A compelling coming-of-age fantasy, despite some pacing problems.
In Hunsaker’s fantasy novel, the first in a series, a group of young initiates must brave a deadly magical cavern to gain the powers needed to protect their island.
Set on Avskild—a magical island protected from a world crawling with monsters—the narrative follows a group of teens preparing to earn their powers and defend their home. At 18, every student at Castle Vrodrmust enter Vanalf, a mysterious, dangerous cave that either grants them the magical abilities necessary to become a “Grimnir” or doesn’t let them leave at all. Hallik, a natural leader and determined overachiever, refuses to wait another year to earn his magic and find out what happened to his missing father. When the island’s protective shield is breached by “draugr,” undead beings formed by evil and hate, the safety of everyone within its walls is threatened (“a corpse stood before them, sallow, water-logged skin hanging from its body, eyes pale white, shattered teeth protruding behind tight lips that barely existed”). Hallik and a motley group set out to restore the shield before the island is overwhelmed by the opportunistic monsters—but first, they must brave the depths of Vanalf. Hallik is a skilled, responsible, and driven protagonist motivated not only by duty to his land, but also by the desire to prove himself. He sets himself apart through his quiet leadership—serving water to tired students, keeping pace with the slowest runners, and refusing to let his ambition overshadow his loyalty. The novel’s first half focuses heavily on training, lessons, and worldbuilding, which sometimes makes the story’s length feel like a bit of a slog. The action doesn’t really pick up until later, which might test the patience of readers eager for the real danger to begin. Overall gripping and heartfelt, this first installment in Hunsaker’s series is rooted in the quiet power of those willing to lead before they’re asked to. Hallik’s journey is only beginning, but it’s already one worth following.
A compelling coming-of-age fantasy, despite some pacing problems.Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9798987518281
Page Count: 444
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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