Dresden fans will enjoy this bite-sized supernatural adventure.
In this installment of Butcher’s Dresden Files series, the staff-wielding wizard is honor-bound to return a favor to a crime boss for saving his life.
With the city still struggling to return to some semblance of normalcy after the cataclysmic events of the Battle of Chicago, Harry Dresden is recovering in his ancient Chicago castle (which might have beenMerlin’s fortress) when an old adversary shows up at his door: Gentleman John Marcone, Baron of Chicago. Since Marcone saved Dresden’s life in the conflict, the kingpin of Chicago’s criminal underworld asks the wizard to help with a troubled associate who supposedly wants to go straight. The only problem is that the man in question is Tripp Gregory, “one of the more contemptible people [he’d] ever had the displeasure to meet.” Gregory may have ripped off an elderly woman on her deathbed, stealing millions of dollars meant for a children’s charity he’d created and gambling most of the money in Vegas—where he won big. With the IRS and a Mexican crime boss with some demonic firepower hot on the reprobate’s tail, Dresden is tasked with saving Gregory’s life, collecting the millions for charity, and helping a morally bankrupt man transform himself into “one of the good guys.” Butcher checks all the boxes when it comes to satisfying readers’ expectations. The paranormal fantasy elements are on point, including some nightmarish—and memorable—monstrosities. Many familiar returning characters are featured, including Bear, Dresden’s seven-foot Valkyrie bodyguard; his apprentice, Fitz; CPD Special Investigations Captain John Stallings; and Bob the Skull. The author impressively maintains the exciting pacing and intensity throughout, powering the narrative with an abundance of high-octane action sequences. The intricate plot is fittingly complex, connecting Dresden’s redemptive mission with Mexican cartels, the Red Court, and demonic cults. The one quibble is the disappointing conclusion, which is not only predictable but also much too quickly wrapped up.
Dresden fans will enjoy this bite-sized supernatural adventure.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9798347030026
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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