Lyrical, evocative, part poem, part prose—not to be missed by anyone, especially fans of historical fantasy and folktale.
The dying Moon goddess enlists two young warriors to kill her tyrannical sons and return her bones to the sea.
“This is a love story to its blade-dented bone.” In the Old Country, when a warrior frees the Moon from the sky, she falls to Earth and grants him a wish—sons. Each son is imbued with god gifts and the title of emperor, but the people are left without a moon to light their way. The tyrannical royals eventually imprison the Moon, angering her lover, the Water, who curses the land with drought. But the dying Moon has a plan: She gives the last emperor triplets—the Three Terrors—and spreads the god gifts among them, weakening them. Eventually she convinces Jun, the First Terror’s favorite son and most ruthless killer, to free her and right both their wrongs. Upon escape, they meet one-armed Keema, a young warrior “of poor fortune” working at Tiger Gate. The people are rebelling against the royals, and Keema has pledged to deliver a sacred spear to Cmdr. Araya’s kin. The Moon also enlists Keema’s help despite Jun’s protests. Between battling the Terrors, avenging gods and goddesses, fighting for the people, and fighting one another, Keema and Jun fall in love. If they can survive long enough to return the Moon to the Water’s embrace, they’ll end the Terrors’ reign and defeat both drought and darkness. Jimenez deftly weaves past, present, and future into one seamless narrative. Writing in first, second, and third person, Jimenez makes sure “you” are part of this story, too, casting you as Araya’s descendent and current keeper of the spear. You’ve been called to the Inverted Theater—built by the Moon and Water for liaisons long before the Terrors were born. Now the theater calls dreamers together to experience their shared history. You’re both Jimenez’s reader and “you,” who’s listening to and remembering your lola (grandmother in Tagalog) tell tales of the Old Country when you are/were a child. In your lonely, adult present, your dreaming spirit watches those tales reenacted by dancers in the Inverted Theater. Yet you’re also living the stories as each character—from bit-player peasant to powerful goddess. You experience Jun’s PTSD, Keema’s disability—never explained, simply a part of him—and all the guilt, anger, pain, fear, joy, desire, and love that make Jimenez’s tapestry so beautiful. It’s both like nothing and everything you’ve ever read: a tale made from the threads that weave the world, and all of us, together.
Lyrical, evocative, part poem, part prose—not to be missed by anyone, especially fans of historical fantasy and folktale.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-15659-9
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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 delightful, genre-defying debut.
Historical horror? Dark fantasy? Queer romance? All of the above!
“I was hundreds of years old before I ever met him, but that day we were both young.” While visiting his Florence offices in 2013, attorney Sebastian Grave unearths a bloodstained lambskin glove that belonged to a past lover—a man he’d met in the 18th century. Nestled within this frame narrative is a tale of desire, werewolves, and the French Revolution. In telling his story, Sebastian introduces Sarmodel, the demon with whom he shares a body, and a succubus named Livia contributes chapters in which Joan of Arc, her notorious ally Gilles de Rais, and the archangel Michael all make appearances. First-time novelist Sullivan wields the tools of multiple genres deftly, but what really makes this book special is its central character. Sebastian has powerful magic at his disposal, but he’s also human enough to fall hard for a hot young nobleman. When Sebastian goes hunting for the Beast of Gévaudan, he’s not looking for adventure. The first time, it’s because he can’t resist Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne. The second time, it’s because he dreams of a reunion with his love—even though he knows this is a hopeless wish against the advice of Sarmodel. Using Sebastian as a narrator keeps things light, in part because he has a droll, contemporary voice and in part because it makes the worldbuilding feel natural. There are footnotes, but there are no infodumps. The fact that Sebastian doesn’t know exactly what he is sets the tone for storytelling that leaves a great deal unexplained while providing enough detail to keep the reader engaged. Deploying Sarmodel as a sort of alter ego and allowing Livia to offer her own perspective on Sebastian also adds both depth and charm.
A delightful, genre-defying debut.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781250362766
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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