A promising start for a planned fantasy series that capably handles both politics and magic.
A middle-grade fantasy adventure story about a gifted boy who trains to be a knight and gets entangled in a murder mystery.
Life is a series of toils for 12-year-old Xandon, an orphan and servant for a wealthy, cruel family in the kingdom of Avondale. His only respite is his warm relationship with animals, including a Berune tiger named Kumata, whose death opens the narrative. Shortly afterward, Xandon sees a wisp, a magical entity that’s said to be a spiritual messenger—and a bad omen for those who see it, and the young boy leaves his farm life behind to train in a guild as a knight, helping him avoid the new compulsory conscription laws passed by the power-hungry Prince Val Haruk. En route to his new life, he meets a young woman named Persephone whose mother, a powerful Archmage of the kingdom of Avondale, sponsored his entry into the guild. The pair become fast friends, and debut author Vonn Beck, in this series starter, uses their relationship to usher readers into the wider world and mythos he’s constructed, as Persephone explains elements of the kingdom and the way magic functions to Xandon, hinting that although the young boy may not be a mage, he’s most certainly “something” unusual. The account of Xandon’s training regimen goes on a bit too long and slows the narrative momentum. However, things pick up after a killing occurs in the guild hall, and the resulting mystery shifts the novel into an intriguing new register as Xandon becomes a suspect. Throughout, the protagonist is a likable character who seems ambitious, bright, and curious, and Vonn Beck unveils the wider political machinations at play in a deft and creative manner. When Xandon meets the wily Prince Val Haruk, who tries to draw the young man into his dark schemes, the story truly hits its stride. Taut action scenes, particularly toward the book’s climax, show off the author’s talent for depicting realistic combat without getting bogged down in clichés.
A promising start for a planned fantasy series that capably handles both politics and magic.Pub Date: July 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7332735-4-1
Page Count: 446
Publisher: Redgate Publishing Guild LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 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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