The sheer amount of jaw-dropping plot twists and bombshell revelations make this a must-read for fans of grand-scale fantasy.
The second installment in Stewart’s Hollow Covenant trilogy continues the impressively epic narrative set on a world where magic has been all but destroyed and gods and mortals battle for survival, supremacy, and freedom.
After mortals selfishly—or ignorantly—“broke the world” (called the Shattering) by the deforestation of all the giant Numinar trees for their magic (and inadvertently destroyed the gods’ subterranean realm of Unterra), the self-proclaimed “one true god” Kluehnn set out on a mission to kill all the other gods, punish the mortals, and restore the world in his vision. But not all the gods are dead—some have been in hiding for centuries—and Kluehnn’s bloody grand plan has increasing opposition. Revolving in large part around the fractured relationship between two sisters, Hakara and Rasha, who were separated when their realm was restored—killing half of the inhabitants and turning some into “altered” beings (with any combination of fur, wings, horns, tails, etc.)—the storyline gains scope and depth with multiple points of view, which also includes Mullayne, an explorer and scholar who, failing to find a safe passage to the gods’ mythical underground realm, is bent on unearthing the mystery surrounding Kluehnn’s origins, and Sheuan, Mull’s scheming cousin who knows how to make the filters needed to survive the magical but poisonous aether of the underworld. The complex dynamism between characters and stand-up-and-applaud plot intricacy are obvious strong points, but the originality and rich description of the worldbuilding are arguably the most memorable aspects. Here Stewart gives readers a glimpse into Unterra before the Shattering: “But those who have returned described masses of glowing roots from the Numinars above, birds with iridescent feathers, equine creatures with cloven hooves and shimmering green coats. And above it all, in the very center of our world, the inner star.”
The sheer amount of jaw-dropping plot twists and bombshell revelations make this a must-read for fans of grand-scale fantasy.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780316564830
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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