A smashing hero leads the charge in this diverting tale of perilous other worlds.
Getting abducted is only the start of a half-Elf, half-mortal’s ballooning troubles in Parker’s fantasy sequel.
Alex lives in both the mortal world and Eledon, an enigmatic land inhabited by Elves after they were forced to leave Earth. She’s been looking forward to her three-month vacation from her modeling career in the mortal world, but her relaxation plans didn’t include helping her grandmother clear out a warehouse in the Elf city of Meridian. Before Alex can finish the job, someone grabs her and takes her to a familiar enemy: Lord Fissure, a Rock Elf (“He was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch, the only Elf I truly hated”) who wants the magic of the Keys of Eledon. (As the Keeper of the Keys, Alex may be able to “fix” a practically uninhabitable island.) Other heartless baddies pop up as well, hoping to coerce her into using her skills with the Keys. To get back to Eledon, Alex must traverse the Underworld and the mortal world (of another time), all while bumping heads with gods, various fantastical creatures, and Mentors, the powerful beings who created Eledon. Parker’s follow-up to The Epsilon Account (2023) feels like a collection of subplots. Alex moves from one dilemma to the next through a constantly changing environment confronting a variety of foes. There is a cohesive through-line; her goal through all of this is getting home, and at least one villain has a fairly consistent presence. The story rarely slows down as Alex is pitted against vicious monsters, lethal robots, and a few double-crossers. As in the series’ preceding installment, Alex is tough, valiant, and compassionate; at one point, she leads a dangerous mission to destroy a red crystal solely for the benefit of an oppressed group of people. Readers just joining the series will surely become fans of Alex, who makes appearances in many of Parker’s multiple book series.
A smashing hero leads the charge in this diverting tale of perilous other worlds.Pub Date: March 8, 2024
ISBN: 9798883766748
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2024
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
A clever and inspiring reimagining of a little-remembered time and place.
Medieval history and Celtic mythology merge in an enchanting tale.
Arden, best known for her Winternight Trilogy, here turns from medieval Russia to Europe during the same period. Anne of Brittany—a real person—is 19 when the novel begins in the late 15th century, a sovereign duchess whose father, the duke, has been dead since she was a child. Described as “small and glossy as a cat in a dairy,” she’s desperately trying to avoid marrying Charles VIII, the king of France, which would mean the dissolution of her country. She conceives a plan to conduct a unicorn hunt in the ancient, haunted forest of Broceliande, thinking she will be able to secretly arrange a proxy wedding to Maximilien of Austria, heir to the Holy Roman Empire. While there, she encounters not only an actual unicorn but an evil enchanter who has designs on her kingdom. With the unlikely aid of the chivalrous (and undeniably attractive) Louis of Orleans, who has been sent by Charles’ sister Marguerite to betray Anne, as well as Anne’s spunky younger sister, Isabeau; a clever peasant girl, Elesbed; and a cat named Butter, Anne works feverishly to protect her people from sinister forces both political and supernatural. Arden takes her time immersing the reader in this thoroughly and intricately imagined world, where historical figures bump up against an enigmatic korriganed queen, at least one monstrous sea-dragon, a herd of undead “anaon,” and a whole Breton city that has been trapped in time. This is an alternate history in which the admirable Anne, freed from the confines of textbooks, gets to ask the question, “Shall we not write our own story?” Here, love and duty reach an understanding, and courtly romance makes friends with a steamier variety of physical contact. Fans of jousts, spells, dark magic, and brave women will find plenty of each here.
A clever and inspiring reimagining of a little-remembered time and place.Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9780593128282
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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