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
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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