A derivative take on the magical boarding school novel that offers little entertainment.
In this YA fantasy novel, students attend a magical boarding school where they learn spells, play Mageball, and contend against evil forces.
Soon after Greg Warren’s birth, his parents received letters informing them that he was gifted and would receive private school scholarships. Greg and his friends—Annie Petersen, Zach Talbut, and Annabelle “Belle” Blue—are in their last semester at Bourdinbaugh Preparatory Middle School in Milwaukee. Upon graduation, they’re chosen for the prestigious Hazelwood Academy. When the new school year begins, they travel by a special train, in which Greg and his friends learn that magic exists. Outside the Academy is Hazelwood Village, where shops selling magical items line the cobblestone streets; the school itself is “like a castle…and like a modern commercial high-rise,” with a surrounding forest. The luxurious, co-ed dorm rooms include four-poster, canopied beds and other perks. The foursome meets other students, some friendly, some less so, such as “Magical-Born” Alec Sterling, who sneers at those born to “Normals,” like Greg. As the students learn and practice magic, choose a “Magical Focus” (an “Elemental Spirit” connected with an object), and play Mageball, an evil cabal is hatching a plot against the magical world. Meanwhile, Greg goes on a quest to help strengthen his Magical Focus. In his debut novel, Bandor owes many obvious debts to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, with elements similar to the Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts itself, Hogsmeade, Quidditch, Muggles, and more. Bandor does elaborate more on just how magic works; for example, humans have an “ætherial” core, but need an elemental spirit to amplify it, and this ties in well with the story. However, these explanations are dull, and Bandor lacks Rowling’s lightness of touch; there’s much leaden jollity, and Bandor’s adolescents blush and giggle with tiresome frequency. The style, too, lacks grace, as when Greg explains a cheese grater to Annie, who blushes (of course) and notes “the efficiency with which Greg utilized the grater.”
A derivative take on the magical boarding school novel that offers little entertainment.Pub Date: March 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5232-9041-3
Page Count: 402
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An engrossing, action-packed sequel with a compelling cast.
A woman must undergo fearsome trials to free the imprisoned Titans of Greek myth in Owen’s fantasy novel, the second in a series.
Advancing from minor office clerk in the Order of Thieves to Queen of the Underworld, Lyra Keres’ star should be rising. But thanks to Cronos, King of the Titans, she and her longtime friend and fellow thief Boone have been ensnared in a new challenge beneath the earth: Hot on the heels of winning the twisted Crucible Games, Lyra—who has recently been granted goddess powers—finds herself trapped in Tartarus. Separated from her beloved Hades, she must liberate the fearsome Titans from seven Locks to restore the cosmic balance. As Lyra progresses through the Locks engineered by the Gods—each as tricky and lethal as the last—the pressure mounts as the Titans repeatedly remind her, “You will be our savior.” Rhea, the wife of Cronos, reveals that Lyra began this quest “a hundred and fifty years ago,” adding further devastation to the task at hand; the knowledge is helpful, but also painful, as Lyra reflects, “Suddenly, I don’t want to know that it’s real. Because then I have to contemplate how many times I might have ended up in Tartarus already.” As she materializes in and out of time pockets, Lyra sees Hades’ troubled childhood unfold and struggles not to intervene to save the man she loves. In this second entry in the author’s Crucible series, following The Games Gods Play (2024), Lyra’s cynical quips continue to make her an engaging protagonist. Her inner monologues are balanced with hope, love, and longing for Hades as she meets various versions of him. While resilient, Owen’s heroine is also vulnerable (“Was I his pawn in more ways than I ever realized?”). Her introspection effectively contrasts with the simmering rage and restraint in Hades’ chapters. The supporting Titans are given more depth than the traditional myths allow, weaving a knotty family fabric for the reader to navigate alongside Lyra.
An engrossing, action-packed sequel with a compelling cast.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781649378538
Page Count: 500
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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