A dazzling blend of fantasy intrigue and historical drama that will haunt readers long after the final page.
A teenage girl uncovers dark secrets—both earthly and supernatural—in an attempt to rescue her brothers and clear her uncle’s name in Chow’s novel.
The year is 1925, and teenager Ling Shaw works at her uncle Dabak’s medicinal herbal shop in colonial Hong Kong. Tensions are high as the Canton labor strikes are just beginning, and a rash of child disappearances has swept the island. One night, Ling witnesses a woman murdered by a horrific vampirelike creature who rips out the victim’s eyes and stuffs her mouth with mysterious petals. When Dabak is accused of the crime, Ling sets out alongside her best friend and a shady gang member to find the truth. The stakes become even higher when Ling’s twin brothers disappear, and the suspect is none other than the city’s resident oracle—an old woman who may know more than she is letting on. Interspersed with Ling’s story is a series of flashbacks to the year 1923, where a mysterious man encounters visions and voices in the Guianas as those around him die of a mysterious “blood disease.” As the connection between the two stories crystallizes, Ling is forced to make a painful choice that could change her life forever. Chow’s complex character study is part supernatural tale, part historical drama. She deftly moves from the intricacies of real events (like the Canton labor strikes)—and their effects on different characters—to graphic horror scenes that would feel at home in a Stephen King novel: “Rage sent his hands deeper into the beast’s head. Putrid sludge oozed from the obliterated skull. Crimson streamed from the punctures in his own chest. The other shadows slithered closer…” A smooth narrative flow, realistic dialogue, and brisk pacing all conclude with an open-ended but somehow deliciously satisfying ending. Chow ultimately fuses themes of identity, family, and nationality with a terrifying vampire story—all resulting in a bloody good read.
A dazzling blend of fantasy intrigue and historical drama that will haunt readers long after the final page.Pub Date: July 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781964733036
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Ghastly Goings-On Press
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
For readers who like their fun laced with skin-crawling weirdness.
A comic-strip artist loses first her cat and then, possibly, her mind.
Working with artists Horner and Staehle, as he did for Hidden Pictures (2022), Rekulak uses illustrations to support a paranormal thriller plot. Penny Padgett, a 27-year-old cartoonist living in Philadelphia, has published three beloved graphic novels about her life with her cat, Popcorn, and is working on a fourth when Popcorn darts out the window during a snowstorm and disappears. When all efforts to locate him fail, Penny spirals into unproductive despair. Her live-in boyfriend, Dean Everhardt, who works in finance, insists she accompany him to a cocktail party at the Brandywine Valley estate of his most important client, Evelyn Bruehl. At the party, Penny hears mewing that at first she’s sure must be Popcorn, but which turns out to be a very different cat named Godfrey. Godfrey immediately attaches himself to Penny, and when Evelyn—who’s about to take an extended trip to Europe—asks her to cat-sit, Dean pressures her to agree. Though at first Godfrey’s presence helps Penny break through her writer’s block, she’s completely disgusted by his custom-made food, which is delivered by his equally repugnant private veterinarian. And then something very strange starts happening to her artwork, which is suddenly filled with macabre and demonic imagery she can’t remember producing. Also, she’s losing weight and something terrible is happening to her skin. At this point the plot pivots into full-on horror, with a disgusting infestation of giant beetles and revolting odors taking over Penny’s house and a horrific murder next door. Penny finds some clues about what’s happening in a biography of Evelyn Bruehl’s grandfather, illustrator Barnabas Godfrey—the cat’s namesake. The 80-plus pages of illustrations include both Penny’s comic panels and Barnabas’ 19th-century images, the latter also filled with hints of what will emerge in the dramatic, screamworthy climax.
For readers who like their fun laced with skin-crawling weirdness.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781250895875
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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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