A whirlwind fantasy that will keep readers on their toes—much like the hero.
A woman without memories teams up with new friends to rediscover her past in Hall’s fantasy novel.
Kai wakes up in the forest with a woman on top of her busily removing Kai’s amulet and outerwear. Barely awake, unable to move much, and utterly confused about where—and who—she is, Kai can’t do much more than follow the thief as she runs away. Dressed only in a bandeau top and breeches (not to mention her strange eyes and bright hair), Kai is a shocking sight to the town she comes upon, and the citizens quickly consider her to be some sort of evil creature. Kai doesn’t exactly help her case by launching herself at the thief and throttling her in hopes of getting her amulet and clothes back. The townsfolk rally against her, demanding money in return for items broken during the scuffle. Of all people, the thief, called Olivia, comes to Kai’s rescue and offers her a place to stay while Kai works off her sudden debt. It doesn’t hurt that Olivia’s brother Jadon, the town blacksmith, is incredibly handsome. As if Kai’s luck wasn’t bad enough, soldiers attack the town, and a strange woman with magical abilities comes looking for Kai, bringing fire and vicious creatures (“another blast from the sky, this one bursting with flame. A fireball strikes the steeple of the chapel”). Kai knows she needs to get away fast to find out who she is—and where the wind powers she’s suddenly gained came from. Olivia and her very handsome brother decide to join her on her quest. In this romantic fantasy novel, the author throws readers into a new world, making it very easy to empathize with Kai, as she also has no idea where or who she is. Readers may feel a disconnect between Kai, Jadon, Olivia, and the rest of their world, as the crew feels more modern than the setting they inhabit. Still, readers who love a good fantasy adventure with plenty of action and a love story in the mix are sure to find something to enjoy here.
A whirlwind fantasy that will keep readers on their toes—much like the hero.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781649374400
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.
The Medusa myth, reimagined as an Afrocentric, feminist tale with the Gorgon recast as avenging hero.
In mythological Greece, where gods still have a hand in the lives of humans, 17-year-old Medusa lives on an island with her parents, old sea gods who were overthrown at the rise of the Olympians, and her sisters, Euryale and Stheno. The elder sisters dote on Medusa and bond over the care of her “locs...my dearest physical possession.” Their idyll is broken when Euryale is engaged to be married to a cruel demi-god. Medusa intervenes, and a chain of events leads her to a meeting with the goddess Athena, who sees in her intelligence, curiosity, and a useful bit of rage. Athena chooses Medusa for training in Athens to become a priestess at the Parthenon. She joins the other acolytes, a group of teenage girls who bond, bicker, and compete in various challenges for their place at the temple. As an outsider, Medusa is bullied (even in ancient Athens white girls rudely grab a Black girl’s hair) and finds a best friend in Apollonia. She also meets a nameless boy who always seems to be there whenever she is in need; this turns out to be Poseidon, who is grooming the inexplicably naïve Medusa. When he rapes her, Athena finds out and punishes Medusa and her sisters by transforming their locs into snakes. The sisters become Gorgons, and when colonizing men try to claim their island, the killing begins. Telling a story of Black female power through the lens of ancient myth is conceptually appealing, but this novel published as adult fiction reads as though intended for a younger audience.
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593733769
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
