An appealingly-crafted fantasy about a young man coming of age in love and war.
Howard concludes his two-part epic about a crusading warrior in this fantasy novel.
A group of crusading defenders departs the fantastical realm of Azgald to continue their campaign, leaving young Godfrey de Bastogne behind to defend the central castle of Olso Fortress against the vengeance of High Warlord Alvir, who bears some grudges stemming from the events of the previous novel. The forces arrayed against Olso Fortress include armies of disaffected human soldiers as well as legions of supernatural entities like cyclopses, orcs, and even forest satyrs, who have their own reasons to hate the crusaders (“The crusaders defile our pastures,” the satyr leader Rogith grimly pronounces; “they kill our brethren without thought, and they offend nature itself”). Inside the fortress, while Godfrey continues to mature and learn the ways of war, his betrothed, Lady Madeline, familiarizes herself with the politics of the keep’s personnel. Even some of her closest friends become alarmed and intimidated by her developing command of her natural magical abilities, and some of Olso’s authorities frown on her increasing power. Although the narrative primarily follows Godfrey (astride Spathi, his faithful griffin) on dangerous sorties (and charts his growing understanding of the customs of the court at Castle Olso and the nature of the magic commanded by Madeline), the story regularly returns to both political tensions and the low-grade turmoil between the leads, who are beset by romantic misunderstandings even as dark forces amass, intent upon taking the fortress and revenging themselves on the last of the crusaders.
Howard’s world-building is as strong in this second volume as it was in the first. His memorable blending of high fantasy and chivalric medieval romance places knights and codes of conduct alongside sorcery and magical creatures like orcs and griffins, and the blend almost always feels smooth and natural. Religion plays a central role: acolytes are ordained in their orders, and the equivalents of priests and nuns reprimand other characters for moral lapses (“Lady Madeline should think twice before sneaking off alone with her betrothed,” Sister Vanya cautions; “No one should question her purity on the day of the wedding”). Characters pray and pledge their faith to the sun god (variously called Loxias, Helios, Sol, and other names), which is slightly anomalous in modern fantasy, and the author does an effective job of integrating these themes into this second volume’s many brutal action sequences (Godfrey is very young, but in the course of his adventures, he sees plenty of violence). The prose is workmanlike throughout, never particularly evocative and sometimes flat and clunky (Godfrey contemplating two crusade leaders he’s bonded with: “If some evil should befall them … Shaking his head, Godfrey banished the thought”), and some readers may find the emphasis on the romance of the two young main characters oddly disproportionate to the epic affairs of state. But Howard constructs an engaging story that will appeal to older readers as well.
An appealingly-crafted fantasy about a young man coming of age in love and war.Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2022
ISBN: 9781088074244
Page Count: 492
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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