A rousing final installment of a well-constructed epic fantasy series helmed by a capable lead.
The third installment of this epic fantasy trilogy follows Astar—an 18-year-old living embodiment of a god.
In Lyon’s latest, Astar struggles to understand his burgeoning abilities as well as his place in a millennia-long conflict that upon conclusion will herald the beginning of a new era for the realm of Odessa. The book opens with Micah, Astar’s childhood friend, showing Astar a giant hole he found in the forest—an opening that smells “like the world farted” and has large claw marks surrounding it. They briefly investigate it but wisely decide to return to their village of Homestead. On the way, winged monstrosities with massive mouths called Devourers attack the boys and abduct Micah. Astar realizes he must battle their realm and that his powers—which include stopping time—will play a crucial role in the looming war. His father, Amtor, a disabled war hero, learns that his son is the physical manifestation of Ehlona, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, and he unearths a golden dagger that he buried decades earlier and gives it to his son. The magical item, named Soothsayer, is the world’s most powerful weapon and can save—or destroy—Odessa, depending on who wields it. As villains, including the seductive demon Langula, attempt to wipe out their human enemies and rule the world with their offspring, heroes, like the healer Lady Valen and historian Aberfell, gather their forces to stop the malevolence from spreading.
Hardcore fantasy fans might consider the premise unoriginal, but Lyon does much to differentiate this storyline from other comparable sagas. Astar’s power of multiplicity, for example, makes for some unforgettable scenes. In one sequence, Astar duplicates himself thousands of times and joins his bodies together to create a giant mythical creature (“Without a warning, Astar’s fractal dragon appeared overhead, diving at the advance of the soldiers, catching them midway in the valley”). The author also excels at worldbuilding, inventing imaginative creatures like the Rock Larvae and Timmutes—microscopic humanoids that appear as glowing orbs with mysterious abilities. Scenes that unfold in the demonic realm are particularly ominous and immersive: “He had been cut from nipple to nipple, and then down from each nipple to almost his waist. The cut created a three-sided rectangular flap, which had been peeled down and hung out in front of him. Sticky flesh was exposed underneath from where the skin should have been. But the top of the flap had cleverly been connected to his feet by way of a series of small fishhooks and chains.” Additionally, the numerous bombshell plot twists at novel’s end—pertaining to Astar’s ultimate destiny, the significance of three manuscripts, etc.—will delight even the most jaded fantasy fan. This installment’s strength is the way its grand-scale narrative builds on the previous two entries in this series. All respective storylines knit together in a conclusion that is action-packed, emotionally intense, and utterly satisfying.
A rousing final installment of a well-constructed epic fantasy series helmed by a capable lead.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-956189-09-4
Page Count: 526
Publisher: Lyonic LLC
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
