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
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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