Familiar fantasy tropes are rendered incomprehensible in this narrative fragment.
Hammer’s fantasy short story continues the adventure of the author’s debut novella.
Matthew, a young boy mystically destined to save the world, has been captured, along with his pet dragon, Utredius, by a demon. Matthew was supposed to be under the protection of a friendly magical being named Zhu Bajie, but when Bajie went off in search of medicine for the boy to treat a serpent’s bite,the demon was free to strike—much to the consternation of Matthew’s friend, Sun Wukong, the mighty magical Monkey King, who furiously assaults the demon’s cave to no avail. The Monkey King tries to bargain with the demon, offering to trade the boy’s safety for a few drops of precious, fortified Heavenly Peach Elixir, but the demon refuses, snidely saying that he prefers a ritual that will give him blood from Utredius, regardless of what happens to the boy. When Bajie returns, he and Sun Wukong use a bit of the Elixir to summon the Buddha, who disables a force-shield and enables them to breach the demon’s cave and give the ailing Matthew a few drops of the Elixir, which greatly enhances his magical abilities. Meanwhile, the story’s other two young leads face challenges of their own: Tristan, armed with his Replenishing Quiver, and his companion, the fabled white wolf, Neverend, try to plumb the secrets of the Stone Egg; the young Elysia, under Tristan’s protection, struggles to fend off the dreaded Jinn-Magician. The narrative moves all three characters toward a confrontation with the Vampire King Drahkuhl.
Hammer writes with energy—the characters rush from one danger to another, always with high stakes and mysterious artifacts involved. But this short story cannot stand apart from the overarching narrative from which it comes; it will be all but incomprehensible to readers who haven’t already taken in the novella that precedes it. “When Sun Wukong learnt that the boy Matthew had been bitten by the Serpent, he flew from heaven to return to the boy as fast as he could manage,” reads the very first sentence. “Carrying the heavenly horse on his cloud is what slowed him down.” “An Elder God, Balin, had stormed the Elven Palace, over some dispute regarding his honour,” reports the narrator; “and Balin brandished the Spear of Destiny, with which he had wounded King Brethalladir Even-Star, King over all of the Elves.” These events don’t play out on the page, and the characters referenced are never fleshed out; significant objects, such as the Replenishing Quiver, the Maiden’s Ward, and the Stone Egg, are never given more than inadequate, cursory explanations. Hammer’s prose is often oddly flat and stilted, and the book’s turns of phrase often make little sense (“like a cornered feral cat facing off against a cougar cub” is one example among many). All of the book’s fantasy concepts (including Balin, Elves, and the Spear of Destiny) are derived from other sources, and the story makes no sense when separated from its context—even the most die-hard fantasy readers are advised to approach with caution.
Familiar fantasy tropes are rendered incomprehensible in this narrative fragment.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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