An absorbing novel that weaves an unforgettable tale of magic and subversion.
A British university student becomes entangled with the members of a campus secret society who inadvertently provide her access to a mysterious parallel world.
When shy Emma Curran accepts a prestigious fellowship that funds climate change–related research on river habitats, she’s catapulted from obscurity into the most elite student circles. She quickly begins consorting with young people whose lives center around “dressage clubs…[shopping] at Harrods,” yachts, and glamorous parties. Her newfound social status attracts attention from the popular leader of the secretive all-male Turnbull Society, who invites her to partake in an ancient ritual and then a human “fox hunt” that unexpectedly transports her to a domain that coexists—and sometimes intersects—with her own. Breeze demonstrates her mastery of worldbuilding by plunging the reader into the mesmerizing realm of the Night City, populated by spell-workers, healers, scholars and hybrid human-animals who, like Emma, have been “touched by magic…[and] belong to the power that claimed [them]. That saved [them], or granted [their] wish”; and where survival is dependent on the ability to see through cleverly worded “bargains” meant to trap the unwary. As Emma searches for a way back to her world, she draws inexorably closer to truths about the Turnbulls and their unspeakable bargain with the Night City that not only test her wits, mettle, and resolve, but transform her into the avenging heroine of a story she never dreamed would be hers. Smart, propulsive, and multilayered, this deftly crafted fantasy thriller immerses readers in a narrative that recalls the wonder—and horror—of Grimms’ fairy tales in a darkly elegant academic setting.
An absorbing novel that weaves an unforgettable tale of magic and subversion.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780316597388
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
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
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.
The conclusion to the Villains trilogy asks, In a world where there are no heroes, what does victory really mean?
Schwab’s world is one where violent near-death experiences can engender ExtraOrdinaries, people who come back to life with a new superpowered ability, but lacking empathy, patience, and a variety of other, gentler qualities. In this installment, Victor Vale is becoming increasingly desperate; ever since Sydney Clarke used her power to bring him back from the dead, control over his own ability to cause and dampen pain has been slipping. Sydney herself is chafing against her life on the run with Victor’s protective ex-cellmate, Mitch Turner, and struggling with missing both Victor and her dead sister, Serena, whom she might not be able to resurrect—and definitely shouldn’t. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist, Dr. Gabriel Gray, discovers the existence of ExtraOrdinary people and seeks to harness their power for himself with tragic consequences for himself and many other people. Because the narrative skips around in time, it becomes clear fairly early that a final conflict is looming at EON, a high-tech facility where ExtraOrdinaries are imprisoned and experimented upon. This series has really lived up to its title; while antiheroes and villains have been popular protagonists for quite some time, not every writer is willing to lean into the darkness as hard as Schwab does. Some of her characters were psychopaths even before their near-death traumas, which means they didn’t have much moral fiber to begin with. And even the people who are basically good do a lot of bad and often foolish things when faced with a crisis…and there are a lot of crises. The strength of this series lies in Schwab’s ExtraOrdinary power to make you care for many of these incredibly rash, ethically dubious—some verging on irredeemable—characters anyway. As a result, the story rises above the usual grimdark cynical slog; instead, this is a gripping and nuanced saga with an ending that feels both inevitable and well earned.
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250192233
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: tomorrow
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