Nonstop action, intricate plotlines, deeply developed characters, top-notch worldbuilding—a must-read for epic fantasy fans.
Fueled by master-class worldbuilding, the third volume of Ford’s Age of Uprising trilogy concludes an epic fantasy narrative chronicling an empire torn apart by war.
Known for its mining and innovative utilization of magical pyrestones, Torwyn was a prosperous nation ruled by its six major guilds until its emperor was assassinated and ruthless religious leaders of the Draconate Ministry usurped control. A brutal struggle for power ensued. While Sanctan Egelrath, villainous Archlegate of the Draconate Ministry, rules over Torwyn’s capital city and surrounding area with his allies, displaced guild members must put trust in former adversaries and join forces to somehow defeat the Ministry and begin to rebuild their once thriving country. The meticulously detailed worldbuilding and deeply conceived backstory—on par with George R.R. Martin’s Westeros and Raymond E. Feist’s Midkemia—are obvious strengths, but it’s the impressive intricacy and scope of the story that are its real power. Multiple points of view from a diversity of characters (Rosomon Hawkspur, a former guildmaster and head of one of Torwyn’s most influential families; Keara Hallowhill, a head of her family’s guild whose loyalties are questionable at best; Ansell Beckenrike, a conflicted Ministry knight; Tyreta Hawkspur, Rosomon’s daughter and webwainer—a person who can manipulate pyrestones—who is much more than she seems; etc.) keep the narrative momentum pedal-to-the-metal and reveal the complexities of the conflict from numerous sides. Additionally, the author’s descriptive writing style makes for an effortlessly readable, page-turning experience: “[His] knees protested with each laboured step, joints popping like corn kernels in a fire…” And after more than 1800 collective pages, Ford not only ends the trilogy in grand style but plants a tantalizing plot seed in the epilogue that could very well be the beginning of a new story cycle.
Nonstop action, intricate plotlines, deeply developed characters, top-notch worldbuilding—a must-read for epic fantasy fans.Pub Date: June 17, 2025
ISBN: 9780316629638
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Orbit
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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