An often compelling journey that throws a plucky servant into a dangerous world.
Danforth presents a fantasy-adventure novel set in 15th-century England about a teenage scullery maid who finds out that she has magical powers.
Coll de Maître is an 18-year-old who works in the kitchen of a place called Painsgate Manor. The year is 1487, and she and everyone else on staff works at the mercy of a fierce noble named Baron Wheldrake. As the story opens, a former midwife, Mila, visits the manor and has startling news for the young woman: Wheldrake is actually Coll’s father, and he killed Coll’s mother shortly after the girl was born because he was outraged at not having a newborn son. In addition, Coll’s mother had been part of horrific ceremony in which she promised that “every child born of her body would be offered to the Great Dark One for the keeping,” so long as that child was male. Later, another visitor arrives, who sports a “strange long gown, threaded with gold,” and informs Coll that she has special gifts—and that she certainly shouldn’t waste such talents as a kitchen maid. When a plague strikes Painsgate, Coll is suspected of witchcraft; she has little choice but to flee, albeit with a witch hunter on her trail. Her journey into the vastness of the unknown and her own powers begins, and before long, she discovers that even “a greater evil” than a witch hunter is after her. The excitement comes in seeing what will unfold next, as both Coll and the reader are initially in the dark about what powers she might possess, and why others might fear them. The suspense is maintained well over the course of the narrative, and it will keep readers turning pages. That said, some portions feel unnecessarily lengthy; indeed, the fact that Coll receives not one, but two visitors early on with vital information about her past may clue readers in that there will likely be extraneous material down the road. Nevertheless, the mystery of Coll remains engaging, with trouble always lurking nearby.
An often compelling journey that throws a plucky servant into a dangerous world.Pub Date: May 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798998690211
Page Count: 498
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 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
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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