A charismatic heroine propels this kinetic and imaginative fantasy sequel.
A smuggler of contraband fights to control her own magic while working for royal law enforcement in this second installment of a series.
Disinherited noble Inez Garza is a skilled smuggler in Canto, where magic is illegal. But after her involvement in an incident at the Academy of Natural Studies, Queen Hortensia orders her to perform community service with the King’s Men indefinitely. To placate Áliz the Jabberwocky, who runs the hidden market (the primo spot for the illegal magic trade), Inez agrees to search for an informant among the KM. Though she has the capacity to be a powerful mage, Inez sometimes can’t control her Powers. She struggles to keep her magic covert while handling KM duties, which include a raid on Birthright. The group is one Inez has helped fund and whose leader, Rowley, she’s befriended, as they all support Magical Return, the movement that wants magic to be legal again in Canto. But another KM assignment—identifying a sheep thief—ultimately leads Inez to someone’s nefarious plot to bring down the royal house. As such a threat against royalty will give the KM incentive to go after Birthright, Inez hopes to stop the sinister operation. In this latest volume of Cruz’s fantasy series, the author once again masterfully weaves together myriad subplots and characters. Inez, for one, is reluctant to acknowledge her love for Zavier Cole, heir to the Canto throne and a King’s Man who may be getting close to Lady Meiri, from whom the heroine needs a favor. These various elements, perhaps unsurprisingly, generate a brisk pace that rarely wavers. Despite her erratic Powers, the bright, astute protagonist is persistently levelheaded, as she’s regularly engaged with individuals she distrusts. As readers are no more aware of others’ motivations than Inez is, a solid, delightful mystery steers the plot to a villain’s inevitable unmasking.
A charismatic heroine propels this kinetic and imaginative fantasy sequel. (dedication, acknowledgements; author bio)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73254-714-8
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Bosky Flame Press
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2020
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
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.
After 500 years, the Grief of Ages is a distant memory—until dragons hellbent on destruction begin to wake again.
In this relatively brief prequel to the epic The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019), the kingdoms of Virtudom have experienced centuries of relative peace. Marosa Vetalda, the Princess of Yscalin, spends her days behind castle walls under the gaze of her overprotective father, awaiting the date when she’ll be wed to Aubrecht of Mentendon, her ticket to freedom. While the book’s main focus is initially on the political threads weaving the Western kingdoms together, the frailty of best-laid plans is exposed when evidence of the reemergence of draconic beings reaches castle ears. These tales often come from the cullers who make their living slaying these creatures, and who are often blamed for intentionally waking them for profit. No one alive remembers the Grief of Ages, so no one’s prepared when Fýredel, the great High Western dragon, surfaces from the volcanic mountain that towers ominously over Yscalin’s capital city of Cárscaro. What follows is the backstory of how the devoted Yscali kingdom comes to shift allegiance to Fýredel and his master, the Nameless One, a main catalyst to events in The Priory. Overall, this book reads more like history lesson than fantasy adventure, but the sheer terror that befalls the Yscali people as they face Fýredel’s pure evil is both powerful and relevant. Marosa’s plight further solidifies her as a hero worth remembering; her strength and defiance shine through as hope for the future she’s dreamed of slowly flickers out.
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781639736010
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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