A grim but riveting tale of astonishing creatures and an unfathomable otherworld.
In this dark fantasy novel, a teenager inadvertently opens a doorway between realms, allowing good and evil mythical beings to cross into our world.
It’s 1986, and Matthew Dean is muddling through his first year of high school in Beaumont, Texas. He lives with his single mom, Lina, and he’s endearingly nerdy; he enjoys playing Atari games and Dungeons & Dragons with his friends. He has recurring dreams that involve mysterious figures standing in a circle. One morning, the dream moves beyond its typical ending. Matthew doesn’t know it yet, but he’s somehow opened a gateway to another realm—and it’s not far from his home. Assorted beings walk through the gate; the first one Matthew meets is a friendly hobgoblin named Puck, who claims to know the boy’s father. Matthew has never met his dad, and it turns out that his mom has quite a few secrets, starting with her own origins. Unsavory types from the other world, including a wood nymph with a grudge, are on the hunt for Matthew, and when they don’t immediately find him, they go after his mother and his friends instead. Returning home isn’t a safe option, so Matthew hopes that Puck, and other allies he meets, can guide him to the land of faeries; there, he hopes to find answers, although they may not be the ones he wants. Meanwhile, Beaumont Police Det. Jacob Fusilier investigates an ongoing case involving missing local children. He feels personally invested because his 8-year-old daughter is the same age as one of the kids who’s vanished. His sleuthing uncovers disturbing clues and bizarre sights that Jacob simply can’t explain.
Tolin’s debut novel moves at an unhurried but effective pace, gradually introducing various members of the cast. Many are so well developed that when, for example, seemingly minor players suddenly reappear later in the story, their scenes have a tremendous impact. Many characters from the otherworldly realm are based on figures from mythology or folklore, such as a vicious boggart and the headless Dullahan. Readers will also recognize gnomes and a wizard who plays a crucial role in the narrative. The Texas setting is also engaging, thanks to a plethora of entertaining 1980s references, including movie posters, popular cartoons such as ThunderCats, and “blocky” VHS tapes (which contain potential evidence for Jacob to review). The story has its share of ferocity; more than one person suffers an especially brutal interrogation, and one formidable baddie, who inspired the book’s title, is a stonehearted menace. Several scenes are outright unnerving, although lighthearted interactions between Matthew and Puck help to alleviate the tension. Although the author vividly details various locales, his character descriptions are best: One has “an extremely large nose and pointed ears that jutted out from his head like the arms of a weathervane. His cheeks were flushed red, and his cracked lips formed a broad smile filled with intermittent teeth.” There’s still plenty to explore by the end, and a sequel is in the works.
A grim but riveting tale of astonishing creatures and an unfathomable otherworld.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
