kova offers a fantasy novel set beyond the Nightgale Mountains in the walled fortress of Vinguard where citizens live in fear of the next deadly dragon attack.
Vinguard’s residents are always on guard against the threat of dragons, but they must watch more than just the skies. Living among them, hiding in plain sight, are the “dragon cursed”—people who, at any moment, may transform into terrifying winged beasts and destroy the city from within. For most of Isola Thaz’s life, she’s been told she’s the reincarnated savior of Vinguard. But just as she begins to suspect that she may be dragon cursed, she’s tossed into Vinguard’s Tribunal—a contest in which every 18-year-old competes in tests of skill and might to separate loyal citizens from the dragon cursed. As she’s sequestered for this rite of passage, Isola hesitantly allies herself with a handsome fellow competitor named Lucan. However, as the teens face such trials as fire-breathing automatons (“The silver beast comes to life with a swing. Its claws shear through the dim light”), starvation, and actual dragons while unarmed, Isola begins to feel that Vinguard’s traditions come at a cost that’s too steep. Meanwhile, Vicar Darius, Lucan’s father and the leader of Vinguard’s shadowy theocracy, the Creed, is desperate to take Isola’s powers for himself—and, to that end, he puts her into increasingly tortuous situations. However, neither he, nor Isola’s teenage rivals, are very compelling antagonists; instead, they come across as caricatures of cruelty. Still, the novel is fast-paced and action-oriented with a punchy prose that prioritizes movement over fantasy aesthetics. A sometimes-fraught romance between Isola and Lucan slowly blooms, but Isola’s relationship with her family forms the true emotional core of the narrative. Although the worldbuilding in fairly simple, the story sets up a massive mystery that promises big payoffs in a potential future installment.
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781649377838
Page Count: 448
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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