A perfect blend of shadowy gods, forbidden romance, and political court drama.
A young woman who wields dark magic, a monk of death, and the crown prince find their fates are somehow entwined.
Lore works as a poison runner with her mothers, their city laced with the death magic known as Mortem after the demise of the Goddess now buried in the catacombs beneath their feet. But Lore is different from her mothers; she has a stronger connection to Mortem than anyone she knows—strong enough to raise the dead—and her powers cannot stay hidden forever. Eventually she attracts the attention of the Presque Mort, a group of monks whose brushes with death have left them able to channel Mortem, though none can match Lore’s abilities. After having Lore snatched up, the Priest Exalted, head of the Presque Mort and twin brother to the Sainted King, pairs Lore with the solemn Gabriel and instructs them to discover how and why whole villages are mysteriously dying—even if it means bringing one of the dead villagers back to life. And the two have another mission, a direct order from the King: They must infiltrate the Court of the Citadel and ingratiate themselves with the King’s son, the prince Bastian, who may be passing intelligence to their enemies. Lore trusts neither king nor priest but has no choice but to comply; she soon finds herself juggling the schemes of the Presque Mort, the King, Bastian, and more. Amid glittering gowns and late-night balls, Lore and Gabriel—and Bastian as well—grapple with their pasts and their beliefs as forces both human and divine gather around them. With a system of dark magic; instant chemistry and tension among Lore, Gabriel, and Bastian; and revelations that bring to light new questions, this is an intriguing beginning to a series that effortlessly balances character development with plot and atmosphere.
A perfect blend of shadowy gods, forbidden romance, and political court drama.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780316434997
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.
The conclusion to the Villains trilogy asks, In a world where there are no heroes, what does victory really mean?
Schwab’s world is one where violent near-death experiences can engender ExtraOrdinaries, people who come back to life with a new superpowered ability, but lacking empathy, patience, and a variety of other, gentler qualities. In this installment, Victor Vale is becoming increasingly desperate; ever since Sydney Clarke used her power to bring him back from the dead, control over his own ability to cause and dampen pain has been slipping. Sydney herself is chafing against her life on the run with Victor’s protective ex-cellmate, Mitch Turner, and struggling with missing both Victor and her dead sister, Serena, whom she might not be able to resurrect—and definitely shouldn’t. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist, Dr. Gabriel Gray, discovers the existence of ExtraOrdinary people and seeks to harness their power for himself with tragic consequences for himself and many other people. Because the narrative skips around in time, it becomes clear fairly early that a final conflict is looming at EON, a high-tech facility where ExtraOrdinaries are imprisoned and experimented upon. This series has really lived up to its title; while antiheroes and villains have been popular protagonists for quite some time, not every writer is willing to lean into the darkness as hard as Schwab does. Some of her characters were psychopaths even before their near-death traumas, which means they didn’t have much moral fiber to begin with. And even the people who are basically good do a lot of bad and often foolish things when faced with a crisis…and there are a lot of crises. The strength of this series lies in Schwab’s ExtraOrdinary power to make you care for many of these incredibly rash, ethically dubious—some verging on irredeemable—characters anyway. As a result, the story rises above the usual grimdark cynical slog; instead, this is a gripping and nuanced saga with an ending that feels both inevitable and well earned.
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250192233
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
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