Ultimately skippable.
A secretive club owner might just break his greatest rule: Don’t fall in love with an Immortal.
Ildaria Garcia left the Dominican Republic 200 years ago after having survived a vampire attack that left her an Immortal and in constant fear of retribution from the man who attacked her. Moving from place to place, she does her best to keep her past hidden while acting as a vigilante. However, social media has proved to be more of a bane than a boon, forcing Ildaria to lie low after her crime-fighting exploits go viral. The Night Club (yes, that's the name) is run by Joshua James Simpson Guiscard, known as G.G. Though the venue caters to a supernatural clientele, G.G. is all human. A traumatizing event has made him both fearful of and fascinated by Ildaria and her kind. While Ildaria is physically running from her past, G.G.’s avoidance is more the emotional sort. When the possibility of Ildaria and G.G. being mates is brought up, due to their immense attraction, both of them must grapple with their prior baggage. Can G.G. ever love an immortal vampire? Can Ildaria live with endangering a man she's come to care for? There’s nothing terribly new in this paranormal romance—lots of black leather outfits and the notion that fate has selected a one true love. While it’s refreshing to see a vampire heroine, the excitement quickly fades once Ildaria’s previous sexual trauma is revealed and italicized Spanish words start being sprinkled in. If readers are expecting a nuanced representation of a woman of color–turned–vampiric superhero, they won't find it here. Her characterization is hollow enough to hear an echo. Readers who have stuck with the 30-plus books of the Argeneau series will find this to be a passable addition even if the cast is getting rather large. New readers: Don’t bother, as you’ll either be lost, annoyed, or infuriated.
Ultimately skippable.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-295630-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.
After 500 years, the Grief of Ages is a distant memory—until dragons hellbent on destruction begin to wake again.
In this relatively brief prequel to the epic The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019), the kingdoms of Virtudom have experienced centuries of relative peace. Marosa Vetalda, the Princess of Yscalin, spends her days behind castle walls under the gaze of her overprotective father, awaiting the date when she’ll be wed to Aubrecht of Mentendon, her ticket to freedom. While the book’s main focus is initially on the political threads weaving the Western kingdoms together, the frailty of best-laid plans is exposed when evidence of the reemergence of draconic beings reaches castle ears. These tales often come from the cullers who make their living slaying these creatures, and who are often blamed for intentionally waking them for profit. No one alive remembers the Grief of Ages, so no one’s prepared when Fýredel, the great High Western dragon, surfaces from the volcanic mountain that towers ominously over Yscalin’s capital city of Cárscaro. What follows is the backstory of how the devoted Yscali kingdom comes to shift allegiance to Fýredel and his master, the Nameless One, a main catalyst to events in The Priory. Overall, this book reads more like history lesson than fantasy adventure, but the sheer terror that befalls the Yscali people as they face Fýredel’s pure evil is both powerful and relevant. Marosa’s plight further solidifies her as a hero worth remembering; her strength and defiance shine through as hope for the future she’s dreamed of slowly flickers out.
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781639736010
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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