A derivative, slow-moving fantasy epic.
A stranger washes ashore in a fantastical realm in Lege’s debut fantasy novel.
Valaric wakes up on an unknown beach, with no memory of where he is or how he got there. Eventually, he recalls that he signed up as a sailor aboard a ship, the Silver Serpent, for the purpose of seeking adventure far from home—and adventure is exactly what he’s found. Valaric is befriended by a furry winged creature he names Whisperwind, and, soon after, by Princess Arabella, who (unlike Whisperwind) can talk and therefore can give Valaric some information about where he’s ended up: Valaric is in the Kingdom of Vindoria. The elders of Vindoria interpret the marks on Valaric’s leg—left by a strange creature he encountered on the beach—as evidence that he has some role to play in the upcoming events of the kingdom. “The elders’ revelations opened a door to a new world of possibilities, unveiling a destiny that had been written in the stars,” narrates Valaric. “I was ready to embrace my role in the unfolding tale of destiny and discovery.” As evil forces threaten to descend upon his newly adopted land, can Valaric rise to the occasion and turn himself into a legend? Lege relates Valaric’s tale with infectious enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the author has a tendency to overwrite, as when Valaric lovingly gathers pieces of driftwood on the beach: “They carried the stories of the ship’s journey and its eventual fate, and now they would serve a new purpose in my quest for survival. As I cradled the wood, I couldn’t help but envision the dance of flames that would soon come to life, casting a warm and protective glow in the darkness.” The attention to sensory detail at the expense of the characters’ psychology makes reading the book feel more like playing through an open-world video game rather than reading a novel (as does the expository dialogue and the constant searching for significant items). Readers may enjoy the novel as a raw vehicle for fantasy tropes, but there’s little here that feels new or exciting.
A derivative, slow-moving fantasy epic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781961387232
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Lege Industries
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2023
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
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
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