The entertaining start of an epic supernatural series.
A witty urban-fantasy debut.
Demonic Enforcement Agent Max, along with his Personal Spiritual Assistant, Kate, works in the demonic-intervention industry: They find and destroy dangerous supernatural artifacts, for which they’re paid in karma. Kate is known as a demi—a half demon indentured to Max, a full demon, as punishment for her sins against him before she died. Luckily for Kate, Max is as ethical and kind as demons come, and after more than 300 years, he’s managed to adjust to their partnership. Max has been tasked with finding and destroying another important icon—the Minsk Homunculus—that for generations has bound the Woodsen witches to the evil archdemon Roxashael. Now that Roxashael’s consort, Rose Woodsen, has died, her legacy will pass on to her daughter, Felicity. But, as with all the Woodsen women before Felicity, Roxashael has been waiting for the day he can claim her and the Minsk Homunculus for himself. Now the only question is who will get there first. Despite the author’s straightforward writing style, a few of the plot twists are a bit too twisty, occasionally causing some confusion. Loebel’s reliance on dialogue can be distracting at times, and it can be difficult to keep track of the myriad of spells, curses, rules and double crossings as well as the complex demon hierarchy. Though Felicity Woodsen is at the novel’s center, the vile archdemon Roxashael shines brightest, especially when his villainy goes a bit overboard due to his abhorrent habit of having sex with toddlers. Despite Loebel’s tendency to hover too long in one place, which bogs down the plot’s tempo, she commendably weaves together an engaging urban fantasy.
The entertaining start of an epic supernatural series.Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479308361
Page Count: 360
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.
A young man helps the living and dead meet one last time under the full moon.
Japanese bestseller Tsujimura’s quiet novel follows a mysterious teenager known as the go-between, who can set up meetings between the living and the dead. An introverted woman wants to meet the television star with whom she has a parasocial relationship. A cynical eldest son hopes to visit his mother about their family business. A devastated high schooler fears she is responsible for her friend’s tragic death. And, finally, a middle-aged workaholic finally feels ready to find out if his fiancée, who disappeared seven years ago, is dead. Each character has a uniquely personal reason for seeking out the deceased, including closure and forgiveness, as well as selfishness and fear. Imbued with magic and the perfect amount of gravitas, there are many rules around these meetings: Only the living can make requests and they can only have one meeting per lifetime. Additionally, the dead can deny a meeting—and, most importantly, once the dead person has met with a living person, they will be gone forever. With secrets shared, confessions made, and regrets cemented, these meetings lead to joy and sorrow in equal measure. In the final chapter, all of these visits—and their importance in the go-between’s life—begin to gracefully converge. As we learn the go-between’s identity, we watch him struggle with the magnitude and gravity of his work. At one point, he asks: “When a life was lost, who did it belong to? What were those left behind meant to do with the incomprehensible, inescapable loss?” Though the story can be repetitive, Tsujimura raises poignant and powerful questions about what the living owe not only the dead, but each other; and how we make peace with others and ourselves in the wake of overwhelming grief.
A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781668099834
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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