Telisa and Magnus could carry a series with their entertaining if somewhat predictable smuggling adventures.
An otherworld adventure featuring a military brat turned smuggler.
McCloskey (The House of Yeel, 2012, etc) starts with what is hopefully the beginning of a new series featuring xenoarchaeologist Telisa Relachik. After the government detects the heroes upon their arrival on planet T2 in search of ruins, United Nations Space Force officer Joe Hartlet is dispatched toward this abandoned planet. But before Joe can catch up to Telisa and crew—including the handsome enforcer, Magnus—the smugglers find an odd power source accessible through a tunnel. They throw caution to the wind and, like the robotic alien life form in the prologue, take a tumble down the strange rabbit hole. What lies beneath is a constantly shifting landscape that robotic alien Shiny eventually figures out how to maneuver, only after he’s wiped out half of Telisa’s crew, leaving her alone with Magnus for guidance, protection and entertainment. Joe eventually catches up and, together with Shiny, the gang forms an uneasy alliance. It’s shattered, though, once the alien finds the exit from this mysterious hole in the ground. From there, Shiny, Telisa and Magnus escape in a smuggler’s ship—only to be hijacked by Shiny and taken to what the reader is first told is an outpost planet, but later, when Joe and the UNSF arrive, is what seems to be the original hole in the ground. It’s a confusing transition: Are they back in the mysteriously changing environment or on a new planet? Author McCloskey doesn’t make it clear. He excels, however, in bringing up the Neuromancer-inspired implanted chips that enable communication within Telisa’s society. There’s even the brief mention of the need for people to explore a new form of communication: face to face. At one point, Telisa marvels at how quiet life is without her link; she’s not sure how people survived before it. The social statement rightly falls to the wayside in favor of adventure and the questionable motives behind Shiny’s presence. Many questions remain unanswered, however, due to the book’s abrupt ending.
Telisa and Magnus could carry a series with their entertaining if somewhat predictable smuggling adventures.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-1466393844
Page Count: 308
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The series’ snarky noir vibe might be dwindling, but there’s something of substance in its place.
This is wizard Harry Dresden’s yearlong mourning period for Karrin Murphy, the woman he loved.
If you keep upping your protagonist’s powers throughout a series, then you must balance the scales by increasing the number and strength of their enemies—as well as seriously messing with their personal life. Over the course of the Dresden Files, Harry Dresden, Chicago PI and now one of the most powerful wizards in the world, thought his first love was dead (she wasn’t), sacrificed his half-vampire girlfriend on an altar to save their child, lost another girlfriend when they learned she’d been mind-controlled into their relationship, bound himself into servitude as the Fae Queen Mab’s Winter Knight, and, for the length of an entire book, thought he himself was dead (he wasn’t). But nothing has hit quite as hard as the death of Karrin Murphy, the former police lieutenant who was his quasi-partner, friend, and, after a slow burn across many books, lover. Chicago is in a terrible state following a battle with Ethniu the Titan and her Fomor army, and Harry is doing his best to confront the monsters, dark magic, and anti-supernatural prejudice running wild amid the slowly rebuilding city. He’s also trying to save his half brother Thomas from two different death sentences, train a new apprentice, and juggle a relationship with Thomas’ half sister Lara, the dangerously seductive vampire Queen Mab is forcing him to marry. But he’s doing all this while nearly crushed by grief that threatens his judgment and disturbs his control over his magical powers. Butcher really makes you feel the dark, depressive state Harry exists in as well as the effect it’s having on his friends. Despite all that happens in it, this book is a pause as well as a setup for the series’ planned conclusion, an epic conflict with the eldritch creatures known as “the Outsiders.” It’s a tough, redemptive pause that could be a real drag, but thankfully, it’s not, because Butcher shows balance, too: Even as the crises pile up, so do the help and goodwill from unexpected sources.
The series’ snarky noir vibe might be dwindling, but there’s something of substance in its place.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593199336
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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