A kindhearted and capable hero headlines this engaging magic tale.
A mage uses her newfound political power to help others when she suddenly finds herself a dynasty’s queen in this fantasy.
Shopkeeper Everys scrapes together a living in her neighborhood of Fair Havens. She can only rely on herself, as all her family is gone save her hapless brother, who’s always short of “blades” (the local currency). She’s also a skilled mage, but those “dark arts” are unlawful in the Xoniel Dynasty. One day, without warning, royal guards round up Everys and other women and take them to the royal palace. Before Everys even knows what’s happening, King Narius singles her out, and the two are bound in marriage. Since the new queen has no official duties, she decides to do some good; rather than spend her hefty annual budget on clothes or furniture, Everys wants it to go to Fair Havens’ mostly poor residents. She continues to defy the way things are traditionally done, such as pushing for peace with a longtime enemy. It’s much easier to do once she realizes how much sway she has; Narius must be married for his reign to be “legitimate,” which Everys could ruin simply by leaving. At the same time, the palace’s “resident rabble rouser” struggles to keep her magic under wraps, but that hardly seems possible when assassins come after the royal family. Meanwhile, Narius, like Everys, didn’t have a choice regarding the marriage, as circumstances separate him from the woman he truly loves. But then he (and many others) can’t help but be mesmerized by the dynasty’s whip-smart and compassionate queen.
Otte’s worldbuilding is impeccable. Readers will recognize familiar fantasy elements in these faraway lands, such as feuding kingdoms and astounding feats of magic. But there are just as many guns as swords, along with technology (digital scribers and identity scanners) and aircraft (cloud skimmers). A likable and indelible woman leads the cast; Everys’ benevolence is an unmistakably genuine trait, so it’s not surprising when the queen stops Narius’ public opinion polls from sinking further. Everys’ potent magic comes complete with a superb visual. Some call her a “scribbler,” as she uses her ink-covered fingers (or whatever substance she can write with) to draw runes on various things. This sometimes leaves her with telltale signs of the illegal act she’s committed—stained hands or fingers. Everys’ engaging relationship and probable romance with Narius starts on bad terms; his royal lineage exiled her people, the Siporan, 400 years ago. Elsewhere, supporting characters shine, especially Narius’ handsome brother, Prince Quartus, and royal guard Redtale, an 8-foot Ixactl who sports gray skin and horns. They and others in the dynasty face such tense situations as terrorists setting off bombs in a city and seemingly aggressive acts from a neighboring land called Dalark. The story, which has series potential, also realistically shows the pitfalls of leadership. Everys helps so many, but one of her decisions inadvertently disregards an entire group of people, including someone she’s grown close to. Otte’s prose favors political discourse over action, although there are instances of combat and vigorous displays of Everys’ mage prowess.
A kindhearted and capable hero headlines this engaging magic tale.Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2022
ISBN: 979-8985810301
Page Count: 422
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 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
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