A sparkling first novel of self-discovery by a skilled author.
In Hart’s debut fantasy novel and series opener, a young woman is thrust into a world of magic and intrigue as she tries to master strange powers that she inherited from her late mother.
As her 18th birthday approaches, Lida d’Cathan’s biggest concern is whether she’ll be able to apprentice with her healer father or be forced to study abroad. What Lida doesn’t know is that she’s inherited a secret ability from her deceased mom, Siva: She can enter other people’s dreams. In Lida’s world, people with superpowers are called “gifted”; some have the ability to heal wounds, create shields, read minds, and even control the weather. They also exist apart from society—ostracized, mistrusted, and even hunted—and it wasn’t long ago that some gifts, such as Lida’s, were entirely wiped out. Soon, Lida is whisked away by a man named Jakob Merchantto to the Illarum, a safe haven for the dwindling population of gifted, so that she can get the necessary training for her burgeoning powers; there, she’ll also find clues about Siva’s past. Before long, she’s on a riveting journey to the far reaches of the continent, confronting a harsh landscape, a foreign court, and the dreams and nightmares of the people around her. Hart’s debut novel is immersive and artfully rendered with clever dialogue and masterful prose: “Trees and houses rushed past at an alarming speed, barely discernible; the road beneath them was nothing more than a pale smudge of sand catching the last of the day’s light.” She deftly weaves mythology and history into a rich tapestry of cultures, each with their own idiosyncrasies, customs, and beliefs; all the while, the story hints at a destiny that Lida has only just begun to piece together. Lida is a deeply relatable, strong-willed, but compassionate protagonist who’s thrust into a world beyond her understanding. Her nuanced relationships with the various people she meets make up the heart of the novel, and they include romance; most compelling of all, however, is Lida’s steadfast desire to understand the mother she never knew and, in doing so, find a connection to a hidden legacy.
A sparkling first novel of self-discovery by a skilled author.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-6488496-1-2
Page Count: 399
Publisher: Pindika Press
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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
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