Young heroes shine bright in an otherworldly tale that leaves many questions unanswered.
Fraternal-twin siblings may be the only ones who can save their realm in Sostman’s fantasy series-starter.
Seventeen-year-old Rioyn Orro dreams of protecting his realm of Seivan. It would entail joining Sansyre University’s Order of Soldiers, but his father, a general who finds his son too impulsive, won’t approve his enrollment. Rioyn plans to join anyway; histwin, Ayva, who thinks of herself as a “nerdy book girl,” is already signed up for the Order of Galilei. As each sibling gears up for their orders’ tournaments, their realm suddenly comes under attack. A sinister brother and sister, wielding dark Ascendances (magical abilities), lead the Starless Army, which consists of soldiers whose “lacquered black eyes” indicate apparent mindlessness. Rioyn and Ayva have their own Ascendances, like many in Seivan, but neither has mastered them yet. To restore peace in their realm, they’ll need to find the Iyanndyre Born, a fabled and enigmatic figure. With their loved ones in peril, the twins trek across a mountain range to reach the towering Iyanndyre monolith. Sostman’s novel throws numerous obstacles in the siblings’ way; their journey to the Iyanndyre structure, for example, is rife with life-threatening dangers. However, the characters also struggle with more relatable troubles, such as Rioyn’s craving for his father’s approval and Ayva’s wish that she was popular, like her brother. However, much of this opening installment is deliberately cryptic about key topics, such as who or what the Iyanndyre Born is and how the mysterious Infinite Void relates to Seivan and “the Outer Realms.” The alternating narrative perspectives, primarily the twins’, provide useful insight. Unfortunately, they also reveal Rioyn as a selfish and largely incompetent character; he’s essentially a detriment to the mission, especially compared to the siblings’ traveling companion (and Rioyn’s embittered ex) Falla Kai. An effervescent secondary cast includes villains with startling, well-developed origin stories, as well as Jax Risor, Ayva’s love interest and Rioyn’s best friend. The final act answers a lingering question while also deepening other mysteries.
Young heroes shine bright in an otherworldly tale that leaves many questions unanswered.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9798992113518
Page Count: 417
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2025
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
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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