Richly textured characters drive this memorable tale of magic and resilience.
A teen harbors immense powers and a chilling secret in Schofield’s debut fantasy novel and series opener.
Lia arrives at Anhame, a crafthall for honing anar—the craft of people with “higher senses.” Lia is a fifth-level anar, meaning she has healing abilities. She can also see others’ inner soulforms, which represent people’s true nature (some take the shapes of animals). That alone puts her on the same level as Anhame’s masters, but Lia still hopes the crafthall will help “transform her powers from a conscious exertion into effortless proficiency.” She becomes an apprentice to the teacher Maethin, who suggests she stay mum about her anar prowess, but he’s not afraid of her abilities, as Lia’s former master had seemingly been. That same master told Lia that her soulform was corrupt and evil, making her reluctant to meld (connect with another anar), lest it prove deadly. Other potential dangers haunt Anhame, such as a mysterious “figure” watching Lia. This first installment of the author’s series has very little action, despite clear signs of various menaces and the setting’s complicated history. Schofield instead uses this novel to meticulously develop an extensive cast, including the protagonist’s fellow students, the Nine (Anhame’s masters), and Lia herself. The powerful young hero is refreshingly humble and doesn’t trust easily. She makes several intriguing connections with others; the most rewarding is her relationship with Maethin, who treats her with warmth and respect. Details about the supporting cast suggest the larger world of this planned pentalogy; not all crafts, for example, are magical (there are also jewelers and musicians). Every page showcases the author’s luminescent prose: “Trees shaped themselves out of the night as great soft shadows…The eastern sky shaded into pink, bringing gleams of colour to the monochrome predawn world.” A few key revelations, most notably that of Lia’s soulform, help pave the way for sequels.
Richly textured characters drive this memorable tale of magic and resilience.Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9781918313000
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Doesn’t entirely hang together but still manages to hit the spot.
In an alternate early-20th-century Montreal, sparks fly between the operator of a cat shelter and a reclusive magician.
Agnes Aubert is not kindly disposed toward magicians, especially not after a magical duel blows a hole in the building that housed her and her cat shelter. Unfortunately, finding another spot isn’t easy, so she’s happy to take the reasonably priced location on the Rue des Hirondelles. But that’s before she discovers the building’s owner secretly living in the basement: Havelock Renard, the world’s most powerful magician, who also happens to be allergic to cats. As this decidedly odd couple work out a system for cohabitation, Agnes develops some uncomfortable feelings for Havelock; she also can’t deny her attraction to the police detective who thinks (not entirely incorrectly) that the shelter is a front for the illegal sale of magical Artefacts. In comparison to the carefully constructed universe of her Emily Wildeseries, Fawcett’s worldbuilding and plotting are a bit sloppy; the magical system is not laid out as clearly as more pedantic readers might wish, and there’s one part of Agnes’ quandary that gets resolved in a rushed, not truly believable, way. The book also implausibly suggests that an allergy to cats is curable by exposure (rather than managed by a magical antihistamine, perhaps?). But one has to admire the author’s acumen in finding the absolute sweet spot for a cozy fantasy, after all the other ones set in cafes and adorable little shops. It could seem either twee or a cynical grab at the market, but it’s neither; Fawcett clearly understands the complicated but rewarding relationship between humans and cats. It is also charming to set a story in Montreal, where both brioches and bagels are on offer.
Doesn’t entirely hang together but still manages to hit the spot.Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9780593973257
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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