A bizarre but entertainingly trippy tale of soldiers and paranormal creatures.
In this debut cross-genre novel, a United States Army captain with psychic abilities faces both human and supernatural enemies in war-torn Afghanistan.
Capt. Thomas Jett of the Army Reserve leaves his Houston law practice for a tour in Afghanistan. He’s escaping literal ghosts at home, who are likely drawn to his budding psychic powers (so far, he can astrally project). Afghanistan is a definite change from America, with rocket attacks a regular occurrence and dust blanketing everything in a “sickly shade of beige.” But the “metaphysical growth” Jett craves may lie in his new mission—investigate the village of Sugarbush, where multiple brutal murders have taken place. Some blame a jinni, an evil spirit. This is an ideal time for Jett to master what he’s long fought to achieve—reaching “the fourth wall,” a somewhat cryptic access point to the fifth dimension. Inspired by a missing soldier’s SF–esque journal, Jett develops a strategy for somehow unlocking the universe’s “mirror world.” The resultant operation pits Jett and his allies against flesh-and-blood criminals along with inconceivable beings inside a perpetually confusing paranormal world. Some readers may question what in Petty’s tale is genuinely happening, whether it’s someone’s hallucination or something more sinister. Even Jett, who narrates, is occasionally “lost in the illusion” and admits he “can’t fully describe” abstract concepts like the fourth wall. Still, the author’s writing pops with concise details, giving the story an unwavering momentum. Petty also deftly animates the tale’s myriad notions with colorful, tangible analogies, such as Jett’s equating an eerie “slow pulse” with a John Carpenter horror film score. Furthermore, the cast grounds the narrative with a series of memorable personalities, from Russian barber Yvonne to young local translator and resident jinnexpert Kochi. As Jett continues to evolve psychically, there should be plenty of material for a potential sequel to explore.
A bizarre but entertainingly trippy tale of soldiers and paranormal creatures.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63988-117-8
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.
In this long-awaited fifth installment of Shannon’s Bone Season series, the threat to the clairvoyant community spreads like a plague across Europe.
After extending her fight against the Republic of Scion to Paris, Paige Mahoney, leader of London’s clairvoyant underworld and a spy for the resistance movement, finds herself further outside her comfort zone when she wakes up in a foreign place with no recollection of getting there. More disturbing than her last definitive memory, in which her ally-turned-lover Arcturus seems to betray her, is that her dreamscape—the very soul of her clairvoyance—has been altered, as if there’s a veil shrouding both her memories and abilities. Paige manages to escape and learns she’s been missing and presumed dead for six months. Even more shocking is that she’s somehow outside of Scion’s borders, in the free world where clairvoyants are accepted citizens. She gets in touch with other resistance fighters and journeys to Italy to reconnect with the Domino Programme intelligence network. In stark contrast to the potential of life in the free world is the reality that Scion continues to stretch its influence, with Norway recently falling and Italy a likely next target. Paige is enlisted to discover how Scion is bending free-world political leaders to its will, but before Paige can commit to her mission, she has her own mystery to solve: Where in the world is Arcturus? Paige’s loyalty to Arcturus is tested as she decides how much to trust in their connection and how much information to reveal to the Domino Programme about the Rephaite—the race of immortals from the Netherworld, Arcturus’ people—and their connection to the founding of Scion, as well as the presence of clairvoyant abilities on Earth. While the book is impressively multilayered, the matter-of-fact way in which details from the past are sprinkled throughout will have readers constantly flipping to the glossary. As the series’ scope and the implications of the war against Scion expand, Shannon’s narrative style reads more action-thriller than fantasy. Paige’s powers as a dreamwalker are rarely used here, but when clairvoyance is at play, the story shines.
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781639733965
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Doesn’t entirely hang together but still manages to hit the spot.
In an alternate early-20th-century Montreal, sparks fly between the operator of a cat shelter and a reclusive magician.
Agnes Aubert is not kindly disposed toward magicians, especially not after a magical duel blows a hole in the building that housed her and her cat shelter. Unfortunately, finding another spot isn’t easy, so she’s happy to take the reasonably priced location on the Rue des Hirondelles. But that’s before she discovers the building’s owner secretly living in the basement: Havelock Renard, the world’s most powerful magician, who also happens to be allergic to cats. As this decidedly odd couple work out a system for cohabitation, Agnes develops some uncomfortable feelings for Havelock; she also can’t deny her attraction to the police detective who thinks (not entirely incorrectly) that the shelter is a front for the illegal sale of magical Artefacts. In comparison to the carefully constructed universe of her Emily Wildeseries, Fawcett’s worldbuilding and plotting are a bit sloppy; the magical system is not laid out as clearly as more pedantic readers might wish, and there’s one part of Agnes’ quandary that gets resolved in a rushed, not truly believable, way. The book also implausibly suggests that an allergy to cats is curable by exposure (rather than managed by a magical antihistamine, perhaps?). But one has to admire the author’s acumen in finding the absolute sweet spot for a cozy fantasy, after all the other ones set in cafes and adorable little shops. It could seem either twee or a cynical grab at the market, but it’s neither; Fawcett clearly understands the complicated but rewarding relationship between humans and cats. It is also charming to set a story in Montreal, where both brioches and bagels are on offer.
Doesn’t entirely hang together but still manages to hit the spot.Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9780593973257
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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