Indelible characters carry this epic, heartfelt, and magic-infused tale.
A hulking escapee from a mythic prison and a courageous young girl form an unlikely bond in Sweitzer’s fantasy novel.
Historian Edwin rolls into the bustling city of Millthrace with astonishing news. He’s stumbled upon the lost prison of Nerikan, which once, the story goes, confined monsters and magic-wielding “Aurlings.” Apparently proving his claim, a giant “ogre” makes a sudden, smashing appearance and scares everyone, save the plucky 12-year-old orphan Olen. She harbors an unusual ability that likely means she’s an Aurling, and she believes that her parents (whom she doesn’t know) are Aurlings as well. Olen asks the ogre (Bakku, as he calls himself) to guide her across the land of Eisen to her alleged hometown, where she hopes to find her parents. Millthrace soldiers and others chase Olen, Bakku, and Edwin, planning to throw the colossal fugitive back into Nerikan. Sweitzer’s delightful novel truly engages the senses, brimming with details from the creepy clicking sounds the monstrous underworld “gore” creatures make to the image of tiny Olen riding Bakku like a bucking bronco (“Now she sat on the shoulders of a giant, lost in the woods, facing Millthrace’s greatest soldier”). The dynamic cast includes baddies in dogged pursuit, weird creatures that pop up in fierce confrontations, Olen’s endearing orphan “sisters,” and Timo, a charismatic trader Edwin befriends in the desert. The characters are consistently surprising, whether choosing to betray someone or proving themselves in battle. The author takes readers across the expanse of the richly imagined Eisen, around forests, into various cities and villages, and through harrowing mountains. No journey, however, is more fulfilling than the emotional one at this story’s core, especially as Olen delves deeper into her origins and steadily grows closer to Bakku.
Indelible characters carry this epic, heartfelt, and magic-infused tale.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2023
ISBN: 9798986557816
Page Count: 398
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A headbanging beginning to what could be a remarkable urban fantasy series—heavy metal playlist sadly not included.
After being murdered and inexplicably reborn, a heavy metal musician sets out on a journey of self-discovery with nothing short of the future of humankind at stake in the first installment of Sanderson and Orullian’s Strata Wars saga.
Jack Solomon is not having a good day. After moving to London from the mean streets of Los Angeles and starting a metal band called the Hounds of Winter, he’s been kicked out of the group just weeks before they’re scheduled to open for Black Sabbath at Wembley Stadium. While Jack is walking with his good friend Henry Wilkinson—a father figure of sorts who has mentored Jack over the years and owns the music venue the Iron Horse—they are both shot and (seemingly) killed. Then Jack regains consciousness and finds himself in a hellscape with a massive mountain of fire in the distance and countless human statues everywhere. After Henry appears in the vision, telling Jack, “You’ve got more to do,” Jack awakens in front of Henry’s flat, unharmed but covered in blood. With Henry’s body missing, Jack begins to understand his new reality: He’s a thanatist (don’t call him a necromancer) and Henry’s venue hides an entrance to the Strata—“several long periods of London history that have coalesced to form layers of the past.” The Strata are inhabited by gruesome creatures and millions of memories, and Jack discovers that someone wants to take over the Iron Horse, with its staircase to every level of the Strata, and begin a revolution where music (curated by a madman) can change the future of humanity. The many shoutouts to legendary bands notwithstanding, this novel is powered by two elements: the exceptional worldbuilding of the subterranean Strata, whose potential is virtually limitless; and Jack’s deeply personal healing journey, which includes forgiving others—like his mother, who abandoned him—and himself. Jack’s story arc is comparable to his adventures in the Strata: The deeper he descends into the Strata, the deeper he delves into himself.
A headbanging beginning to what could be a remarkable urban fantasy series—heavy metal playlist sadly not included.Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9781668068144
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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