A compelling mythology-based fantasy.
When the treacherous Shayla murders King Lohar, she becomes the Queen of Ambarvadi—and none of her subjects feel safe.
According to prophecy, the only ones who can end Queen Shayla’s brutal reign are Gul, the famed Star Warrior, and Cavas, Gul’s lover. Under the guidance of Subodh, a Pashu king dedicated to justice, Gul and Cavas train to use their magic together against Queen Shayla. But before they can hone their craft, Shayla sends her army to attack Gul, Cavas, Subodh, and the Legion of the Star Warrior, a group of women faithful to Gul and Amar, the rightful king of Ambarvadi. Cavas is captured, and Gul and her army are forced to flee through the dangerous desert. While Cavas is imprisoned in Shayla’s castle and tortured, Gul and her army remain determined to fulfill the prophecy and return Ambarvadi to its rightful owner—but can Gul do it without Cavas, who is her magical complement, lover, and best friend? The story is told through alternating perspectives, the most satisfying of which is Shayla’s, whose voice is the most distinctive. The final third of this novel offers the fastest pace and the most reveals. The richly built, South Asian–inspired world will be best appreciated by readers familiar with Hunted by the Sky (2020), the first book in the duology.
A compelling mythology-based fantasy. (map, glossary, author’s note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-31311-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
Fear the reaper(s)…but relish this intelligent and entertaining blend of dark humor and high death tolls.
Death proves impermanent in this sequel to Scythe (2016).
In a world run by the (almost) all-powerful and (almost) omniscient artificial intelligence Thunderhead, only the Honorable Scythes deal permanent death to near-immortal humans. Yet a growing contingent of scythes, feared and flattered by society and operating outside the Thunderhead’s control, are proving rather dishonorable. No longer apprentices, 18-year-olds Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch realize “the scythedom is…high school with murder” as they watch their fellow scythes jockey for power and prestige. Citra now gleans as Scythe Anastasia, questioning the status quo but also opposing the homicidally enthusiastic “new-order” scythes and their dangerous demagogue. Self-appointed as Scythe Lucifer, Rowan hunts other scythes whom he deems corrupt. Meanwhile, the existentially troubled Thunderhead questions its role as both creation and caretaker of humanity, sworn not to take life but fearing that its utopia will otherwise collapse into dystopia. Nationality and race are minimally mentioned—ethnic biases and genocide are considered very gauche—yet a population that defies death, aging, sickness, poverty, and war risks becoming bleakly homogenous, alleviated only by “unsavories” and scythes. This sequel digs deeper into Shusterman’s complex world and complicated characters, offering political maneuvering, fatal conspiracies, and impending catastrophe via a slowly unfurling plot and startling bursts of action.
Fear the reaper(s)…but relish this intelligent and entertaining blend of dark humor and high death tolls. (Science fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7245-7
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
A rewarding, passionate, and beautifully characterized duology closer.
The love between two of Saverio’s heroes is put to the ultimate test in Thiede’s exhilarating follow-up to This Vicious Grace (2022).
After defeating Crollo’s most recent Divorando, Finestra Alessa and Dante, her bodyguard-turned-lover whom she resurrected, look forward to moving on with their lives. But their battle with the scarabei—and Dante’s return to the living afterward—came with a price: Dante has become fully mortal, having lost his healing powers as a ghiotte, and Alessa has harnessed a harrowing ability to enter people’s minds. With the couple’s happily-ever-after remaining out of reach, Alessa’s nightmares and Dante’s troubling visions from Dea manifest when a friend, momentarily possessed, delivers an ominous message from the gods about another war to come. Dante; Alessa; Alessa’s twin brother, Adrick; and the team of Fonti who protected Saverio from the Divorando embark on a journey to find the other ghiotte—hiding in exile after centuries of persecution—and enlist their help to stop an even greater attack from Crollo during the next eclipse. Readers will fall deeper in love with Dante and Alessa, whose individual explorations of identity and self-love amid impending chaos are heart-wrenchingly honest. But it’s the portrayal of their growth as a pair—in a relationship that’s filled with endless flirty banter, mutual understanding, and acceptance of each other’s flaws—that is especially satisfying and wholesome. Characters vary in skin tone; there’s natural representation of queerness and disability.
A rewarding, passionate, and beautifully characterized duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781250794079
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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