An engaging story that will have readers looking forward to seeing where Syd’s adventures will lead her.
In this first volume of Sevan’s urban fantasy series, a girl must battle an army of supernatural creatures as she learns more about her unusual abilities.
Syd Hoven has psychic powers—and she’d prefer that nobody knew about them. After an incident in which she traumatizes a woman by leading her to her missing daughter’s body, she thinks that it’s better to keep her premonitions to herself. One night, she accepts an invitation to a bar from a co-worker; there, she meets not one, but two incredibly handsome men. It turns out that they’re brothers, and they claim to be there on a mission to protect her. Devon and Jack, who have powers given to them by the Archangel Rafael, have been estranged for almost 200 years, but they can’t refuse an order from the powers that be. Before long, Syd finds out that demons and vampires are after her, too. She does her best to take this all in stride, but it’s not like she has much of a choice with two guardians ordering her around. Soon, she finds herself getting a little too close to Devon despite Jack’s warnings; hopefully, she can survive her feelings for him—as well as attacks from an army of supernatural creatures. Sevan’s series starter is fast-paced and told from multiple perspectives, flowing smoothly from one set piece to another. The action scenes are thrilling and vividly written: “The four gunshots had only opened holes in the bastard-demon’s tunic. A black sludge-like substance leaked out, stinking. The wounds closed within seconds.” The author also does a good job of explaining the details of the paranormal world as Syd encounters them, slowly expanding readers’ knowledge rather than overloading them with information upfront. Syd is a strong, likable protagonist who truly grows into her power as the story progresses.
An engaging story that will have readers looking forward to seeing where Syd’s adventures will lead her.Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-79-410234-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 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
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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