An expansive saga that’s slow to start but ultimately intriguing.
Debut author Gennari presents an epic fantasy novel that focuses on a gifted young man who’s destined for legendary greatness.
Areus is a muscular 20-year-old Torian; his people can live for thousands of years, and most generally enjoy their lives. All has not been well for Areus, as he’s been plagued by a dream of a great king in pain, but he’s also a talented athlete who competes in an event like wrestling called Lúkari. His fighting abilities come in handy when he later faces enemies in the realm of the mortals while accompanied by a wise man named Santia, who’s a member of a celestial order called the Assembly of Light. When the two meet, Santia tells the young man that a powerful evil has returned to the world after a long time away and that “There is more to you than you would like to believe.” Meanwhile, in a land called Denkari, a rebellious young woman named Belvara is troubled by her own dreams of terrible anguish; she’s the niece of a senator and longs to know more about her birthparents. When circumstances bring her into contact with Areus, the two realize that they can communicate telepathically—one of many discoveries they encounter in a vast quest to come. Events move slowly in this saga’s initial pages; the first chapter, for instance, provides readers with the backstory of Hydroland, the largest landmass of Aureus’ planet, which seems irrelevant at first but comes into play later on; later, extraneous details regarding Areus’ Lúkari competitions adversely affect the narrative momentum. Although the stage takes time to set, the introduction of compelling creatures will maintain readers’ interest, including brutal monsters called rifas and a helpful shape changer. That said, some descriptions feel lacking; for instance, one cave is guarded by a “monstrous cave troll and his vicious thylacine pets,” but little detail is provided about them. Still, intriguing information is revealed about Areus, and this, coupled with other discoveries—regarding, for example, the dangers of solar flares—will keep readers engaged.
An expansive saga that’s slow to start but ultimately intriguing.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-6454948-0-8
Page Count: 833
Publisher: Star Rise Publications
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2022
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
For readers of the once-popular dystopian YA novels who are now all grown up.
In a distant future, after the Last War when the human population became endangered, a new society formed from the ashes, strictly to optimize procreation.
But not procreation between just anyone. This society, ruled by the Illum—a mysterious authoritarian group—assigns mates to select for the best traits and to breed out defects, to grow the Elite population living in the clouds. Protagonist Emeline is a stubborn and bored young woman, working her days away on the ground as a Minor Defect—one of the class of women waiting to be approved for mating with an Elite, and hoping to never be banished further from society. Emeline’s instincts are apparently to reject the rigid decorum of her society, but she spends years trying to follow the rules set out for her, or at least dissociates enough not to challenge her way of life, until one day an elusive and charming man, Hal, walks into her office to talk about art. The same day, she is approved for mating and matched with Collin, the youngest member of the Illum, in the sort of pairing that hasn’t happened in decades. Courtship with Collin is full of luxury—fancy dinners and balls in the clouds—but also lies and days of discovering secrets kept from her, while trying to keep the Elite’s rumors and malicious Press at bay. Caught between these two men, with their own agendas, and so many unanswered questions, Emeline must decide what she wants, if she can want anything at all. With a rebellion rising in secret and the repression of the Illum close at hand, she’ll find what she’s willing to lose for the ability to choose for herself. The dystopian worldbuilding is underdeveloped at best, so get swept up in discovering truth from lies quickly before it starts to fall apart in your hands.
For readers of the once-popular dystopian YA novels who are now all grown up.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798217090990
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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