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THE CHAMPION

An evocative, almost dreamlike mix of dark fantasy and moving reality.

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A boy who can fly undertakes an incredible journey to save his dying mother in this fantasy.

Twelve-year-old Calvin Khumalo, the son of an industrious single mother, has a secret. He can fly. In vivid, soulful language—the hallmark of this unusual tale—Rajah conveys the euphoria Calvin feels as he soars into the sky before sunup and sits cross-legged in the air, watching the sky change “from the deep blue of dawn to a pinkish bronze. The sun wraps its arms around everything in the chilly morning: the mountains, the school, even the dairy farms.” Calvin’s ability to fly came to him in tandem with nightmares about being trapped and threatened by dark forces. It also led him to his mentor in the mountains, Athwall, a benign, 1,000-year-old creature of myth with shaggy blue fur and fangs, who tells Calvin he has been chosen to save the world. But all Calvin wants to do is to save his mother. Diagnosed with terminal heart disease, she hasn’t enough time to wait for a transplant. (A compassionate doctor and realistic information about the function of body and brain—saved from textbook dryness by Calvin’s sense of wonder—appear to be grounded in the South African author’s own experience as a pediatrician.) Athwall tells Calvin of a heart that resides inside the ancient, magical Heart Tree on a mountaintop guarded by a savage beast and that they must confront other terrible dangers (described in chilling detail) in order to reach it. As Calvin, his weakening mother, and Athwall undertake this perilous quest, the boy wrestles with a moral dilemma. If he takes the heart from the Heart Tree to save his mother, he will kill the tree and all life that springs from it. If he doesn’t, his mother will die. He is haunted, too, by horrific nightmares about what fate awaits him when he meets the tree’s demon protector. (While not gratuitous, these visions contain graphic violence that could disturb younger readers.) Although there are hints, the major twist that comes is as touching as it is unexpected. Readers should have a box of tissues nearby.

An evocative, almost dreamlike mix of dark fantasy and moving reality.

Pub Date: July 2, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-62-094113-6

Page Count: 204

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2021

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  • New York Times Bestseller

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ALCHEMISED

Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.

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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

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FOURTH WING

From the Empyrean series , Vol. 1

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

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