An animal-centered dystopian novel with a thrilling adventure narrative and quirky anthropomorphic additions.
In St. John’s fantasy sequel set in the far future, prey animals prepare to take on predators in order to take control of the land.
Young rabbit Anastasia, known to her followers as Loving Auntie, has been told the wolves are coming for her people. In the previous novel, War Bunny (2021), she and two of her friends managed to kill a coyote—a vassal of the wolves—which was something completely unheard of among rabbit-kind, and this has sparked a rebellion among the rabbits, mice, and squirrels. With courage, strength in numbers, and weapons, they fight against the predator animals that act as Landlords of the warrens. However, not all rabbits feel as Anastasia and her followers do—her own mother, Olympia, wishes to maintain the status quo to keep the peace, even going so far to try and poison her own daughter and hide spies in the camp. It would be tough enough for the prey animals to fight against the wolves alone, but in order to reclaim their power and show their might, the wolves of the Summerday clan have gathered parties of foxes, coyotes, and weasels to join their cause and hunt down those that would seek to upend the balance of power. There is a long, hard road to freedom ahead, but there’s a chance the rabbits and their Free Army may find a safe haven and further hope of holding out against what’s coming in a bunker left by long-dead humankind. More types of animals are flocking to the prey-animal rebellion, and they may be small in stature, but they’re mighty in spirit—but do they truly stand a chance? This second book in the Warbunny chronicles is a direct sequel, and it’s recommended that interested readers should read the inaugural installment first. In this dystopian future, animals have not only taken over the world, but are even able to speak and make weaponry. The characters have an intriguing mix of animal characteristics, such as nuzzling and nipping, and humanlike ones—including Landlords and Tenants, their own religion, and, in Anastasia’s case, appears to be a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Although the use of animal characters might make this seem like a juvenile novel to the uninitiated, it includes material that seems aimed at a slightly older audience, including a coyote group known as “Clan Bastard,” as well as a mix of French- and Latin-language terms, defined in footnotes. Although the animals’ fight against those in power makes for a compelling read on its own, those that read more closely will find remarkable highlights of how the animals have adapted human interests and terms; one squirrel, for instance, teaches “Oga for Young Goats,” which he learned from a ripped-up old human book that was titled Yoga for Kids. This mix of elements may not appeal to all, but those that get into the spirit of the tale will find themselves enjoying the ride.
An animal-centered dystopian novel with a thrilling adventure narrative and quirky anthropomorphic additions.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781736885727
Page Count: 393
Publisher: Harvest Oak Press
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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
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