This smashing YA fantasy boasts adventure and a superbly multilayered protagonist.
A teen still honing his supernatural abilities fights to protect two worlds from diabolical forces in Sargent’s fantasy sequel.
It hasn’t been long since 15-year-old Bostonian Caleb learned he’s a descendent of “magic-wielding warriors.” His ancestors long ago retreated to “the Realm,” an alternate universe, but vowed to keep the human world safe with their Sentries. After Caleb, as a Sentry apprentice armed with a powerful sword, defends himself from wolf-like assailants, his Sentry father sends him to Five Towers in the Realm. It’s a training camp primarily for kids much younger than Caleb and definitely not for Sentries. Just as he’s getting settled, Caleb heads to Ireland with Sentry Righán Flores and fellow apprentice Siobhán Fourviére to investigate a robbed tourist boat (as magic was likely involved). Their hunt for pirates leads them to Molly O’Malley, the reputed Pirate Queen. While Righán and others don’t believe “petty thief” Molly takes priority over dark, evil creatures, Caleb is determined to capture her, and he soon uncovers a wicked plan that could spark a catastrophe in the Realm. Sargent’s sophomore series installment offers a nice balance for the returning hero; Caleb’s unexpectedly successful with a few powerful spells, but skilled 10-year-old Five Towers cadets can still humble him. He also has just the right amount of teen angst—his relationship with his seemingly indifferent, largely absent father is understandably strained, and he struggles with ongoing anger issues stemming from a “battle frenzy” affliction that past warriors have endured as well. A general sense of unease underlies this narrative, as most characters aren’t easy to trust. Caleb and company fall into several taut action scenes, battling the likes of monstrous Fomorians, Irish vampires, and goblins. The exhilarating final act begets a memorable climax.
This smashing YA fantasy boasts adventure and a superbly multilayered protagonist.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2024
ISBN: 9798988181767
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Red Branch Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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