Disorganized worldbuilding and a cloudy timeline distract from the potency of this fantasy novel’s core romance.
In this romantic fantasy novel, a damaged cat “beastial” finds a second chance at love with a talented healer.
As the novel opens, Crow is frustrated with his fellow beastials. Trained by his mentor and adopted father, Whisker, to one day become town leader, Crow chafes against the constant expectations and pressures of his role. While his know-it-all sister Sparrow has found her place in their plains community, Crow feels lost to his own quick temper and the demands of his society. When Crow, tasked with minding a group of young kits, falls from a tree and breaks his arm attempting to rescue a lost doll, Whisker and Sparrow criticize him for his selfish recklessness. Crow is then sent to see Fern, the best medic in the North. Fern’s father, Cyrus, is the leader of the forest beastials, and Whisker has always warned against their foolish customs and untrustworthy ways. Despite Crow’s cold and cruel attitude, Fern treats him with unflagging kindness and patience. As they fish, drink tea, share stories, and heal local beastials, Crow finds that not only is his arm mending, but the pain in his spirit and soul, stemming from his lost mate, is receding too. Just as Crow and Fern grow closer, however, Crow unwittingly awakens the spirit of Dieffen. This vicious, bloodthirsty beastial threatens not only Fern’s community and Crow’s town, but their entire world. Fern and Crow must stick together, lest they lose not just a chance at a future together, but everything and everyone they love.
Fern stands out in this text as a compelling love interest for Crow; her selfless, giving nature and warm wisdom are exemplary, and her innate sweetness mellows out Crow’s gruffer nature. In a satisfying contrast, Crow’s steely nature empowers Fern to set boundaries and advocate for her own needs. The gradual growth of their connection is patiently developed and drawn out. The author presents the natural world almost as another character, with attention focused engagingly on how beastial communities adapt to and create homes within icy, desert-stricken, mountainous, and forest-dappled terrains. However, it remains unclear both how larger beastial society functions and where the roots of the broader rivalries and discontent stem from. Dieffen’s rage lacks a compelling motivation outside of sheer bloodlust. This lack of clarity lessens the impact of the book’s cluttered, climactic battle scenes. The slow reveal of the hidden traumas that have shaped Crow’s negative attitude may leave readers wondering why his community and Fern are so tolerant of his derisive words, unveiled insults, and intolerant, selfish behaviors. Without an earlier grounding in Crow’s warm (if hidden) heart and the pain he suffered as a young mate, readers may struggle to invest in the earlier moments of Crow’s journey toward healing. The voices of these beastial beings blend together in dialogue and fail to differentiate themselves through layered, developed perspectives on the key events and relationships that shape the novel’s structure. The rules of how magic functions and fits within this world remain unclear as well.
Disorganized worldbuilding and a cloudy timeline distract from the potency of this fantasy novel’s core romance.Pub Date: March 2, 2026
ISBN: 9798869277282
Page Count: 378
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2026
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
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.
A fantasy adventure with a sometimes-biting wit.
Tress is an ordinary girl with no thirst to see the world. Charlie is the son of the local duke, but he likes stories more than fencing. When the duke realizes the two teenagers are falling in love, he takes Charlie away to find a suitable wife—and returns with a different young man as his heir. Charlie, meanwhile, has been captured by the mysterious Sorceress who rules the Midnight Sea, which leaves Tress with no choice but to go rescue him. To do that, she’ll have to get off the barren island she’s forbidden to leave, cross the dangerous Verdant Sea, the even more dangerous Crimson Sea, and the totally deadly Midnight Sea, and somehow defeat the unbeatable Sorceress. The seas on Tress’ world are dangerous because they’re not made of water—they’re made of colorful spores that pour down from the world’s 12 stationary moons. Verdant spores explode into fast-growing vines if they get wet, which means inhaling them can be deadly. Crimson and midnight spores are worse. Ships protected by spore-killing silver sail these seas, and it’s Tress’ quest to find a ship and somehow persuade its crew to carry her to a place no ships want to go, to rescue a person nobody cares about but her. Luckily, Tress is kindhearted, resourceful, and curious—which also makes her an appealing heroine. Along her journey, Tress encounters a talking rat, a crew of reluctant pirates, and plenty of danger. Her story is narrated by an unusual cabin boy with a sharp wit. (About one duke, he says, “He’d apparently been quite heroic during those wars; you could tell because a great number of his troops had died, while he lived.”) The overall effect is not unlike The Princess Bride, which Sanderson cites as an inspiration.
Engrossing worldbuilding, appealing characters, and a sense of humor make this a winning entry in the Sanderson canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781250899651
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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