An absolute must-read—to paraphrase a line from the novel, fantasy fans will find themselves in literary heaven.
The debut novel from Hugo and Nebula Awards–winner Mills is a nonlinear science-fantasy following one woman’s redemptive journey after a devastating loss of faith.
Growing up in the blessed city of Radezhda—a towering metropolis that was built to reach the heavens and the portals leading to the five sleeping gods—young Zenya dreams of one day becoming a Winged warrior. But Zenya’s parents are scholars, and in a strictly stratified society whose populace is divided into five sectors—fighters, farmers, engineers, scholars, and workers, with each sect worshipping a different god—her future is all but predestined. With tensions between sect leaders a virtual powder keg and a civil war looming, Zenya follows her dream and eventually makes it through torturous training to become Winged—a warrior with mechanical wings that connect to ports surgically opened in her back. With a fanatical and demanding leader named Vodaya pushing her to her limits, Zenya (now named Zemolai) begins to see the world from a different perspective. Where she once saw honor and freedom among the Winged warriors, she now sees treachery, lies, and the underpinnings of a fascist state. When an error in judgment gets her exiled, a now wingless Zemolai begins a perilous journey to uncover the truth—revelations that will literally shake the towers of Radezhda and the very heavens themselves. Mills more than compensates for slightly two-dimensional supporting characters with masterful worldbuilding, brisk pacing, and stand-up-and-applaud action sequences, but the real power here is in her exploration of finding one’s true path, the dangers of blind faith, and weaponized zealotry. All these elements combine in a narrative that is virtually impossible to put down.
An absolute must-read—to paraphrase a line from the novel, fantasy fans will find themselves in literary heaven.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781616964146
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tachyon
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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