A fantasy that’s full of colorful ideas but needs streamlining.
In this epic-fantasy debut, a young wizard goes on a quest to prevent the return of a dark cosmic force.
Eighteen-year-old Uwe is a wizard-in-training in the realm of Hopen. Six months ago, his wizard parents, Charring and Annabelle, died while fighting the Evilore, a seemingly invincible “force of nature.” Now Uwe continues the battle alongside his great-great-great-great-grandfather, a wizard named Edam, who knows that he must sacrifice himself to defeat the Evilore. Edam indeed perishes in victory, bequeathing to Uwe the potent staff of U and his book of wisdom. Unknown to Uwe, an evil wizard named Vector has escaped from the prison where Evilore placed him 1,000 years ago. He plans to help Uwe become powerful enough to destroy the lingering remains of the Evilore’s spirit and then seize power for himself. Uwe merges the staff of U and Evilore’s staff of death to re-create the long-lost, powerful staff of Ail. Next, as Edam’s book instructs, he meets with the king of thieves to acquire the first of many magical artifacts. The king, Aramaan, agrees to help, but only if Uwe marries his daughter, Amanill, a dragon mistress. Masia mixes various elements from classic fantasy, such as dragons and elves, with his own unique creations. Uwe’s extended quest will feel very familiar to those who play role-playing and video games, as the hero travels the world of Arden, visiting shrines and collecting numerous items, including the “greaves of stamina” and the “boots of speed.” Still, Masia packs his narrative with reliably startling descriptions: “The Hypothalami resembled flying bats, only with enlarged heads that looked like pulsating brains.” The story, however, mostly tells readers what happens in expository bricks of text rather than letting the tale unfold through the characters’ actions. Sometimes the author’s imagination reveals truly strange details, as well, as when Uwe “licked his lips as if waiting to taste the magic...and his lips tasted good, like orange sherbet.” Overall, though, this hero’s quest has heart, particularly in its depiction of the love between Uwe and Amanill, but it feels conceptually tangled and top-heavy.
A fantasy that’s full of colorful ideas but needs streamlining.Pub Date: April 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64426-168-2
Page Count: 426
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2020
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
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
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