A measured but ravishing supernatural tale overflowing with monsters and robust characters.
A kingdom’s populous seaport becomes a hub of violence in this dark fantasy debut.
After someone murders his wife and son, Dacian metes out swift vengeance. But as the killer he assassinates turns out to be the duke’s son, Dacian hides out in Sarsini, the largest port city in the Sarsinian Kingdom. Among the nearly million citizens are his new friend Panos, a former Kingdom officer, who has laid low ever since witnessing his fellow legionnaires’ horrific deaths, and Kratos, who, on the duke’s behalf, leads the hunt for Dacian. These humans are largely oblivious to the immortal “Ascendant of Shadow,” who drifts from place to place as an “essence” and sways certain mortals to his will. As if Sarsini weren’t a busy enough seaport, one individual uses mysterious stones to open a portal, through which vicious creatures pass. These beasts—“all claws and teeth and insatiable hunger”—attack humans, forcing Panos and others to defend themselves in dangerous battles. De Villiers Graaff deftly packs this epic fantasy with a well-rounded cast and myriad subplots. The author’s regular updates on the various locales (including other Kingdom cities) and changing years (primarily flashbacks) keep the story lucid. But new characters randomly pop up throughout the series opener. De Villiers Graaff doesn’t skimp on developing each one, making for a leisurely paced tale and prompting narrative stretches without Dacian or Panos. On the plus side, it’s all the more startling when these well-defined individuals suddenly die or commit heinous deeds. They’re all immersed in a sublimely detailed atmosphere that rarely lets up—featuring the ever-present Ascendants (though all are not evil), the creatures’ unpredictable and bloody assaults, and rain perpetually showering the land. The ending, following a hectic final act, leaves copious avenues wide open for the sequel to explore.
A measured but ravishing supernatural tale overflowing with monsters and robust characters.Pub Date: April 28, 2023
ISBN: 9798391745457
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 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
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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