An absorbing, character-driven tale with supernatural touches and series potential.
In Troy’s debut novel, two families in the late 19th century bring secrets and magic to an island.
Amadeo Roselyn, worried about his family’s safety in the era just after Reconstruction, moves them from New Orleans to the isle of Touperdu, where vacant buildings await them, one for a home and the other for a restaurant they plan to open. Amadeo has the money to set up a business, but he doesn’t necessarily want the locals to know the source of his funds. Around the same time, the Duday family, hailing from a French village, make their way to the island as well. Mathieu and Gwennoelle, along with their children, harbor special abilities—for one thing, they can see ghosts, including the previous owner of their new house. Their magic isn’t common knowledge, but it’s also not something they can keep from their fellow islanders indefinitely; soon, Gwennoelle is known as a “seeress.” Troy’s intriguing, eclectic cast is fleshed out with distinctive details; Gwennoelle saves the family money by swiping small items, while Amadeo’s wife, Hortense, seems to suffer from an undiagnosed mental condition tied to anxiety. There’s also Madame Reckoner, who found the spot for Amadeo’s restaurant and whose family has long been engaged in a well-known feud with the Bonneys, an old island clan. The supernatural elements are organically woven into the story; interactions with ghosts (or other bits of magic) are everyday occurrences for the Dudays. The various subplots include several unexpected turns, from mysterious deaths to an outright murder. Some narrative threads don’t really lead anywhere, however, and some of the characters either fade into the background or disappear altogether. Still, the welcome lightheartedness of the kids, predominantly young Laurette Duday and Peony “Pinny” Roselyn, couples well with the author’s wry humor. (Madame Reckoner’s idea of a compliment: “You are not a miserable whining sot like my son.”)
An absorbing, character-driven tale with supernatural touches and series potential.Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 9798897400089
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sibylline Press
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A headbanging beginning to what could be a remarkable urban fantasy series—heavy metal playlist sadly not included.
After being murdered and inexplicably reborn, a heavy metal musician sets out on a journey of self-discovery with nothing short of the future of humankind at stake in the first installment of Sanderson and Orullian’s Strata Wars saga.
Jack Solomon is not having a good day. After moving to London from the mean streets of Los Angeles and starting a metal band called the Hounds of Winter, he’s been kicked out of the group just weeks before they’re scheduled to open for Black Sabbath at Wembley Stadium. While Jack is walking with his good friend Henry Wilkinson—a father figure of sorts who has mentored Jack over the years and owns the music venue the Iron Horse—they are both shot and (seemingly) killed. Then Jack regains consciousness and finds himself in a hellscape with a massive mountain of fire in the distance and countless human statues everywhere. After Henry appears in the vision, telling Jack, “You’ve got more to do,” Jack awakens in front of Henry’s flat, unharmed but covered in blood. With Henry’s body missing, Jack begins to understand his new reality: He’s a thanatist (don’t call him a necromancer) and Henry’s venue hides an entrance to the Strata—“several long periods of London history that have coalesced to form layers of the past.” The Strata are inhabited by gruesome creatures and millions of memories, and Jack discovers that someone wants to take over the Iron Horse, with its staircase to every level of the Strata, and begin a revolution where music (curated by a madman) can change the future of humanity. The many shoutouts to legendary bands notwithstanding, this novel is powered by two elements: the exceptional worldbuilding of the subterranean Strata, whose potential is virtually limitless; and Jack’s deeply personal healing journey, which includes forgiving others—like his mother, who abandoned him—and himself. Jack’s story arc is comparable to his adventures in the Strata: The deeper he descends into the Strata, the deeper he delves into himself.
A headbanging beginning to what could be a remarkable urban fantasy series—heavy metal playlist sadly not included.Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9781668068144
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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