An action-packed introductory tale that’s somewhat hampered by shallow characterization.
Nicol’s fantasy novel offers a promising start to a new spinoff series, set in former role-playing game designer Rowe’s popular Arcane Ascension world.
The author of the Mage-Born fantasy novels presents an engaging new story in the LitRPG fantasy subgenre—one that’s grounded in the universe of Rowe’s work. It’s a world of complex magic where teams of climbers attempt to scale ancient towers known as the Soaring Spires, hoping to gain magical “attunements” and treasure. In this first installment, the Guiding Star Legacy team of six climbers, each with different attunements, skills, and powers, venture to the 19th floor of the Tortoise Spire. Four of them—thoughtful seer Seji “Sage” Hayden, intimidating healer Lani Nanashi, reckless fighter Nieve Yukihara, and timid “cloudcaller” Emiko Ryotsu, who can manipulate weather—share a tight bond from years of climbing together, exchanging teasing banter and affectionate nicknames. But their last ascent was so harrowing that two other team members quit, replaced by temporary hires Aldis Somers, a prickly telepath, and Hane, an enigmatic, solitary figure. Inside the spire is a dangerous magical realm where the climbers face challenges such as monsters, mazes, and illusions, which players of Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games will find familiar. Much of the narrative reads like a description of gameplay, moving from scene to scene without much motivation or suspense. The characters also seem somewhat underdeveloped; one could easily dub them “the bold one,” “the cute one,” or “the loner.” The complicated magic system with its eight attunements, each with six levels, five magical marks, and dozens of types of magical essences and crystals can be hard to follow, despite an explanatory prologue. However, as the story unfolds, the author introduces surprising elements and shocking twists, leading to a harrowing final life-and-death battle and setting up an intriguing premise for a continuing series. Some readers may find parts of the final confrontation overly dark, but fans of anime, RPGs, and the authors’ previous work will be eager to follow Guiding Star Legacy’s further adventures.
An action-packed introductory tale that’s somewhat hampered by shallow characterization.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2022
ISBN: 9781039415034
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2023
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
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
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