An enthralling quest tale with a valiant and enchanting protagonist.
In this third installment of a fantasy series, a woman still learning to master her powerful magic faces a destructive, mythical creature.
Inez Garza must wield her mystical powers secretly in Canto, where magic is illegal. But though she’s the prophesied one who will bring magic back to Canto and all the Enchanted Isles, she can’t control her own powers. Inez’s frenetic life includes her debt to Áliz, for whom she has smuggled “illicit magical merchandise.” At the same time, Inez is the girlfriend of Crown Prince Zavier, whose sister-in-law, the queen, does what she can to thwart the couple’s engagement. But something else takes precedence—a story that adults tell to scare children comes alive in Canto. “The Cat,” who mesmerizes listeners with his fiddle, threatens Inez’s friend Meiri and turns the Canti against one another in violent incidents. Inez readies to fight the daunting feline while keeping her eye out for the individual who likely called The Cat into their world. Luckily, there’s a weapon that may be able to take him out. Unfortunately, it’s lost, and the only place Inez can look for it exists in the past. Cruz’s latest installment moves at an exhilarating pace. Inez’s obstacles are seemingly endless; she must get her hands on a particular item just so she can time travel and search for the crucial weapon. She bounces through taut, entertaining subplots and interacts with dubious characters while the author sprinkles in lighter moments, such as a famous nursery rhyme she weaves into the story. Nevertheless, much of the plot is somber, with a sublime hero whose guilt persistently weighs her down. Inez blames herself for not seizing control of her magic. She rushes to save her friends at the first hint of peril, but in this volume, she suffers a serious loss, which perfectly sets up the series’ next entry.
An enthralling quest tale with a valiant and enchanting protagonist.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73254-716-2
Page Count: 442
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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