An engrossing urban fantasy novel with an eclectic milieu.
A magic-using young man fights to save his family from dark forces in Slayton’s urban fantasy novel, the second in a series.
Adam Binder, a detective with supernatural abilities, returns to his hometown of Guthrie, Oklahoma, following the death of his beloved great-aunt Sue, the member of his dysfunctional extended family with whom he got along best. Adam has reason to believe her death was caused by something other than the reported heart attack, especially when the dead woman’s trailer blows up right in front of him. Adam, who rushes into the burning structure to save his cousins, spots a dark figure (whom Adam identifies as a druid) lurking at the edge of the flames. Adam suspects this man is Robert Binder Sr., the father he’s long been searching for. The man officially died years ago, but could he actually be alive and living as a warlock? Back in Denver, Adam’s policeman boyfriend, Vic, tries to figure out why Adam left town without saying anything. While Adam rushes to stop the mysterious man from targeting members of his family, Vic, due to his past magical adventures with Adam, becomes caught up on a mission of his own in the magical dimension known as the Other Side, where sea elves are intent upon drowning the world. The author’s evocative prose marries dark fantasy with trailer-park grit, resulting in a style that feels distinctly grounded even when it’s describing magical occurrences: “Adam squeezed his eyes shut and opened them when cold filled the air, sweeping over the car like a sleet storm. The scent of rotten blackberries and battery acid surged. He knew this magic, knew its greasy flavor, its cloying, clinging stench.” The plot picks up where the previous book ended, so new readers may have trouble orienting themselves in the various continuing storylines. Even so, fans of the genre will appreciate Slayton’s relentless pace, complex characters, and inventive turns. More fantasy novels could use a dash of the trailer park.
An engrossing urban fantasy novel with an eclectic milieu.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 9781094067971
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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