An inventive quest tale with colorful concepts that take center stage.
A young man embarks on a heroic mission after the woman he loves vanishes in this fantasy debut.
In the Lowland valley, where it’s always autumn, is the village of Fogland. Fleex of the Hatters clan goes to meet his love, Fin, and reveal his feelings to her. Like all Hatters, Fleex wears a special cap of tentacles that move to reflect the wearer’s inner self. His tentacles form red hearts, and so his nickname is “Roseheart.” But while sitting with Fin in a cafe, Fleex learns that she’s upset. She has started remembering her life before entering Fogland—and those who tell more than one person their remembered past will be whisked away by fog forever. Fleex listens intently about Fin’s two suitors in Richland: the poor Dane and the wealthy Chaz. Unfortunately, the Gossiper, a pumpkin-shaped creature, eavesdrops above them, causing fog to surround Fin. Meanwhile, in the Nebula of the Gods, Fog Almighty sends Flip and Flop, two tiny Greenies, to help Fleex, the chosen one, “walk through the door to Other World” and ultimately restore balance to the Universe. Also at work is Master Lou, a cosmic collector who’s become greedy. Can Fleex bring Hope back to the Confused World, return the Goddess Afafa to the Enchanted World, and reunite with Fin? Behm unleashes an imaginative whirlwind in her exploration of grand themes like faith, destiny, and love. At one point, Afafa asks: “What is a god if nobody believes in them?” Fantasy fans will encounter things utterly new to the page, like the octofruit, a pineapplelike plant, loyal to its master, that has edible innards and spidery legs that help it escape tough spots. Violence is minimal except for a scene in which a deadly musical instrument induces “fits” and people’s “faces were twisted and deformed” and “foam came out of their mouths.” The only drawback to the author’s storytelling is that many fantastical elements pile up on the narrative roadside, barely used (the “Magic Limitation Act,” for example). The book includes gorgeous color illustrations by Netsova.
An inventive quest tale with colorful concepts that take center stage.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-31338-2
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2021
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
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.
Kova offers a fantasy novel set beyond the Nightgale Mountains in the walled fortress of Vinguard where citizens live in fear of the next deadly dragon attack.
Vinguard’s residents are always on guard against the threat of dragons, but they must watch more than just the skies. Living among them, hiding in plain sight, are the “dragon cursed”—people who, at any moment, may transform into terrifying winged beasts and destroy the city from within. For most of Isola Thaz’s life, she’s been told she’s the reincarnated savior of Vinguard. But just as she begins to suspect that she may be dragon cursed, she’s tossed into Vinguard’s Tribunal—a contest in which every 18-year-old competes in tests of skill and might to separate loyal citizens from the dragon cursed. As she’s sequestered for this rite of passage, Isola hesitantly allies herself with a handsome fellow competitor named Lucan. However, as the teens face such trials as fire-breathing automatons (“The silver beast comes to life with a swing. Its claws shear through the dim light”), starvation, and actual dragons while unarmed, Isola begins to feel that Vinguard’s traditions come at a cost that’s too steep. Meanwhile, Vicar Darius, Lucan’s father and the leader of Vinguard’s shadowy theocracy, the Creed, is desperate to take Isola’s powers for himself—and, to that end, he puts her into increasingly tortuous situations. However, neither he, nor Isola’s teenage rivals, are very compelling antagonists; instead, they come across as caricatures of cruelty. Still, the novel is fast-paced and action-oriented with a punchy prose that prioritizes movement over fantasy aesthetics. A sometimes-fraught romance between Isola and Lucan slowly blooms, but Isola’s relationship with her family forms the true emotional core of the narrative. Although the worldbuilding in fairly simple, the story sets up a massive mystery that promises big payoffs in a potential future installment.
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781649377838
Page Count: 448
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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