Remarkable characterization and vivid worldbuilding bolster this riveting epic fantasy.
This debut grimdark fantasy introduces a restless land of gods, assassins, and warring regions.
In the Riverlands, the Mathuran Republic narrowly survives a war with the Magadhan Empire. The death of the Magadhan emperor’s daughter sparks an armistice while he mourns for one year. Lord Krishna, integral in turning the former Mathura Kingdom into a republic, decides to use that year to devise a plan that will somehow protect his realm. Other regions and their leaders fret as well. Once the armistice ends, the empire will surely conquer the Mathuran Republic, and then which region is next? An upcoming “swayamvar” in the Panchal Kingdom, where potential suitors compete for the princess’s hand in marriage, becomes a power play, with the hopes of uniting certain regions. This doesn’t stop someone from inexplicably sending assassins to kill various targets, even royalty, across the land. Meanwhile, an oracle struggles to decipher a cryptic prophecy in which the appearance of a mysterious “Son of Darkness” is a sign of utter destruction. A battle in the Riverlands, it seems, is inevitable. Mohanty’s vibrant reimagining of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata deftly puts familiar characters into an entirely new world. The extensive cast is initially overwhelming, though where the players are and their alliances (kingdoms and unions) are always clear. Similarly, well-defined class distinctions elevate this series opener; for example, aspiring warrior Karna, as a “lowborn” Resht, endures bigotry. While the brewing conflict drives the lengthy narrative, there are hints of probable series arcs. For example, the godly Daevas, or Children of Light, play a minor but significant part; they’re powerful mythical beings who some believe died long ago. Mohanty’s pithy writing delivers such lucid details as the airy fragrance of “almonds and lemons” and sunlight glinting off “gilded spurs and bright steel.” The author sets a deliberate pace that effectively builds to a massive battle scene, electrifying the final act.
Remarkable characterization and vivid worldbuilding bolster this riveting epic fantasy.Pub Date: June 3, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 692
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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