Imaginatively quirky, with stomach-churning brutality, sharp wit, and a powerful hero.
In Shipton’s fantasy novel, four escapees from a dystopian city team up to stay ahead of the cadre of bounty hunters sent to capture them.
Gladiator Eleanor “Ellie” Skinner triumphs in one more battle to the death in the arena. The reigning powers (called the Thral) of Draconia demand she fight in one grizzly battle a year; her other option is becoming a mother, and Ellie has no interest in raising a child. In Draconia, the men rule—they possess undefined magic powers that are stripped away from baby girls as soon as they’re born. Now, at 35, with a wooden arm to replace the one she lost in battle sometime during her 17 years in the arena, Ellie is the oldest undefeated gladiator in Draconia. Her best friend, Rosalind “Roz” Butcher, is, unwillingly, the second-oldest gladiator (unable to have a baby, Roz was forced into the arena). Ellie is horrified to realize she herself has become pregnant after one night’s indiscretion. Roz has heard rumors of an old woman who lives by the ocean beyond Draconia who still has her magic; perhaps she can help Ellie get rid of the baby. But first, she and Roz must escape from the city. They trek through the grimy sewers of Draconia, where the women pick up a teenager named Sam who has his own reasons for wanting to escape. The narrative combines raw, graphic violence with edgy humor and unexpected poignancy. Composed in contemporary lingo loaded with expletives, the story also throws around occasional antiquated terminology just for fun—Ellie refers to the fetus she’s carrying as the “homunculus.” It won’t take readers long to begin to connect the not-so-subtle similarities between Draconia’s undergirding philosophy with the political and social rhetoric of today. This is not a novel for the squeamish, but readers comfortable with the blood, gore, and rough language have plenty of satisfying adventure in store for them.
Imaginatively quirky, with stomach-churning brutality, sharp wit, and a powerful hero.Pub Date: tomorrow
ISBN: 9798295553233
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Tyrannosaurus Yes Media
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A headbanging beginning to what could be a remarkable urban fantasy series—heavy metal playlist sadly not included.
After being murdered and inexplicably reborn, a heavy metal musician sets out on a journey of self-discovery with nothing short of the future of humankind at stake in the first installment of Sanderson and Orullian’s Strata Wars saga.
Jack Solomon is not having a good day. After moving to London from the mean streets of Los Angeles and starting a metal band called the Hounds of Winter, he’s been kicked out of the group just weeks before they’re scheduled to open for Black Sabbath at Wembley Stadium. While Jack is walking with his good friend Henry Wilkinson—a father figure of sorts who has mentored Jack over the years and owns the music venue the Iron Horse—they are both shot and (seemingly) killed. Then Jack regains consciousness and finds himself in a hellscape with a massive mountain of fire in the distance and countless human statues everywhere. After Henry appears in the vision, telling Jack, “You’ve got more to do,” Jack awakens in front of Henry’s flat, unharmed but covered in blood. With Henry’s body missing, Jack begins to understand his new reality: He’s a thanatist (don’t call him a necromancer) and Henry’s venue hides an entrance to the Strata—“several long periods of London history that have coalesced to form layers of the past.” The Strata are inhabited by gruesome creatures and millions of memories, and Jack discovers that someone wants to take over the Iron Horse, with its staircase to every level of the Strata, and begin a revolution where music (curated by a madman) can change the future of humanity. The many shoutouts to legendary bands notwithstanding, this novel is powered by two elements: the exceptional worldbuilding of the subterranean Strata, whose potential is virtually limitless; and Jack’s deeply personal healing journey, which includes forgiving others—like his mother, who abandoned him—and himself. Jack’s story arc is comparable to his adventures in the Strata: The deeper he descends into the Strata, the deeper he delves into himself.
A headbanging beginning to what could be a remarkable urban fantasy series—heavy metal playlist sadly not included.Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9781668068144
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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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