Kindness is king in this soft and breezy low-stakes cottagecore fantasy.
As the city of Alyssium and its vast library crumble and burn around her, a young librarian who’s spent 11 years sequestered among dusty bookshelves—with only a sentient, research-loving spider plant to keep her company—finds herself on the run.
After leaving the ruins of Alyssium’s great library behind—keen-eyed readers might notice the distinct parallels with the ill-fated Library of Alexandria—Keila makes her way across the open ocean to Caltrey, the picturesque island where she grew up, carrying Caz the spider plant and a boatful of spellbooks she could be punished for having taken. Hoping to lay low for a while and keep out of the locals’ hair, Keila moves into the long-abandoned cottage where her late parents raised her. What she doesn’t expect is to be welcomed by the locals with open arms; to meet her kind—and incredibly handsome—merhorse-riding neighbor, Larran; or to learn that the empire she left behind is draining the magic from her new home. The use of magic is strictly prohibited by the empire and is a punishable offense if you’re a member of the general population caught using it, but, determined to return some of the kindness that’s been shown to her, Keila decides to utilize her rescued spellbooks and opens a secret spellshop under the guise of making different berry jams. She proceeds to use the spells herself to help slowly return the island to its much more magical state. While Durst’s novel boasts a wide array of fantastic characters of both the human and nonhuman variety—Keila is described early on as having blue skin and hair—if readers are looking for any high-stakes conflict, intense political intrigue, or action-packed battle scenes in their fantasy novels, they won’t find them here. Similarly, the romance in this book is sweet but somewhat shallow. With this in mind, it’s a delightful, easily digestible palate cleanser with a story that feels like a whimsical, warm hug.
Kindness is king in this soft and breezy low-stakes cottagecore fantasy.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250333971
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bramble Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.
When Vis is copied into two other realities, he must stop a god from repeatedly culling almost everyone back home.
Thousands of years ago, to prevent the Concurrence from enslaving everyone, the world was split into three near-identical copies: Res, Obiteum, and Luceum. To exist in all three worlds, to wield Will there, is to achieve synchronism. After the events in The Will of the Many (2023), which cost Vis his arm and the life of his friend, Vis achieves Synchronism. While Res-Vis must continue to play Hierarchy politics to find his friend’s killer, Obiteum-Vis finds a ruined world, where the dead are reanimated and used by Ka, the Concurrence, and the only other person to exist in synchronism. Meanwhile, Luceum-Vis is forced into a dispute between druids, their High Council, and their kings—with one king intent on killing him—and Vis has no idea why. On all worlds, Vis is as shrewd as ever, weighing his options, planning ahead, and doing what he must to survive. However, he, too, slowly diverges, doing things he swore he never would: cede his Will, use Will to control someone else, and reveal his true name. If at least one Vis cannot use his synchronism and power of Will to kill the Concurrence, no Vis will be safe, and another Cataclysm will cull those he loves on Res. Book Two of the Hierarchy series is a speculative fantasy that is at once Egyptian post-apocalyptic, Celtic medieval, and Roman dystopian, thanks to the multidimensional setting. Although the sprawling narrative at times overextends itself, Islington rewards patient readers with a compelling story, a cast of complex and diverse characters, and a glimpse into how far a good man can go before he’s lost. A symbol at the start of each chapter delineates which world and Vis it’s about. Readers should read The Will of the Many before attempting this volume, or they may be confused for the first several chapters and beyond.
A unique concept that promises readers will find at least one, if not three, entwined but different narratives to enjoy.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781982141233
Page Count: 736
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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