A gripping and swiftly paced mystical tale primed for a sequel.
Two young men in Africa confront a strange, frightening world of sorcery and spirits in this fantasy debut.
It’s been Kobenan Jean Marc’s dream to work with S-cell, the covert organization that “chases sorcerers.” Now, the 20-year-old African, the main analyst for the president of Côte d’Esperance, has his chance. The president enlists Kobenan to investigate a case with S-cell’s head, Biafle Herbert. It involves the death of a White minister in Brazil—from a heart attack that some attribute to African sorcery. Biafle and Kobenan start at Sector 0, a prison housing “the deadliest sorcerers, djinns, and lost spirits.” Kobenan is convinced one inmate, who predicted the minister’s death, is somehow connected to the possible murder. The investigators’ only option, it seems, is getting the prisoner’s help—by breaking him out of Sector 0. At the same time, 17-year-old African student Kouadio Joel has for years observed creatures that no one else can see. When one day he spots some of these beings fixated on a fellow classmate, he intervenes. These vicious creatures apparently retaliate by attacking Joel and his family at home and abducting a loved one. His search for this family member takes Joel to a forest teeming with otherworldly entities and spirits harnessing incredible powers. Kobenan and Biafle, with the prison escapee in tow, wind up in the forest as well, looking for a formidable sorcerer who may have answers. Though specifics are murky, a war is brewing, and Joel’s surreal new road ultimately intersects with the S-cell investigators’ path.
Yessoh’s riveting series opener moves at a steady clip. Even when scenes linger on the environment, readers continually learn more about the characters and the developing plot. For example, as Kobenan slowly walks through Sector 0 for the first time, he sees bizarre creatures (both inmates and guards) inside a seemingly inescapable prison. The novel’s action comes in exhilarating bursts, from Kobenan and Biafle’s fleeing alarmingly fast “prison dogs” to Joel’s facing off against ferocious beings. This furthermore showcases illustrative prose: “The hand on his face is not budging. Joel sharply pulls and jolts his head from the harsh grip. After a frenetic drag on the large shadow over him, Joel stares before him with wide eyes and disturbed, shortened gasps. There lies the fetish of wood, inert, devoid of red eyes, posing with its extended hand like a statue.” Kobenan and Joel, whose narrative perspectives alternate, are amiable leads; they selflessly confront danger to help others. Many supporting characters flaunt their unpredictability, as sorcerers, djinns, and spirits are both good and evil. In the same vein, the story gradually introduces mysteries. Beyond the death in Brazil, Kobenan and Joel may have surprising abilities of their own. But parts of the tale are intentionally vague, and the author leaves several unresolved questions by the end, presumably saving them for the sequel. While it’s disappointing certain characters’ fates remain unresolved, readers’ anticipation for the second installment will surely soar. The uncredited, black-and-white artwork throughout features myriad details, including some characters against plain backdrops with serene facial expressions.
A gripping and swiftly paced mystical tale primed for a sequel.Pub Date: April 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77755-941-0
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Library and Archive Canada
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
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
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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