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
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
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
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