Comedy-fantasy fans with strong stomachs will enjoy this book.
A group of trolls plans to rob a greedy corporation in Sover’s fantasy debut.
Troll protagonist Granu is jobless and struggling to pay rent in New Metta, a subterranean city hidden from the sun. The former teacher was scarred physically and mentally by an attack by a group of troll students, and she spends most of her time at her favorite bar, Goron’s. Her friend Kradduk, a playboy with a heart of gold, works at The Covered Bridge (“TCB” for short), whose administrators lucratively charge humans a toll to cross. When Fillig, another pal, drunkenly suggests robbing TCB, they’re soon consumed by the plan—Fillig and Granu for financial reasons and Kradduk to settle a score. Granu recruits Len, a rather creepy hacker neighbor, while Fillig reveals details of the heist to Lyssa, an attractive troll with more intelligence than she lets on. New Metta is teeming with other oddly named creatures, including zimbles, molents, grawbacks, and swogs; the latter are powerful piglike beings with tiny wings who run TCB like a fraternity house. Eventually, the five trolls hatch a plan to outsmart the swogs, keep out of the sun (which would turn them to stone) and avoid the harassing billy goats who roam New Metta. Sover’s ability to gross out readers is nothing short of gleeful; Granu and the gang feast on kittens and “Unicorn fillets” and even contemplate eating one another in fits of rage. But they also have embarrassing one-night stands and are saddled with student loan debt. The worldbuilding is immersive, although it’s mostly just everyday human life with a few grotesque descriptors tacked on. Sover also attempts a twist on beauty standards: Granu is petite, green-eyed, and smooth-skinned, which her world finds humanoid and ugly; however, all three male supporting characters seem to be attracted to her nonetheless. Sover’s prose is strong, and her passion for her story is evident. A hopeful ending leaves room for further adventures.
Comedy-fantasy fans with strong stomachs will enjoy this book.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-08-706482-6
Page Count: 316
Publisher: The Parliament House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 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
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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