An epic fantasy that successfully doubles as an intricately woven tale of grief, survival, and friendship.
In Taylor’s fantasy novel, a jaded young woman living in a world of magic is forced to pay off her family’s debts by carrying out a dangerous mission.
In the realm of Telluth, a young woman named Annalyn “Anna” Hale loses all hope after the tragic death of her beloved father. With her mother forced into debt after his passing, Anna sells herself out to the government’s troops. Despite her inexperience and limited fighting ability, Anna is soon specially requested by those in charge to embark on a secret reconnaissance mission: The savage Vasbrute have recently violated the land’s peace treaty, and she—alongside her fellow soldier and newfound friend, Pyran, and a handful of other recruits—must secretly follow their trail into the forest to determine if official military intervention will be necessary. What seems like a dangerous but straightforward mission soon devolves into a tangled web of hidden political machinations, unexpected alliances, and the unveiling of a sinister plot that could change everything. The only thing that can save the group is Anna’s newfound ability to unleash the power of the Son of Death himself—a power she must learn to wield herself. Taylor has crafted a vivid and imaginative world crammed full of favorite fantasy beings, from elves, dwarves, and mages to necromancers and monstrous beasts that roam the forest: “His dark eyes flashed red in the sunlight…He crossed his arms and angrily bared his teeth, exposing pointed white teeth that fit together like a dog’s.” It is also LGBTQ+ friendly, with Taylor subtly working in a same-sex relationship and a character who is referred to with they/them pronouns with no fanfare. While the pacing can drag a bit toward the midway point of the 500-plus-page story, this is but a small blip in an otherwise mesmerizing novel that manages to balance plenty of action with deep and thoughtful character-building.
An epic fantasy that successfully doubles as an intricately woven tale of grief, survival, and friendship.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798999107619
Page Count: 568
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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
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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