A compelling, imaginative story about the transformative power of love.
Mayo offers a glimpse into a fictional world in which avian society governs all aspects of the afterlife.
Spizella Andromeda Pusilla Rochelle, known as “Spiz” to her friends, is a sparrow whose species is tasked with the conveyance of souls who haven’t yet crossed over to the world beyond. When Spiz is assigned to retrieve the soul of William Eduardo Compostela Estes, a philosophy professor who died in pursuit of his daughter’s killer, Spiz finds herself emotionally connected to him, to her surprise. Empathizing with William’s desire to avenge his child, yet fearing for the fate of his soul should he succeed, she allows him to remain in the mortal realm and even assumes a human form to assist him. But her growing, mutual love for William has a price, marking her as an enemy of her own avian society and ultimately drawing her into a war between free and enslaved birds. Meanwhile, with every passing moment in the mortal realm, William’s soul grows weaker and threatens to fade away for good. When Spiz is presented with a magical path that could prolong William’s soul-life by giving him part of her own, she faces an impossible decision: protect the person she loves and confine him to her world or risk losing her connection with him to the ravages of time. Mayo’s work is full of heart, and readers will quickly find themselves immersed in its vivid, magical landscape. It also has some clever details, such as the aviaries’ use of famous fast-food arches as the passage between two worlds “because they [are] plentiful.” However, it’s not the differences between the realms of the living world and the avian-centered afterlife but the similarities between them that will resonate with readers. Love, pride, courage, and unity reverberate throughout both worlds, positing that humans aren’t so different from their animal, or even otherworldly, brethren. The tale ends with an inspiring revelation about the future of one of its endearing characters that will leave readers eager for the next installment in the Hidden Aviaries series.
A compelling, imaginative story about the transformative power of love.Pub Date: April 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73-689941-0
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Elwin Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The series’ snarky noir vibe might be dwindling, but there’s something of substance in its place.
This is wizard Harry Dresden’s yearlong mourning period for Karrin Murphy, the woman he loved.
If you keep upping your protagonist’s powers throughout a series, then you must balance the scales by increasing the number and strength of their enemies—as well as seriously messing with their personal life. Over the course of the Dresden Files, Harry Dresden, Chicago PI and now one of the most powerful wizards in the world, thought his first love was dead (she wasn’t), sacrificed his half-vampire girlfriend on an altar to save their child, lost another girlfriend when they learned she’d been mind-controlled into their relationship, bound himself into servitude as the Fae Queen Mab’s Winter Knight, and, for the length of an entire book, thought he himself was dead (he wasn’t). But nothing has hit quite as hard as the death of Karrin Murphy, the former police lieutenant who was his quasi-partner, friend, and, after a slow burn across many books, lover. Chicago is in a terrible state following a battle with Ethniu the Titan and her Fomor army, and Harry is doing his best to confront the monsters, dark magic, and anti-supernatural prejudice running wild amid the slowly rebuilding city. He’s also trying to save his half brother Thomas from two different death sentences, train a new apprentice, and juggle a relationship with Thomas’ half sister Lara, the dangerously seductive vampire Queen Mab is forcing him to marry. But he’s doing all this while nearly crushed by grief that threatens his judgment and disturbs his control over his magical powers. Butcher really makes you feel the dark, depressive state Harry exists in as well as the effect it’s having on his friends. Despite all that happens in it, this book is a pause as well as a setup for the series’ planned conclusion, an epic conflict with the eldritch creatures known as “the Outsiders.” It’s a tough, redemptive pause that could be a real drag, but thankfully, it’s not, because Butcher shows balance, too: Even as the crises pile up, so do the help and goodwill from unexpected sources.
The series’ snarky noir vibe might be dwindling, but there’s something of substance in its place.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593199336
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: yesterday
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 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
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