A vigorous yarn that mixes stout swashbuckling with moody reflection.
A youngster who wants to be a soldier achieves that goal with bloody and troubling results in Taylor’s dystopian novel.
This action-packed story, set in the distant future, posits a post-apocalyptic, low-tech empire of Sagittarius on the Canadian prairie with an astrological religion that requires babies born outside a monthlong window to be sacrificed. Sagittarius is locked in perpetual war with the nation of Scorpio to the north and has enslaved the people of Taurus to the south. Centering the story is Saya, a Sagittarian tween who dreads having to hold to proscribed feminine roles of housekeeping and childbearing and longs to be a soldier. Saya’s gender nonconformity only seems to be accepted in an observatory run by freethinking astronomers. The young narrator’s soldiering wish comes tragically true when marauders, said to be Scorpions, destroy the town, and orphaned Saya is inducted into the Sagittarian army under a new name. Sai becomes a fierce fighter with sword and bow who’s abused by other recruits but gets respect from officers who address Sai by he/him pronouns. Most of the novel follows Sai’s military career, which undermines the protagonist’s vengeance motive. Sai loves slaughtering Scorpion soldiers in gory battle scenes—the Scorpions’ poison-coated swords inflict particularly grisly wounds—but this zealotry wavers in situations involving civilians, including a 3-year-old Taurian boy. Also influencing Sai is Fion, a gay officer whose soul-searching conversations feed Sai’s disaffection. Taylor’s ruminative, queer dystopian fable feels like a mashup of elements of the Hunger Games series, Mulan, All Quiet on the Western Front, and the daily horoscope. The writing is engrossing and punchy—“ ‘Suck it up,’ Fion scolded me with a biting, severe voice. ‘You’re a soldier now’ ”—and the action energetic: “I…lunged at the Scorpion fearlessly, ducked under his swing, and thrust my blade into his gut. I ripped my sword to the side and relished the sight of his frightened eyes dying.” However, the book’s gender-related themes sometimes feel underdeveloped alongside the narrative’s extensive carnage. Still, Sai’s journey makes for a resonant, absorbing read.
A vigorous yarn that mixes stout swashbuckling with moody reflection.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Let’s hope for more from the next book set in this world.
Sasha Cadell has survived against all odds, holding onto her loved ones and strangers as they take their last breaths—and that’s why she’s known as Death’s Angel.
For six years Sasha has lived in Haven, the underground society built to withstand nuclear war. Since the war, since her family’s deaths, since discovering she doesn’t get sick like everyone else does, Sasha’s life has been full of death and overfull with grief. While working in the Ward, Haven’s limited hospital, she stays with patients as they die. When Tristian Hayes, a unit commander of the Force, ends up as her patient, hanging on for his life, she pleads for him to stay alive. He does—upending her bleak ritual as Death’s Angel. Hoping to forget everything she’s seen and to numb the pain, Sasha leaves the Ward in favor of a role with a pickax, expanding Haven’s tunnels. Tristian, fiercely determined and stunningly stubborn, recruits Sasha to the Force for a vital mission aboveground. The story picks up steam with Sasha’s intense training to become the medic for Tristian’s tightknit unit. Together, they bear the weight of their unit’s survival and all that’s left of humankind. While in training, Sasha struggles to discern friends and enemies, but nothing is as challenging as facing her own demons. In this prequel to her debut novel, Conform (2025), Sullivan tries to accomplish a lot with both the worldbuilding and plot machinations, resulting in a convoluted story and flattened characters. The plot doesn’t have a satisfying payoff, but the romantic tension between Sasha and Tristian will keep readers engaged.
Let’s hope for more from the next book set in this world.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091027
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
