A spirited world and characters make this dark, epic fantasy well worth the journey.
In Murray’s debut fantasy novel, a race of warriors uses magic to face off against assorted enemies devastating their land.
Kenlin lives in a village of survivors who’ve hidden away for 16 years after hostiles massacred the city of Natzut. While out hunting with friends, Kenlin spots a father and daughter and unexpectedly senses something poised for an attack. He warns the duo, only for the would-be ambushers to assault everyone, including the hunters. Following a brutal fight, Kenlin learns the travelers, both of whom have the same emerald-green eyes as he does, are his uncle Lord Klanjad and cousin Ranja. They’re the last of the Jazei, a lineage Kenlin knew of but didn’t know he belonged to. He’s taken aback when Klanjad claims that Kenlin is a magician like his uncle and his late father. This means the enemy coming after Klanjad will now be targeting Kenlin as well. In part to protect his village, Kenlin leaves with the other Jazeiz, and the three travel to various sites throughout the greater land of Jranajana. Those massacring villains continue to wreak havoc; they include the telekinetic Droál, the “brutish” Unnatilz, and the Misks, who are capable of “Vanishing” (essentially teleportation). Klanjad has spent 16 years battling such foes, so it’s hardly surprising that he and Ranja don’t easily trust others; as Ranja puts it, they live in a “world of suspicions and ambushes.” But if they want to save as many people as they can, or even themselves, the Jazei trio may have to depend on an unlikely ally.
Murray tells an enthralling story of ever-present adversaries who leave death and destruction in their wake. The opening takes place in the past, when Kenlin’s father, Ranton, and Khanjad are frighteningly unprepared for the powerful Droál, who’ve aligned themselves with the hostiles. Worldbuilding forms a solid foundation for the characters; Jranjana is home for Five Species, including humans, Misks, Unnatilz, Faeries, and Dwarves (the Droál are human). The author doesn’t let the grim tone take over completely, making room for lighthearted dialogue and narrative details (Klanjad searches for a “perfect, un-ambush-able campsite”). The characters often steep their conversations in sarcasm; one person notes that a potential death march is better than a “death sit.” All of this comes courtesy of a lengthy, deliberately paced text. While there are exhilarating, magic-infused confrontations aplenty, there are even more scenes depicting the cast in downtime—Kenlin, who’s spent much of his life in the village, knows very little about Jranjanan history and, understandably, bombards Klanjad and Ranja with questions. (“He didn’t know you were the queen, he didn’t recognize my name at all, and so far he hasn’t even shown any understanding of the fact that he’s Jazei,” complains Klanjad to Kenlin’s mother.) The final act involves “Fading” to other Strata (akin to parallel dimensions) and a baffling surreal turn that confuses even Kenlin—but that hardly dampens the reader’s overall enjoyment, or the unforgettable ending.
A spirited world and characters make this dark, epic fantasy well worth the journey.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2025
ISBN: 9798992116915
Page Count: 535
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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