An enjoyably lighthearted installment of a genre-blending series.
Murray and Fahrie offer the sixth short urban fantasy time-travel novel in their ongoing series about a quest for the ultimate treasure: the Holy Grail.
Lucy and James are Manhattanites who’ve time-traveled from modern times to the age of King Arthur, and James can transform into a wolf whenever he desires. At the beginning of this latest round of supernatural adventures, King Arthur is throwing a masquerade ball that’s rudely interrupted by some vampires. Although the fanged creatures are quickly defeated, Merlin warns Lucy and James that there’s more trouble soon to come. As he phrases it, “Something evil and terrible is about to descend on Camelot,” and that evil, as it turns out, is a coming plague. The only solution is for Lucy and James to retrieve the Holy Grail, which “has the power to heal any illness and make the world whole again.” This journey will not be easy, but the two will not set out on it alone: They will have at their disposal three intelligent dogs, as well as a donkey. The largest canine, Argo, is no stranger to “difficult battles,” while the smallest, Capo, is less experienced, but “very sweet and has the heart of a lion.” On their way, the team meets friendly elves and a suicidal knight named Tristan who has something of a relationship problem. Lucy and James also receive assistance from their old friend Lancelot. Soon enough, the band are battling vampires and witches. As it turns out, the enemy has plans to spread the plague by sending bats into Camelot. Can Lucy, James, and their friends stop them in time?
This fanciful tale moves very fast: No sooner has King Arthur’s party started than vampires are trying to ruin it. The villains seem to be able to pop up whenever they want, and such surprise attacks keep the action moving. It helps, too, that the danger is not merely limited to vampires and witches; other malicious creatures enter the picture later. Yet, despite the variety of foes, the bad guys always prove to be incompetent, which may disappoint some readers. It doesn’t take much effort for King Arthur’s knights to save his masquerade ball, for instance, nor are many of the later attempts to defeat the heroes even remotely successful. When an evil witch named Davida offers Lancelot the opportunity to join her clearly lost cause and become King of Camelot, his decision is too easy to be compelling; after all, why should he betray his friends for a bunch of inept villains? Characters also sometimes say obvious things, as when one gushes to Lucy and James, “It warms my heart that there are such caring people like the two of you left in this world.” Still, such comments add to the adventure’s overall playful spirit, which is maintained throughout the work’s short length. Although the heroes’ success is rarely in doubt, readers will appreciate the twists and turns along the way. Fortunately, the story never takes itself too seriously, allowing for a remarkably fun journey.
An enjoyably lighthearted installment of a genre-blending series.Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2024
ISBN: 9798340592156
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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