A sumptuous atmosphere and skillful worldbuilding carry this fantasy.
This new-adult urban fantasy debut sees an immortal with a secret help her long-lived clan stay one step ahead of those hunting it.
On an island in the swamps near Cocodrie, Louisiana, lives a clan called Nonagon. Among these eight individuals—also known as the Others, who are “really hard to kill”—is Dalia. She’s over two centuries old and has the power to enter a dreamscape called Pool. For the last six years, she’s been trying to rescue a man named Titus, whose spirit wanders the Dreaming in a childlike state while his body withers away somewhere. To complicate matters, an “ancient and powerful caste” called the Aion is hunting Nonagon. The group’s leader, Rourke, was betrayed by his “prized mercenary,” the Angel of Death, back in the 18th century. Unbeknown to her friends—including Fara, Lyvia, Emiel, and Marin—Dalia is the Angel of Death. Though she now works to save souls, not destroy them, Dalia doesn’t always succeed. In 1934, Rourke’s agent, the Chaser, caught up with the Others. Dalia blames herself for the death of the Others’ friend Lupe. Dalia’s romantic entanglement with the Aion Adalwolf haunts her as well. If Nonagon can find Titus and become Decagon, they may be able to halt Rourke’s vengeance. The star feature of Capes’ novel is an elaborate mythology that allows for great flexibility as the chapters flow. The present-tense narrative sometimes alternates with vignettes set in the past, which add texture, comedic and otherwise, to the cast’s backstory. For example, in 1986, the Others took a road trip to Atlanta because Lyvia wanted breast implants. The prose often offers frothy descriptions, especially in the Dreaming (“The sixth dream arrived through the basin as a symphony of haughty exaltations. They fizzled upward from the bubbling water as though it were a witch’s cauldron that undulated and crackled, producing hushed, urgent words”). The adroit worldbuilding includes the idea that only moonblood weapons—blades and bullets coated in menstrual blood—can kill the Chaser. There’s also a slow-burning eroticism in this series opener, which fans will surely crave to see more of in the planned sequel. Still, readers will need to be patient while the immortals play cat-and-mouse.
A sumptuous atmosphere and skillful worldbuilding carry this fantasy.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73437-761-3
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Capas LLC
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A strong start to an exciting new fantasy series.
A young woman embarks on a treacherous quest to save her town from a cursed forest in Peckham and Valenti’s fantasy novel.
Ferris Creed knows her hometown of Arringfall is running out of time. For decades, the cursed forest of Taking Trees, which surrounds Arringfall and other nearby towns, has spread and devoured everything in its path. The only way to break the curse: find and retrieve the amulets belonging to the 13 spirits of the forest. The one who collects the most amulets and returns them to the Great Elm will receive a boon for breaking the curse and restoring harmony. Every 50 years, a group of well-trained Champions search for the amulets in a dangerous quest called the Great Hunt. On the eve of the 13th hunt, Ferris secretly joins the group of 25 Champions. She is not the only one determined to claim the boon at all costs; deep within the woods, she meets Hendrix Draven, a 652-year-old prince with a very personal motive to win the prize. As the hunt intensifies, Ferris and Hendrix find themselves drawn to each other; however, a shocking discovery threatens Ferris’s life and what remains of Arringfall. This first installment of Peckham and Valenti’s Crown of Hearts and Chaos series is a twisty and sprawling dark romantasy replete with appealing characters in a lush and descriptive narrative. The authors’ prose is haunting and poetic: “The spirits were calling to us from within the cursed forest and I could almost believe there was something more than death awaiting us at the sound of that cry.” Ferris Creed is a well-developed protagonist whose journey anchors the novel as she grows from a young woman determined to save her sister from the woods into someone whose connection to the forest may be deeper than she realizes. Her compelling relationship with the mysterious Hendrix starts slowly but builds in intensity as their attraction deepens. In addition to a map at the beginning of the novel, the text includes detailed drawings between the chapters.
A strong start to an exciting new fantasy series.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781916926585
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Absolutely superb.
Leaders of Britain’s abolitionist movement join forces with a veteran of the Haitian revolution to push back Napoleon’s deadly forces in Parry’s second Shadow Histories novel.
Napoléon Bonaparte isn’t a particularly talented magician, but his potential as a general and conqueror attracts the attention of the same mysterious figure who manipulated Robespierre to set off the Reign of Terror in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (2020). When Bonaparte summons a kraken to serve the French navy and later finds a dragon hidden in the sands of Egypt, it’s only a matter of time before France and Europe fall at his feet. William Pitt, meanwhile, is growing weaker by the day as he works to keep a deadly and dangerous magical secret from his enemies. William Wilberforce continues to fight for abolition but is stymied at every turn. Fina uses her magic to help Toussaint Louverture keep hold of Saint-Domingue, but she eventually makes the journey to London and meets Pitt and Wilberforce. With a first-rate blend of political drama and magic battle–action, Parry manages to inject tension and stakes into a historical drama where average readers will know at least the broad strokes of the ending. Effortlessly switching from France to England to Egypt to Saint-Domingue, Parry folds in show-stopping new characters like Kate Dove, a commoner weather mage dead-set on avenging her brother’s death by kraken, and Lady Hester Stanhope, who would become one of the most famous explorers of the 19th century. When the three main characters, Fina, Pitt, and Wilberforce, finally face off with the stranger, the resulting conflict brings the series’ meditations on idealism, the fight for human rights, and the necessary limits of institutional power to a head.
Absolutely superb.Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-45915-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Redhook/Orbit
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
