A pleasant, if somewhat prolix, mashup of urban fantasy and international espionage.
In Tameem’s fantasy novel, three operatives must infiltrate a hostile foreign land to kidnap the first baby in a thousand years to be born without magic.
Ever since “the Gift”—a magical cataclysm that led to the appearance of monsters as well as elves and other fantasy peoples—civilization on the planet Reath has rebuilt itself around the use of pervasive mystical energy known as Magicka. In the Nation, a country with magically powered technology, the Bureau of Magical Affairs handles threats to the National government and the balance of magic itself. Lila Bakurets, a recently graduated combat mage–turned–desk jockey for the BMA, is summoned for a covert mission. Lila soon learns two undeniable truths: First, that there’s a parallel world, devoid of magic, connected to Reath by means of an ancient, mysterious mirror. Second, a child without magic has been born in the far-off kingdom of Opar, and his existence is unraveling the fabric of reality. In order to quell the growing natural disasters surrounding the child, Lila will need to send him through the mirror to his true home. However, Opar is in a proxy war with the Nation and ruled by the authoritarian Federation. It will be up to Lila, along with elven smuggler Graute and part-giant warrior Battleaxe, to sneak into Opar and abduct the child while avoiding ferocious monsters, military patrols, and a brewing rebellion. Tameem introduces a fun and engaging urban fantasy setting, paying close attention to the ways in which the history, economy, and social prejudices of a world entirely dependent on magic might develop. That said, the prose feel overwritten at times, often dragging out exposition, even in dialogue: “Already, the news is starting to spread through the continent that Opar is under attack from some strange, supernatural force….Over the next month, these disasters will grow in intensity, exponentially, until the entire planet feels them.” Still, it’s an easygoing read, and the three main characters balance one another well. There are also many exciting action scenes that fans of pulpy fantasy (and Dungeons & Dragons) will enjoy.
A pleasant, if somewhat prolix, mashup of urban fantasy and international espionage.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 177
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2020
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
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.
The conclusion to the Villains trilogy asks, In a world where there are no heroes, what does victory really mean?
Schwab’s world is one where violent near-death experiences can engender ExtraOrdinaries, people who come back to life with a new superpowered ability, but lacking empathy, patience, and a variety of other, gentler qualities. In this installment, Victor Vale is becoming increasingly desperate; ever since Sydney Clarke used her power to bring him back from the dead, control over his own ability to cause and dampen pain has been slipping. Sydney herself is chafing against her life on the run with Victor’s protective ex-cellmate, Mitch Turner, and struggling with missing both Victor and her dead sister, Serena, whom she might not be able to resurrect—and definitely shouldn’t. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist, Dr. Gabriel Gray, discovers the existence of ExtraOrdinary people and seeks to harness their power for himself with tragic consequences for himself and many other people. Because the narrative skips around in time, it becomes clear fairly early that a final conflict is looming at EON, a high-tech facility where ExtraOrdinaries are imprisoned and experimented upon. This series has really lived up to its title; while antiheroes and villains have been popular protagonists for quite some time, not every writer is willing to lean into the darkness as hard as Schwab does. Some of her characters were psychopaths even before their near-death traumas, which means they didn’t have much moral fiber to begin with. And even the people who are basically good do a lot of bad and often foolish things when faced with a crisis…and there are a lot of crises. The strength of this series lies in Schwab’s ExtraOrdinary power to make you care for many of these incredibly rash, ethically dubious—some verging on irredeemable—characters anyway. As a result, the story rises above the usual grimdark cynical slog; instead, this is a gripping and nuanced saga with an ending that feels both inevitable and well earned.
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250192233
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
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