Charming, believable young heroes put their friendships and magical abilities to the test in a well-developed setting.
Vacationing teenage witches get sidetracked by a seeming unscrupulous magic-wielder in Ives’ YA fantasy sequel to Fat Witch Summer (2023).
Spending a gap year at an academy certainly isn’t every high school graduate’s choice, but young witch Thrash Blumfeld-Wright believes that adventure awaits her and her coven, which includes Cresca King, Em Atlandotir, and Saki Anderson. All are pursuing magic-focused apprenticeships at Wainwood Academy. This entails traveling to Gaule, a country on an entirely different continent than the Thirteen States, where they live. However, the weeklong, pre-apprenticeship vacation they’ve planned gets cut short when a fox shows up in their hotel room. The creature is the familiar of Lord Fernicus Wainwood, whom Thrash anticipates will be her mentor; Fernicus apparently needs their help on a mysterious magic-related issue, but the fox is under a spell that prevents it from providing details. When the teens meet Fernicus, though, they wonder if they can trust him; Cresca is especially wary, and he’s seemingly involved in a shady activity that could have wide-ranging effects throughout the country. Thrash, who wields a Kinetic magic so powerful that familiars pursue her for potential bonding (she hasn’t chosen one yet), joins her friends in rectifying a wrong. The coven in Ives’ sophomore installment comprises four riveting personalities and backstories: Em, for one, is a “mer-girl” with exiled royal parents and scales on her legs. They each face convincing problems: Two of them are redefining themselves, and it’s likely that the graduates’ future prospects will lead them on different paths. This series’ worldbuilding is impeccably detailed; the girls intriguingly travel through a portal to Gaule, where they must acclimate to another land’s culture and customs, such as buses not accepting payment via their smartphone-esque orbs. The larger plotline isn’t quite as enthralling, as the coven too quickly identifies a villain and dreams up a solution. Still, Thrash is refreshingly selfless, without a hidden agenda of her own. The story culminates in a superb cliffhanger, perfectly setting up a planned third installment.
Charming, believable young heroes put their friendships and magical abilities to the test in a well-developed setting.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781968025014
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Sword & Rose Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Somberly beautiful.
A girl goes in search of her missing sister and discovers a strange hidden world of dreams.
Corin, who’s 18 and dark-skinned, strives to protect her 12-year-old sister, Elly. But life as a thief is full of struggle, poverty, and loss, even without Corin’s avoidance of other relationships. Elly clings to the promise of fairy tales, like the one that says a princess lies sleeping in an underground castle after pricking her finger on a spindle. After the sisters fight and Elly runs off, Corin searches for her in Gyldan’s old network of tunnels—and finds the tale is true: Cursed Princess Amelia, golden-haired, with eyes like “sea glass” and porcelain skin, lies asleep, surrounded by flowers. Corin enters the princess’ dreamworld—the place “where your subconscious desires come to life.” She meets Briar Rose, Amelia’s alter ego, who experienced her share of sadness and wanted to fall asleep. Also in the dreamworld is green-skinned Malicine, the nonbinary demon who, despite having placed the curse of eternal slumber on Amelia, is mostly friendly. All three are running from things they can’t face, though the dreamworld may not give them a choice. Pham’s debut, a Sapphic reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty,” explores mental health and asks a lot of readers as it seesaws between emotional confrontations, time jumps, and scenes where one character inhabits the memories of another, all of which demand intense engagement. Still, the ending is earned as well as positive.
Somberly beautiful. (content note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9798217113026
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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