A dark journey of self-discovery that’s equal parts coming-of-age tale, unlikely love story, and karmic cautionary tale.
Eliott’s latest follows a girl attempting to survive a dangerous urban hellscape.
Growing up in Sullward’s notorious Lower City—aka Hell’s Labyrinth—hasn’t been easy for 14-year-old Terza Jaidenson and her little brother Fedwin. The place is a hotbed of crime, and Terza’s life is irrevocably changed when two men abduct Fedwin and use him as bait to lead her to a dark back alley to rape her. But Terza, whose father, Jaiden, and his father’s tough-guy friend Odvin have been training her to fight for years, turns the tables on the two would-be rapists and kills them. That “crucible” moment sets her on a path to become Terza Falconbrow, one of “the most imposing figures to ever work the criminal byways” of the Lower City. Stopping the attack, however, is just the beginning of Terza’s transformation from aspiring artist and loyal friend to unstoppable Storm Maiden, the embodiment of Giradera of Azmoul, an ancient battle queen who ruled over a female-dominated empire eons earlier. Terza must confront her little brother’s vicious bully while trying to keep her family together; after all, her mother abandons them and returns to her northern tribal homeland, while her deadbeat father falls deeper into addiction.
One of the strongest initial hooks of the novel comes through the author’s courage to write such a disturbing story with no filter. The very first line is like a slap to the face, letting readers know exactly what they’re in for: “Terza Jaidenson bled between her legs for the first time at the age of fourteen, and several weeks later, she killed her first man.” That bold focus on graphic description, however, may repulse sensitive readers—but it should delight those who seek out and enjoy gritty dark fantasy: “A perfect little stripe ran across the side of Rodris’s neck…It darkened, then spluttered, gurgling out a hard-boiling stew of crimson liquid.” The worldbuilding, like the other novels in Eliott’s Shadow Bidder universe, is exceptional, as is the story engine, which consistently moves at full throttle throughout. But it’s the underlying theme that fuels this story like gasoline poured on a fire. Terza’s quest for vengeance—not only for herself, but also for a friend who’s suffered abuse at the hands of a man—is intensely intimate. Systematic sexism, misogyny, the dehumanization of women in a patriarchal society: All of these ideas are subtly but intelligently explored, especially in the references to the ancient world and the empire ruled by women. In one scene, Terza is painting the image of a Storm Maiden while looking at her own features in a mirror: “She copied what she saw: her intense gaze, emanating from beneath the dip of scowling brows, projecting bloody murder at the patriarchy of the old world.” In the end, Terza must survive multiple soul-crushing traumas—sexual assault, her mother’s abandonment of her and Fedwin, and a hopelessly drug-addicted and abusive father—to become the legendary woman she’s destined to be.
A dark journey of self-discovery that’s equal parts coming-of-age tale, unlikely love story, and karmic cautionary tale.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9798986706597
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Further Press
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2026
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
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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