A bold setup for a blood-bathed new series of epic fantasy.
Five nations ruled by women are sent into free fall when, for decades, only boys are born in this novel of magic, might, and intrigue.
As the Drought of Girls rages across the Five Queendoms, fingers begin to point. In Scorpica, the warrior queendom, the Barren Queen worries that her people will turn on her only daughter, the last in the nation to be born before the Drought began. Suspicion swirls among the mages of Arca and the priests of Sestia, any one of whom could have angered their patron deities and provoked this punishment. Even if that were so, Bastion, the queendom of scribes, should have noticed the lack of girl births in its recordings. Can the peacemakers of Paxim continue to broker goodwill now, knowing that any of the other nations may fall at a moment's notice? Macallister weaves her way through the women with the most to lose in the pending collapse of civilization as they know it. As Queen Mirriam of Arca worries that the Drought will deprive her of the magical energy she needs to continue her unnaturally long life, a healer flees Arca with her too-powerful daughter to protect her from the old monarch's watchful eyes. After two exiles—a rightful heir and the woman honor-bound to protect her—flee Scorpica, the freshly crowned Queen Tamura hatches a plan to maintain the size of her country's standing army. And somewhere on an unremarkable coast, an ancient but not-quite-forgotten sorceress weaves together plans for a coup no queendom will see coming. As these women and girls cobble together new lives in the throes of a worldwide curse, readers will begin to see the set pieces of a sequel fall into place. Although Macallister's final cliffhanger may feel unsatisfying to those who want tidy answers to their burning questions, the promise of a continuing story will be enough for many fantasy fans.
A bold setup for a blood-bathed new series of epic fantasy.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-9821-6789-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
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
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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