A zany, clever, and thrilling supernatural tale.
In Acerbo’s fantasy novel, an agent of Death juggles newfound romance with her mission to save the world from powerful witches.
In the mid-17th century, Prudence Barlow can do nothing about her mother’s death sentence for practicing witchcraft. She’s so heartbroken that she contemplates suicide—until a mysterious figure named Titus offers her a bargain. Centuries later, Prudence is a “reaper” working for Death in New York City. Collecting souls has become routine, but one day, she opts to save a dying woman, which the Reaper Employee Handbook basically allows. She’s enamored by the woman—a doctor named Daxone—who falls for Prudence as well. When Prudence does break one of those rules in the handbook, both she and Daxone wind up in purgatory together. That’s when Death assigns Prudence a mission in Salem, with her former mentor Titus as a welcome assistant. Their mission is to stop a coven of witches from making a series of sacrifices to achieve world domination that will upset the “balance of nature.” While Acerbo deftly blends genres (including comedy, horror, and romance), this novel feels like two distinct stories in one: In the first half, the reaper’s new love revitalizes her mundane existence; in the darker, latter half, Prudence and Titus face off against formidable witches and some genuinely terrifying creatures. There’s a consistently lighthearted tone; Prudence and Titus’ interactions are often playful (“What happened to your hair?” he asks her one morning. “It’s bigger than normal”). Intermittent flashbacks prove crucial for both parts of the narrative, detailing centuries of reaper duties throughout Europe and America and young Prudence’s life before her mother’s death (which ultimately connects to her Salem mission). It’s the smaller touches that truly give this book a big personality, such as Prudence collecting souls in whatever bottles she can find and her unwavering devotion to caffeinated beverages.
A zany, clever, and thrilling supernatural tale.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781648908989
Page Count: 361
Publisher: NineStar Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.
When Vis is copied into two other realities, he must stop a god from repeatedly culling almost everyone back home.
Thousands of years ago, to prevent the Concurrence from enslaving everyone, the world was split into three near-identical copies: Res, Obiteum, and Luceum. To exist in all three worlds, to wield Will there, is to achieve synchronism. After the events in The Will of the Many (2023), which cost Vis his arm and the life of his friend, Vis achieves Synchronism. While Res-Vis must continue to play Hierarchy politics to find his friend’s killer, Obiteum-Vis finds a ruined world, where the dead are reanimated and used by Ka, the Concurrence, and the only other person to exist in synchronism. Meanwhile, Luceum-Vis is forced into a dispute between druids, their High Council, and their kings—with one king intent on killing him—and Vis has no idea why. On all worlds, Vis is as shrewd as ever, weighing his options, planning ahead, and doing what he must to survive. However, he, too, slowly diverges, doing things he swore he never would: cede his Will, use Will to control someone else, and reveal his true name. If at least one Vis cannot use his synchronism and power of Will to kill the Concurrence, no Vis will be safe, and another Cataclysm will cull those he loves on Res. Book Two of the Hierarchy series is a speculative fantasy that is at once Egyptian post-apocalyptic, Celtic medieval, and Roman dystopian, thanks to the multidimensional setting. Although the sprawling narrative at times overextends itself, Islington rewards patient readers with a compelling story, a cast of complex and diverse characters, and a glimpse into how far a good man can go before he’s lost. A symbol at the start of each chapter delineates which world and Vis it’s about. Readers should read The Will of the Many before attempting this volume, or they may be confused for the first several chapters and beyond.
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781982141233
Page Count: 736
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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