A fine fantasy story with a satisfying narrative about family struggles.
In Madeley’s prequel novel, a young prince must choose between his loyalty to his father or his duty to the people.
Prince Ewald is the eldest son of the ruthless and violent King Jonnecht in the land of Kensrik. He has a younger sister, Princess Isabel, who has many secrets, and a younger brother, Bonifaz, who doesn’t trust anyone. Their mother, Queen Dulcibella, does her best to protect her children from her bad-tempered husband. One day, Isabel approaches Ewald with a proposal: She’ll show him “the life [she] call[s] fun,” and in exchange he’ll allow her to control of all aspects of the evening. He agrees and, to his surprise, finds that Isabel has been leaving the castle to party with strangers—something he soon enjoys, as well. Eventually, however, Jonnecht discovers their secret and punishes them severely, brutally attacking Ewald while Isabel runs away to hide. Dulcibella tries to protect them, but Jonnecht disowns Isabel, claiming she’s corrupted the prince. When the storm of Jonnecht’s hatred calms momentarily, Ewald understands that his father is beyond redemption and must be stopped. Madeley offers a great tale of royal intrigue; it’s a prequel to his Gift-Knight Trilogy, but it can easily be read on its own. Ewald is an appealing hero, overcoming his fears and revealing a heart of gold in his defense of loved ones. His quest to end his father’s reign of cruelty is a complete character arc with a satisfying ending, aided by a brisk narrative pace and well-developed characterization. The story’s depiction of Dulcibella, Isabel, and Bonifaz effectively shows the different ways that people deal with abusive situation, and how they learn to survive them. Newcomers are likely to be as pleased with this installment as those familiar with the author’s previous series.
A fine fantasy story with a satisfying narrative about family struggles.Pub Date: April 21, 2021
ISBN: 9798741692691
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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