An engrossing murder mystery that will intrigue even readers from beyond the romantasy genre’s fan base.
In Corland’s fantasy novel, a priestess conceals her heritage as the last member of a royal magical bloodline.
On the night of the Revelry—a celebration that commemorates the end of “the monarchy and the Hundred Year War”—Kerasea Vestal, the High Priestess of the Temple of Truth, receives a “mal omen” (a kind of sacrificed bird), the first of its kind in decades. Kera reports it to the Council immediately. The festivities continue; the following morning, the dismembered body of conniving senate leader Verhardt is found on the altar of peace. When Praetorian and Senior Investigator and Protector Torren Morvane, who blames Kera for his family’s ruin, arrives to investigate, he struggles not to let his painful past cloud his judgment of Kera. Since the land is on the edge of war, Torren suspects the murder was intended to “affect the laws [and…] to strike at the heart of the republic.” He and Kera serve on the Verity Guild, the highest tribunal in the land of Pryor, and must sequester themselves for the following week in conclave on Mount Ara with the remaining senators (following Verhardt’s death, there are now six). As tensions rise politically and interpersonally, it becomes clear that someone is picking members of the ruling party off one by one. The pair’s uneasy alliance must hold, with Kera now in the crosshairs, since the “temple holds nearly as much power as the senate.” The first-person narration alternates between Kera and Torren, whose simultaneous attraction to and suspicion of each other makes for a compelling reading experience. The book’s setting—a palace overlooking the capital—is perfect for its political mystery, as it’s both opulent and the site of bloody history. Corland’s skillful blending of these elements brings the ruthlessness of the Republic’s founding and its Machiavellian senators to vivid life while deftly emphasizing the underlying theme of appearances versus reality.
An engrossing murder mystery that will intrigue even readers from beyond the romantasy genre’s fan base.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781682816301
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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