A vibrant, deliberately paced, and enthralling fantasy.
A small group of allies in a faraway world battles oppression and seemingly indestructible fiends in this fantasy sequel.
Democryos was once a master “voider” in the Northern Kingdom. He honed magiclike abilities from an otherworldly plane called the void, an act he renounced after learning that trapped souls powered the voidstones wielded by voiders. The secret to stopping voidance may now lie in his lover Chimeline’s vivid dream-visions of Temberlain, the first effulgent, who died generations ago. (Effulgents belong to a religious sect that doesn’t believe in relationships or ownership.) But Dem and Chimeline have trouble deciphering events and figures in her recorded dreams, including exactly what that silver-armored “azureman” is. Meanwhile, Dem and his friend Blythe work to free countless souls stuck in an impossibly large voidstone. But danger looms. The king unleashes an enigmatic plan to round up effulgents, and someone kills voiders and steals their pocket-sized voidstones. Dem, Blythe, Chimeline, and others soon realize that people are disappearing in the Northern Kingdom, and azuremen (like those in Chimeline’s dreams) are suddenly showing up. The dreams may prepare the companions for facing both these never-speaking, startlingly durable beings and quite likely an even greater enemy. Wozniak’s effective, unhurried pace guides readers through dense worldbuilding. This second installment, for example, touches on events from the preceding novel and spotlights intermittent dream episodes with Temberlain that confuse even Dem and Chimeline. Nevertheless, beautifully detailed scenes fill the pages, most notably of the void—a “colorless darkness” in which voices of souls or voiders “weave in and out like braids in a rope.” The story zeroes in on an indelible cast, from foulmouthed friend Colu, perpetually guzzling the alcoholic beverage sugarcanex, to Chimeline, continually doubting her ability though she may prove more powerful than skilled voiders. All the while, a slow-burn mystery plays out and a revealing final act answers questions surrounding the blue-faced azuremen and Chimeline’s “voidreaming.” Although a third volume is certainly possible, this tale ends with a thorough and satisfying wrap-up.
A vibrant, deliberately paced, and enthralling fantasy.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 9798986681818
Page Count: 591
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.
The conclusion to the Villains trilogy asks, In a world where there are no heroes, what does victory really mean?
Schwab’s world is one where violent near-death experiences can engender ExtraOrdinaries, people who come back to life with a new superpowered ability, but lacking empathy, patience, and a variety of other, gentler qualities. In this installment, Victor Vale is becoming increasingly desperate; ever since Sydney Clarke used her power to bring him back from the dead, control over his own ability to cause and dampen pain has been slipping. Sydney herself is chafing against her life on the run with Victor’s protective ex-cellmate, Mitch Turner, and struggling with missing both Victor and her dead sister, Serena, whom she might not be able to resurrect—and definitely shouldn’t. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist, Dr. Gabriel Gray, discovers the existence of ExtraOrdinary people and seeks to harness their power for himself with tragic consequences for himself and many other people. Because the narrative skips around in time, it becomes clear fairly early that a final conflict is looming at EON, a high-tech facility where ExtraOrdinaries are imprisoned and experimented upon. This series has really lived up to its title; while antiheroes and villains have been popular protagonists for quite some time, not every writer is willing to lean into the darkness as hard as Schwab does. Some of her characters were psychopaths even before their near-death traumas, which means they didn’t have much moral fiber to begin with. And even the people who are basically good do a lot of bad and often foolish things when faced with a crisis…and there are a lot of crises. The strength of this series lies in Schwab’s ExtraOrdinary power to make you care for many of these incredibly rash, ethically dubious—some verging on irredeemable—characters anyway. As a result, the story rises above the usual grimdark cynical slog; instead, this is a gripping and nuanced saga with an ending that feels both inevitable and well earned.
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250192233
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
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