A gorgeous fantasy novel perfect for readers seeking dark romance, mystery, and magic.
In Foley’s fantasy novel, a troubled young woman unexpectedly travels to ancient Ireland, where her destiny is determined by her prodigious magical abilities.
Clíona Murphy has been crippled with guilt since the death of her brother Fionn, which she accidentally caused with magical abilities she calls her “curse.” When her curse claims another victim (this time, the mayor), Clíona flees and is on the verge of being arrested when she is suddenly transported to ancient Ireland—a world once known to her only through stories and folklore is suddenly real and filled with ever-present danger. Two warrior brothers, Rían and Caolann, begrudgingly take Clíona under their protection, and she and Caolann grow attracted to each other despite mutual suspicion. From him, Clíona learns that magic is quite common in their world (called Saoirse), and that her abilities could carry great power if she learns how to control them. Saoirse is haunted by a mysterious creature stealing young children by night. When a child Clíona has befriended is the next taken, Clíona decides to enter the Tuatha Dé Danann’s trials. If she claims victory, the gods will grant her one wish, and she intends to ask for their aid in finding the missing children. But is she prepared for the toil and bloodshed necessary to achieve her goal? This is a dark epic fantasy, rich with folklore and fascinating characters. Clíona’s combative demeanor and traumatic past are distinctive—she is no ingenue, but her deep (unacknowledged) compassion and courage make her journey a powerful one to follow. The trials are not introduced until the second half of the story, shifting the tone from brooding and character-driven to action-packed, but Foley handles the transition well. The world she creates is so well developed that it seems to live and breathe with the characters, highlighting Clíona’s growth: “Strange things were happening in this world. And yet something louder than a whisper or inkling told me I was only standing on the precipice of more than I dared to find out.”
A gorgeous fantasy novel perfect for readers seeking dark romance, mystery, and magic.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781963029086
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Alex Parker Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The series’ snarky noir vibe might be dwindling, but there’s something of substance in its place.
This is wizard Harry Dresden’s yearlong mourning period for Karrin Murphy, the woman he loved.
If you keep upping your protagonist’s powers throughout a series, then you must balance the scales by increasing the number and strength of their enemies—as well as seriously messing with their personal life. Over the course of the Dresden Files, Harry Dresden, Chicago PI and now one of the most powerful wizards in the world, thought his first love was dead (she wasn’t), sacrificed his half-vampire girlfriend on an altar to save their child, lost another girlfriend when they learned she’d been mind-controlled into their relationship, bound himself into servitude as the Fae Queen Mab’s Winter Knight, and, for the length of an entire book, thought he himself was dead (he wasn’t). But nothing has hit quite as hard as the death of Karrin Murphy, the former police lieutenant who was his quasi-partner, friend, and, after a slow burn across many books, lover. Chicago is in a terrible state following a battle with Ethniu the Titan and her Fomor army, and Harry is doing his best to confront the monsters, dark magic, and anti-supernatural prejudice running wild amid the slowly rebuilding city. He’s also trying to save his half brother Thomas from two different death sentences, train a new apprentice, and juggle a relationship with Thomas’ half sister Lara, the dangerously seductive vampire Queen Mab is forcing him to marry. But he’s doing all this while nearly crushed by grief that threatens his judgment and disturbs his control over his magical powers. Butcher really makes you feel the dark, depressive state Harry exists in as well as the effect it’s having on his friends. Despite all that happens in it, this book is a pause as well as a setup for the series’ planned conclusion, an epic conflict with the eldritch creatures known as “the Outsiders.” It’s a tough, redemptive pause that could be a real drag, but thankfully, it’s not, because Butcher shows balance, too: Even as the crises pile up, so do the help and goodwill from unexpected sources.
The series’ snarky noir vibe might be dwindling, but there’s something of substance in its place.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593199336
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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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