A craftily blended supernatural tale that vividly shows the author’s love of the genre.
A woman discovers her magical ancestry while being seduced by a deadly coven in this debut fantasy.
In Highland Heights, Kentucky, Rachel Ogden owns and operates the Wise Bean coffee shop with her friend Emily Jones. At the Local Flavors and Crafts Festival, the women have a stand aimed at growing their customer base. During the festival, Rachel finally meets Mike Smith, whom she encountered via online dating. At the Wise Bean’s tent, Rachel finds Mike handsome and well dressed—and he’s brought Karen Staples, his cousin and business partner. After Karen leaves, Rachel and Mike peruse some vinyl for sale, bonding through a shared taste in dark music. Rachel and Emily eventually visit Church, the goth nightclub that Mike runs. Rachel and Mike end the night with drinks and kisses in his office but stop there. Later, a storm wakes up a sleeping Rachel. She gravitates toward a rose quartz orb that she purchased at the festival from Morgan Wilson, owner of the Crystal Crescent shop. While the orb pulses with energy, lightning flashes outside. Rachel sees a woman in the window. This is her mother, Theresa, who vanished from Rachel’s life when she was a child, supposedly due to drug use. Rachel learns from Morgan that she saw her mother’s “astral projection” and that Theresa’s skills as a witch passed to her daughter as she died. The powers come with a warning: “Our kind are hunted. They killed me, they killed Rosemary Crantz, and they'll come for you next.”
In her novel, Hancock takes readers on a wild excursion through Rachel’s lineage to learn her connection to Crantz, a witch. History and the paranormal blend in a story that’s not quite a romance but more of a tale about trusting your gut. The plot is pop-culture savvy, utilizing the mystique of rock bands like Blue Öyster Cult and The Misfits for more than just gothic window-dressing. Rachel is effectively portrayed as someone struggling with a past trauma—a house fire—in that she sleeps with difficulty. But she’s wise to resist the charms of the “inexperienced but sweet” Mike, who shows up at her home unannounced and buys her an extravagant gift before a relationship is even acknowledged. Mike and Karen harbor a bizarre secret that ties them to Rachel’s past and to a cult with tiered, forbidden knowledge (not unlike the arrangement in Scientology) involving a being called Nephilor. Hancock stirs the pot with intriguing historical and scientific motifs, including Cincinnati’s aborted subway project and a parasitic fungus that eats cicadas alive. Agile prose conjures some entrancing moments, as when Karen “could feel the tendrils working inside of her, pulling strings, shifting cells and atoms, making room in her soul.” Magic, closer to the Wiccan variety, shows that spells have a cost, be it in copper coins or a witch’s own life. A monstrous finale with plenty of action will leave fans hungry for a sequel.
A craftily blended supernatural tale that vividly shows the author’s love of the genre.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-77629-3
Page Count: 278
Publisher: M.K. Hancock
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A compelling and skillfully written end to a thrilling fantasy series.
In the final book of Corland’s dark fantasy trilogy, a ragtag band works together to liberate a colony and dethrone tyrants.
A group of spies, thieves, and murderers, united by a common goal of ending the treacherous rule of King Joon of Yusan, regroup after a bloody battle claims the life of one of their own—the banished Yusanian prince, Euyn. However, there’s little time for Mikail, Aeri, Sora, and Royo to mourn. Bounty hunters and assassins are after them, in part because they now possess three of five legendary Relics of the Dragon Lord. Mikail, who’s just found out that he’s the last surviving member of a royal family, wields the Water Scepter of Wei, while Aeri, King Joon’s daughter, holds the Sands of Tim and the Golden Ring of Khitan. The remaining relics—the Flaming Sword of Gaya and the Immortal Crown—remain with King Joon, who’s desperate to have all five to wield a great deal more power. Meanwhile, the cruel Count Seok, who once indentured Sora, has usurped the throne of Yusan. The group has two goals: overthrow the king and liberate the Yusanian colony of Gaya—Mikail’s homeland—so that it can again be a thriving, independent realm. The relics are powerful tools in combat, but using them is adversely affecting Aeri and Mikail’s health. They need allies, but trusting strangers is a dangerous gamble. Corland’s final book in her Broken Blades trilogy is a relentlessly thrilling and action-packed dark fantasy featuring memorable characters, intense battle scenes, romance, and a satisfying conclusion. Alternately narrated by Aeri, Mikail, Sora, Royo, and their long-lost friend, Tiyung, readers benefit from watching the story unfold through the perspectives of each compelling, well-drawn character. The author’s passion for the fantasy genre shines through in the novel’s richly detailed worldbuilding, including vivid descriptions of landscapes and palace layouts, as well as its exploration of magic. Readers will also delight in the sardonic humor sprinkled throughout, as when Mikahil narrates, “Rune thinks he fathered Seok’s son. Truly, the nobility of Yusan has too much time on their hands.”
A compelling and skillfully written end to a thrilling fantasy series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781649379153
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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