A well-developed cast fuels the latest entry in a consistently absorbing paranormal series.
A search for lost memories pits lovers against an immensely powerful force in this eighth urban-fantasy installment.
Laurence Riley and Quentin d’Arcy make the most of their shared life in San Diego, where they live with and care for a mansion full of youngsters who, like the couple, are “gifted” with supernatural abilities. Quentin, for example, is telekinetic, and Laurence is a witch, although he’s not as skilled or formidable as his mentor, Rufus. As a trade-off for this mentorship, Laurence uses his gift to gaze into Rufus’ memories—specifically, his family’s fatal car accident from 10 years before. Rufus wants to find out who killed his parents, believing that it was more than a mere accidental collision. But as Laurence surprisingly discovers, no one who was at the scene on that particular day—including himself as a boy—remembers much about what happened. So he turns to Quentin’s telepathic twin, Frederick, who’s already at work making amends for startling transgressions, real or perceived, against his brother and Laurence. Frederick’s deep dive into someone else’s mind, however, only deepens the mystery, as he spots missing memories, or “blips,” during his exploration. Identifying the reason why those blips exist will ultimately put Laurence, Quentin, and their family members and friends in the company of warlocks and sorcerers, with some more intimidating than others. The heroes will use their gifts and whatever spells they can get their hands on to somehow restore the missing memories and maybe unmask a killer along the way.
This latest offering retains the somber tone and understated humor that Faulkner mastered in previous volumes in the series. Most characters have dark pasts that weigh heavily on them in the present day. This sequel explores familiar territory, with copious nods to earlier events throughout the series. Still, the mystery this time around is thoroughly engaging, and the cast is, as always, fascinating. Series staple Frederick is especially memorable as a sublimely complicated telepath who’s easy to like despite his unquestionable capacity to do some awful things. Laurence and Quentin, too, are shown to struggle with the effects of past traumas, including Laurence’s former heroin addiction and Quentin’s father’s abuse. In this novel, Quentin shows his own paternal side, as the gifted youth are akin to his and Laurence’s children, and he even runs into an intriguing potential addition to their household. As the story continues, the author steers readers through numerous plot turns, including the heroes getting an unexpected helping hand and one character facing sudden peril. The main mystery also gets a satisfying resolution. Moreover, Faulkner’s prose is as sharp and concise as ever, smoothly alternating between close third-person narrative perspectives, although Laurence most often takes the narrative reins. Notwithstanding all the backstory, this focused installment rarely strays from the main plot; this makes for a thrilling tale that culminates with not one, but three rousing scenes that set the stage for another series installment. A well-developed cast fuels the latest entry in a consistently absorbing paranormal series.Pub Date: May 27, 2022
ISBN: 9781912349180
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Ravensword Press
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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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