An interplanetary fantasy adventure that’s riveting even when it meanders.
An Elf-hybrid’s investigation into suspicious activity lands her in a variety of dangers in Parker’s fantasy series opener.
Lady Alexin Dumwalt, the Keeper of the Keys, oversees a tribute in gold offered every 4,000 years. It goes to the powerful Mentors, who have allowedthe Elves to stay in their world of Eledon after they were forced to leave Earth.But now the Mentors want their tribute, which they’ve taken to calling the Epsilon Account, 244 years early. Unsurprisingly, the Elves don’t have the full amount, and Alex, an eclectic mix of Water Elf, Titan, and mortal, looks closely at the Mentors’ atypical behavior. Her investigation takes some unexpected turns, from a sudden death to Alex’s trip to Oltria, another Elf-populated planet. She runs into assorted troubles, including enemies holding her captive, trying to kill her, or assaulting her. The military-trained Water Elf can easily take down foes (“I panted hard, catching my breath as I surveyed the damage. All four men were down on the floor, unconscious. Did I do too much?”), but stopping the sinister plan involving the Elves’ gold will take considerably greater effort. Parker’s hero is simply outstanding. Alex begins this first installment of the author’s fantasy series in the mortal world, where she’s been exiled, working as a fashion model. She comes with a dense backstory, which Parker delivers concisely. While the story boasts a terrific setup, the investigation gets a bit lost in the shuffle of Alex’s (mis)adventures; she befriends another potential Keeper, stumbles into romance, and undergoes shuttle-pilot training in sequences that have little or nothing to do with the titular account. Still, it’s a delight to watch the Elfin hero overcome precarious circumstances using her wiles and her combat skills. Even far away from Eledon and without ready access to her magical Keys or allies, the cheer-worthy protagonist triumphs time and time again.
An interplanetary fantasy adventure that’s riveting even when it meanders.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2023
ISBN: 979-8861689618
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.
When Vis is copied into two other realities, he must stop a god from repeatedly culling almost everyone back home.
Thousands of years ago, to prevent the Concurrence from enslaving everyone, the world was split into three near-identical copies: Res, Obiteum, and Luceum. To exist in all three worlds, to wield Will there, is to achieve synchronism. After the events in The Will of the Many (2023), which cost Vis his arm and the life of his friend, Vis achieves Synchronism. While Res-Vis must continue to play Hierarchy politics to find his friend’s killer, Obiteum-Vis finds a ruined world, where the dead are reanimated and used by Ka, the Concurrence, and the only other person to exist in synchronism. Meanwhile, Luceum-Vis is forced into a dispute between druids, their High Council, and their kings—with one king intent on killing him—and Vis has no idea why. On all worlds, Vis is as shrewd as ever, weighing his options, planning ahead, and doing what he must to survive. However, he, too, slowly diverges, doing things he swore he never would: cede his Will, use Will to control someone else, and reveal his true name. If at least one Vis cannot use his synchronism and power of Will to kill the Concurrence, no Vis will be safe, and another Cataclysm will cull those he loves on Res. Book Two of the Hierarchy series is a speculative fantasy that is at once Egyptian post-apocalyptic, Celtic medieval, and Roman dystopian, thanks to the multidimensional setting. Although the sprawling narrative at times overextends itself, Islington rewards patient readers with a compelling story, a cast of complex and diverse characters, and a glimpse into how far a good man can go before he’s lost. A symbol at the start of each chapter delineates which world and Vis it’s about. Readers should read The Will of the Many before attempting this volume, or they may be confused for the first several chapters and beyond.
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781982141233
Page Count: 736
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 2025 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.
