Great character work and interesting plot development make this an exceptional middle volume.
The second in a political fantasy trilogy concerning Kithamar, a powerful city-state in turmoil.
The first book, Age of Ash (2022), covered the monthslong reign of Prince Byrn a Sal of Kithamar, who inadvertently interrupted the centuries-old secret rule of a ruthless body-switching entity by not actually being part of the royal line and therefore incapable of hosting it. This installment takes place in that same year and begins with the exact same prologue but instead follows a separate group of characters who only appeared tangentially in the first book. It’s love at first sight for Elaine a Sal, daughter and heir to Byrn, and merchant’s son Garreth Left; their initial encounter is just the beginning of a profound shake-up in both their lives. As Elaine adjusts to palace life and begins to suspect sinister, impossible things about the dead Prince Ausai, Garreth defies his parents’ wishes to seal an important business transaction with a foreign marriage and runs away to join the city guard. Meanwhile, Captain Senit of the city guard makes it his mission to go after Aunt Thorn, a powerful crime kingpin apparently named after a trickster god, unaware that Aunt Thorn actually is the trickster god in question, among other things. Many authors have chosen to tell a story from two different perspectives in separate books, but Abraham’s effort is unusual in that it uses two different casts of characters, which allows for a more extensive tapestry of plot. It also serves to illuminate how profoundly people can be interconnected and never even understand how they are linked or even that they’re linked in the first place. The motivations and actions of a stranger can have a profound effect on someone’s life without the other person ever knowing about it. This parallel book both fills in the noticeable gaps in the previous volume and continues to highlight a favorite Abraham theme: the complex outcomes stemming from personal choice. Garreth’s decision to abandon the circumscribed position his family has established for him and his subsequent inability to fully devote himself to the city guard because of his newfound love for Elaine are understandable parts of his journey to find his own path and be true to himself; but they have significant, sometimes damaging consequences for those around him.
Great character work and interesting plot development make this an exceptional middle volume.Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9780316421898
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.
When Vis is copied into two other realities, he must stop a god from repeatedly culling almost everyone back home.
Thousands of years ago, to prevent the Concurrence from enslaving everyone, the world was split into three near-identical copies: Res, Obiteum, and Luceum. To exist in all three worlds, to wield Will there, is to achieve synchronism. After the events in The Will of the Many (2023), which cost Vis his arm and the life of his friend, Vis achieves Synchronism. While Res-Vis must continue to play Hierarchy politics to find his friend’s killer, Obiteum-Vis finds a ruined world, where the dead are reanimated and used by Ka, the Concurrence, and the only other person to exist in synchronism. Meanwhile, Luceum-Vis is forced into a dispute between druids, their High Council, and their kings—with one king intent on killing him—and Vis has no idea why. On all worlds, Vis is as shrewd as ever, weighing his options, planning ahead, and doing what he must to survive. However, he, too, slowly diverges, doing things he swore he never would: cede his Will, use Will to control someone else, and reveal his true name. If at least one Vis cannot use his synchronism and power of Will to kill the Concurrence, no Vis will be safe, and another Cataclysm will cull those he loves on Res. Book Two of the Hierarchy series is a speculative fantasy that is at once Egyptian post-apocalyptic, Celtic medieval, and Roman dystopian, thanks to the multidimensional setting. Although the sprawling narrative at times overextends itself, Islington rewards patient readers with a compelling story, a cast of complex and diverse characters, and a glimpse into how far a good man can go before he’s lost. A symbol at the start of each chapter delineates which world and Vis it’s about. Readers should read The Will of the Many before attempting this volume, or they may be confused for the first several chapters and beyond.
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781982141233
Page Count: 736
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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