A worthy and emotionally charged ending.
Kateiko finally comes face-to-face with her self from an alternate dimension in this epic series closer.
One Kateiko, who goes by Katja, is a medical apprentice who’s recovering from the Fourth Elken War and missing fire mage Tiernan, her older lover and a wanted criminal. When a rift splits open, versions of people she knows enter her world, including her other self, who decides to be called K. K is hunting down tel-saidu Suriel to demand he return her spirit so she may finally find happiness, preferably with her charismatic Iyo-boy, who’s imprisoned back home. Katja and K begrudgingly join forces to save their respective worlds from destruction by sealing the rift. But K believes the saidu in Katja’s world need to be awakened, while Katja and her allies just fought a war to prevent that from happening. The disagreements lead to divergence and distrust, with friends taking sides. Katja is deeply empathic, and her complex love triangle with two Tiernans offers a painful juxtaposition with the much rougher K, whose love for Tiernan is unrequited. As a misunderstood K arduously regains her humanity, which has been greatly damaged since her bonding with Suriel, she finds a love triangle of her own. Helpful exposition throughout, along with a glossary and timeline, will assist readers with this sometimes-overwhelming story’s rich complexity; those with a fresh recall of the previous installments will best appreciate this gratifying series closer with its broadly diverse cast.
A worthy and emotionally charged ending. (map) (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9781770414600
Page Count: 433
Publisher: ECW Press
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
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
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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