Fantasy readers will warmly welcome the colorful cast of this compelling, genre-blending novel.
In Howis’ urban fantasy, a detective investigating the abductions of children discovers a world of mythical beings.
Detective Inspector William Brighton of Scotland Yard gets a possible break in his latest case when the person who allegedly kidnapped a young girl calls Brighton and asks to meet. This brings him to Zaliel, a wizard who demands to know where Brighton’s estranged mother, the author Anna Brighton, is located. Brighton has no idea, nor does he quite believe in Zaliel’s magic, despite the wizard bringing some bronze statues to life. But there is an indisputable link to Brighton’s mother, since Zaliel is a character’s name in Anna’s popular book series, The Magical Wooded World. In the meantime, the very real wizard, who still wants Anna’s location, abducts some other girls, and Brighton’s own daughter goes missing. An interrogation leads the DI to a forested spot where he stumbles onto a world (not unlike the one Anna has written about) populated by fairies, elves, a pegasus, and other fantastical creatures. In this place, Brighton encounters some gun-toting goblins and the hefty explosive they’ve stolen. Howis deftly blends a fantasy narrative with a police procedural; even when the supernatural elements take center stage in the latter half, the story remains grounded in the protagonist’s investigative work. (The kidnapping case, for example, involves infamous gangster Sid Fields, who raises the stakes for Brighton by threatening the DI’s family.) Both the heroes and villains wield magic (like telepathy) as well as more familiar weapons, such as firearms. Brighton is an appealing lead; he has the earmarks of a world-weary law enforcer who’s occasionally roughed up (“What happened to your face?” his wife asks at one point) but is still a devoted family man. Numerous mythical beings are introduced in the novel—a standout is Eddie, a “tall stocky female” with pointy ears. This entry kicks off a series, with the ending unquestionably setting the stage for a sequel.
Fantasy readers will warmly welcome the colorful cast of this compelling, genre-blending novel.Pub Date: March 1, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2026
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
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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