An engaging, fablelike warning about climate change with a gentler approach than most eco–SF.
A family’s new home comes with an uncanny book apparently from the future, a memoir of sorts that tells of a coming environmental cataclysm and the peaceful world built by the few survivors.
Kellner, an artist, illustrates as well as annotates her debut SF novel, yet another cautionary tale in the cli-fi category. The Denzells purchase a vanished person’s furnished home on the condition that they retain its contents—resident cat, Plato; many books; and “unusual collections and strange artifacts left behind by the old man.” One book begins to reappear around the house with strange, insistent regularity, a bound volume supposedly from the future called The History of the World, bearing a publication date of 2200. Various family members in turn are caught up in reading the oddity, which claims to be the transcribed memories of surviving individuals starting in “The Time Before”—that is, before mid-21st-century global warming wiped out millions of species, eliminated crops, and turned Earth into myriad storm-wracked, overheated wastelands. In the Pacific, one little girl watches as everyone around her succumbs to blight and starvation. Her sole-survivor tale intertwines with the odyssey of Gabriel Thomason and Mia Lu, a presumably North American young couple who, as modern civilization collapses, take their chances at sea in a sailboat. Poetic imagery and song rather than disaster-movie violent mayhem move the engrossing narrative along with a sometimes-idyllic tone poignantly in contrast to the background of apocalyptic events. Hanging over the whole thing is the question mark (the customary shape in which Plato holds his tail) of whether the future really has to be this way. The intriguing story is not as shrill and angry as like-minded narratives in this alarm-bell genre (though it still makes its points) and is pitched to readers of a YA and older demographic. Kellner follows the loosely plotted book with considerable aftermatter documents bearing out her philosophies—everything from a wishful “Imagined Universal Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” to the United States Constitution (in total, even the part about guns), the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a little-remembered “Treaty for the Renunciation of War” from 1928 (“Oops,” readers will be tempted to say).
An engaging, fablelike warning about climate change with a gentler approach than most eco–SF. ("Imagined Universal Bill of Rights and Responsibilities", discussion questions, Appendix of Documents (United States Constitution, US Constitution Bill of Rights, Amendments to the US Constitution, Treaty for the Renunciation of War, United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Parliament of World's Religions "Commitment to the Sustainability and Care of the Earth"), Acknowledgments, interview with the author, other books from the same imprint, About the publisher) (science fiction)Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68463-123-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 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
A delightful, genre-defying debut.
Historical horror? Dark fantasy? Queer romance? All of the above!
“I was hundreds of years old before I ever met him, but that day we were both young.” While visiting his Florence offices in 2013, attorney Sebastian Grave unearths a bloodstained lambskin glove that belonged to a past lover—a man he’d met in the 18th century. Nestled within this frame narrative is a tale of desire, werewolves, and the French Revolution. In telling his story, Sebastian introduces Sarmodel, the demon with whom he shares a body, and a succubus named Livia contributes chapters in which Joan of Arc, her notorious ally Gilles de Rais, and the archangel Michael all make appearances. First-time novelist Sullivan wields the tools of multiple genres deftly, but what really makes this book special is its central character. Sebastian has powerful magic at his disposal, but he’s also human enough to fall hard for a hot young nobleman. When Sebastian goes hunting for the Beast of Gévaudan, he’s not looking for adventure. The first time, it’s because he can’t resist Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne. The second time, it’s because he dreams of a reunion with his love—even though he knows this is a hopeless wish against the advice of Sarmodel. Using Sebastian as a narrator keeps things light, in part because he has a droll, contemporary voice and in part because it makes the worldbuilding feel natural. There are footnotes, but there are no infodumps. The fact that Sebastian doesn’t know exactly what he is sets the tone for storytelling that leaves a great deal unexplained while providing enough detail to keep the reader engaged. Deploying Sarmodel as a sort of alter ego and allowing Livia to offer her own perspective on Sebastian also adds both depth and charm.
A delightful, genre-defying debut.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781250362766
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
© 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.
