An imaginative yarn full of sharp twists and engaging psychological depth.
A young woman tasked with assassinating an evil prince finds herself falling for him instead in Leach’s soulful fantasy.
The novel centers on Mira, an orphaned farm girl in the kingdom of Gilan, where tribute collectors strip poverty-stricken families of their possessions and cart off young “maids” to add to the cruel King Derrik’s harem. Mira’s preternatural knife-throwing skills get her recruited by handsome jewelry merchant Roland into the Order of the Dragon, a resistance organization seeking to overthrow Derrik and install its shadowy leader, Domhnall, on the throne. When a bag of explosives Mira is transporting for Roland accidentally detonates, killing one of Mira’s loved ones, among many others, she’s left with a massive burden of guilt. An opportunity for redemption arises when she catches the eye of Derrik’s son, Prince Joren, who’s reputed to be a lothario; he invites her to join him and his guards on a trip to the capital city of Climonta; Roland instructs her to murder Joren and gives her a magic stone knife called Ordalf to do the job in fulfillment of a prophecy. However, Mira’s mission is complicated by the fact that Joren turns out to be kindhearted, brave, gentlemanly, and attractive. Leach’s fictional world has a fairytale feel, with its charms, oaths, folk idioms (“Did Woon himself bite you out there tonight?”), along with its sudden revelations and dizzying reversals of fortune. However, it also has complex, conflicted characters and prose that’s energetic and evocative, whether in piquant romantic interludes—“I took another sip and gazed at the stars with the man I was sent to kill”—or fraught scenes of anguish, as when Mira, in the explosion’s aftermath, scrubs off the blood of other people, including “the boy with the bread, the girl without a leg, of all the people whose remains would be burned in the pyre.” Readers will root for Mira as she struggles to figure out which man to love and which to hurt.
An imaginative yarn full of sharp twists and engaging psychological depth.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-1951496234
Page Count: 471
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2023
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 engrossing, action-packed sequel with a compelling cast.
A woman must undergo fearsome trials to free the imprisoned Titans of Greek myth in Owen’s fantasy novel, the second in a series.
Advancing from minor office clerk in the Order of Thieves to Queen of the Underworld, Lyra Keres’ star should be rising. But thanks to Cronos, King of the Titans, she and her longtime friend and fellow thief Boone have been ensnared in a new challenge beneath the earth: Hot on the heels of winning the twisted Crucible Games, Lyra—who has recently been granted goddess powers—finds herself trapped in Tartarus. Separated from her beloved Hades, she must liberate the fearsome Titans from seven Locks to restore the cosmic balance. As Lyra progresses through the Locks engineered by the Gods—each as tricky and lethal as the last—the pressure mounts as the Titans repeatedly remind her, “You will be our savior.” Rhea, the wife of Cronos, reveals that Lyra began this quest “a hundred and fifty years ago,” adding further devastation to the task at hand; the knowledge is helpful, but also painful, as Lyra reflects, “Suddenly, I don’t want to know that it’s real. Because then I have to contemplate how many times I might have ended up in Tartarus already.” As she materializes in and out of time pockets, Lyra sees Hades’ troubled childhood unfold and struggles not to intervene to save the man she loves. In this second entry in the author’s Crucible series, following The Games Gods Play (2024), Lyra’s cynical quips continue to make her an engaging protagonist. Her inner monologues are balanced with hope, love, and longing for Hades as she meets various versions of him. While resilient, Owen’s heroine is also vulnerable (“Was I his pawn in more ways than I ever realized?”). Her introspection effectively contrasts with the simmering rage and restraint in Hades’ chapters. The supporting Titans are given more depth than the traditional myths allow, weaving a knotty family fabric for the reader to navigate alongside Lyra.
An engrossing, action-packed sequel with a compelling cast.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781649378538
Page Count: 500
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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