A compelling tale with well-drawn characters and beautifully executed LGBTQ+ romance.
In McPherson’s fantasy novel, a prince becomes the unwilling heir to his kingdom’s throne and discovers rampant corruption.
As the second son of King Fortin, 25-year-old Prince Beauregard Highput was never supposed to inherit the throne of Granvallée.But ever since his older brother, Charmant, died after falling from his horse four months ago, the spare has become the heir. Instead of living his own life in the isles, as he’d been doing for the last seven years, Beau is on an accelerated course of training and education to prepare for his impending ascent, as his father is in poor health. To make matters worse, Beau must quickly get married to an eligible woman who will be able to rule beside him and produce an heir. The best option is Lady Victoire Penamour, his late brother’s fiancée; however, she hates him, as she thinks he murdered his brother for the throne. Beau has no desire to rule, but if he abdicates, a civil war may break out among power-hungry nobles trying to seize the crown. He accepts the responsibility, but he must overcome other demons, including his grief over his brother, the trauma of a near-death experience, and a history of alcoholism and self-harm. Also, he’s in love with his best friend and personal guard, Elias Batesian, and harbors a growing attraction to Lady Penamour. Meanwhile, there’s corruption afoot and danger around every corner. In her debut fantasy novel, McPherson delivers a thrilling and emotional story with remarkable worldbuilding. Readers will instantly connect with the genuinely kind but snarky Beau, as he remains true to himself and his morals, and loyal to the people he cares about. Elias and Lady Penamour are also intriguing and well-developed characters. The romantic buildup between Beau and Elias, and between Beau and Lady Penamour, is engaging and ultimately satisfying. The novel also offers strikingly sensitive and authentic representations of queer and trans characters, as well as polyamory. Family strife, intense battle scenes, and magic add interest to the palace intrigue.
A compelling tale with well-drawn characters and beautifully executed LGBTQ+ romance.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9798992254310
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Metaltail Press
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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