Will delight shippers and whet fans’ appetites.
This volume containing two novellas from the world of These Violent Delights presents new mysteries featuring familiar faces.
In A Foul Thing, Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai’s life of wedded bliss in Zhouzhuang township is disrupted by a ghost from their past. It’s 1931, 4 years since they faked their own deaths in the explosion that rocked Shanghai, when a young man approaches them with a request to protect his fiancee. After Roma and Juliette save the woman from an assailant, she reveals that she once participated in an experiment conducted by a group of Russian scientists and Lourens Van Dijk, the man whose serum made Rosalind, Juliette’s cousin, immortal. Alarmed by Van Dijk’s involvement, the couple decide to probe deeper, and the answers they find compel them to ask old friends for help. Things pick up a few months later in This Foul Murder, when lovers Benedikt Montagov and Marshall Seo board the Trans-Siberian Express to find Van Dijk and bring him to Zhouzhuang. A gruesome murder at the start of the journey threatens to disrupt the train schedule, so Benedikt and Marshall take matters into their own hands and begin investigating to find the killer. The stories, while action-packed and full of danger, are less harrowing than the characters’ previous adventures. Flirty banter and tender moments between both couples are liberally sprinkled throughout, making for entertaining interludes that set the stage for the next book.
Will delight shippers and whet fans’ appetites. (Historical fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781665934510
Page Count: 240
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A delicious winter romance that shimmers with classic fairy-tale magic.
An 18-year-old’s encounter with the pale, mysterious, golden-eyed Starmaker transforms her from hamlet girl to magical apprentice.
Aurora Finch discovers she possesses the rare ability to channel sunlight—magic essential to the survival of snow-covered Reverie, her mountain village, “with peaks so high the Sun [cannot] rise above them.” Now she faces a harsh choice: Leave everything behind to train at the Starmaker’s enchanted castle or die as the untapped magic destroys her from within. Griffin excels at worldbuilding; the story is filled with elements and characters that feel both whimsical and real, from Tilly, a living snow angel who’s searching for herself, to Constance, an immortal rabbit. As the antagonism between Aurora and the cold, centuries-old Starmaker melts, their love story, which forms the heart of this tale, crackles with tension. Aurora emerges as a compelling hero—stubborn and brave—who refuses to be diminished by the overwhelming responsibilities thrust upon her. The romantic storyline proves both strong and emotionally involving as the author brings fresh twists to familiar elements, exploring the power of stories and how they shape our understanding of the world. White-presenting Aurora faces a devastating truth that creates urgency and heightens the emotional stakes that drive the story to its conclusion. This satisfying, sparkling fantasy will capture hearts with its well-developed setting and captivating love story.
A delicious winter romance that shimmers with classic fairy-tale magic. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781728256184
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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