A smoothly written religious fantasy enlivened by fiery antagonists.
Human kingdoms foment war as rival deities consolidate power in this fantasy novella.
Seventeen-year-old Rune Kallio lives in the northern kingdom of Kansanai. One day, she washes clothes by the river, singing songs to Jokaiu, the river god. Rune’s deepest desire is that during the Pairing Ceremony, Jokaiu will match her with Jyri Glycen, her beloved. But Adda, the teen’s 14-year-old sister, has a dream that the world will catch fire only for Rune to save it as “princess of the heavens.” Further, the dream nymphs whisper to Adda that Aivan, the mythological god representing “the One Truth,” will sponsor Rune’s ascent. Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom of Etalentin, 17-year-old Rolf Larsen heads to the local temple to pray to Vesai, one of the Vihishki gods. As he prays, he hears Aivan say that Vesai is a “false god” and that “I am not in the temple. I speak to you now through your heart.” Later, a village Elder sends Rolf to the court of King Petri with a message. When Master Alviss, the king’s adviser, learns that Rolf knows limited magic, he determines that the teen, if properly trained, will be the key to defending against the designs of Queen Isilda in the north. But Lord Paholai, a spirit who is Aivan’s opponent, plans to wield greed and power to sway Rune and Rolf to his plans. In this well-crafted series opener, Green offers a spiritual fantasy that hopes to illustrate the starkness of good versus evil. Yet many of the vivid scenes will remind history buffs of ancient Rome during Christianity’s rise, as when a man called Kirkus says, “I challenge your Vihishki gods against my One Truth,” and demands the temples’ destruction despite the solace they bring to many people. During his training, Rolf is indoctrinated by the phrase “Love is nothing. Power is everything.” It’s noteworthy that the intriguing protagonists are young enough to be swayed by such extreme viewpoints. Many important narrative choices are made once characters “Pray to Aivan for guidance.” Queen Isilda, learning that her clout is at risk, becomes the player with the most agency and provides the spark for the sequel.
A smoothly written religious fantasy enlivened by fiery antagonists.Pub Date: July 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64960-136-0
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Emerald House Group, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.
The Medusa myth, reimagined as an Afrocentric, feminist tale with the Gorgon recast as avenging hero.
In mythological Greece, where gods still have a hand in the lives of humans, 17-year-old Medusa lives on an island with her parents, old sea gods who were overthrown at the rise of the Olympians, and her sisters, Euryale and Stheno. The elder sisters dote on Medusa and bond over the care of her “locs...my dearest physical possession.” Their idyll is broken when Euryale is engaged to be married to a cruel demi-god. Medusa intervenes, and a chain of events leads her to a meeting with the goddess Athena, who sees in her intelligence, curiosity, and a useful bit of rage. Athena chooses Medusa for training in Athens to become a priestess at the Parthenon. She joins the other acolytes, a group of teenage girls who bond, bicker, and compete in various challenges for their place at the temple. As an outsider, Medusa is bullied (even in ancient Athens white girls rudely grab a Black girl’s hair) and finds a best friend in Apollonia. She also meets a nameless boy who always seems to be there whenever she is in need; this turns out to be Poseidon, who is grooming the inexplicably naïve Medusa. When he rapes her, Athena finds out and punishes Medusa and her sisters by transforming their locs into snakes. The sisters become Gorgons, and when colonizing men try to claim their island, the killing begins. Telling a story of Black female power through the lens of ancient myth is conceptually appealing, but this novel published as adult fiction reads as though intended for a younger audience.
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593733769
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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