Capes’ fictional universe expands slowly but compellingly in this latest installment.
In this new-adult fantasy sequel, the immortal Aion clan threatens to use the captured Dalia against her allies in the Decagon.
The year is 2046. The immortal Dalia used to visit the realm called the Dreaming to locate wandering souls and return them to the Waking world. Those she’s saved form a group called the Decagon, and the events of Capes’ previous novel have left Dalia in the hands of their enemies, the Aion. Rourke, the Aion’s leader, keeps Dalia in his Glass Estate and calls her “Ambra,” the name she used as an Aion member 200 years ago. She has no idea how long she’s been in Rourke’s clutches, and injections of a special serum keep her from traveling to the Dreaming or contacting the Decagon. After Ambra meets Six, the newest member of the Aion, she also realizes that Rourke will cross any boundary to increase his power; he even creates a sleek exoskeleton, Baphomet, for Ambra to wear—but not always control—in battle against the Aion’s enemies. These include Iridian, who’s abandoned Rourke to build an army to overthrow him. Rourke also believes that Ambra is the key to “smuggling” things from the SubDream, the subconscious level beyond the Dreaming. Eventually, Ambra will face her former allies in the Decagon—but will she have control over what happens? Capes smoothly juggles several mysteries in this second volume of her series, and the truth about Six gives the narrative a surreal tone. Flashbacks to the 18th century continue, with each segment moving readers further backward in time until they meet a young Delia. The descriptions of locations are frequently gorgeous, such as the Glass Estate’s garden, “hung with fog blown down from the looming mountaintops.” Capes brings the Aion’s actions to life with fine historical details; for instance, in 1737 Vienna, beautifully dressed women wear “tiny gems dotting their hair and jewelry” that “twinkled like shy galaxies.” The violence ranges from sadistic to relatively comical, as when Six mentions dispatching an enemy with a simple “hairdryer in the bath.” The time-twisting finale sets up fresh mysteries for the next volume.
Capes’ fictional universe expands slowly but compellingly in this latest installment.Pub Date: June 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73437-764-4
Page Count: 426
Publisher: Capas LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
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