A grim triumph.
A girl’s arranged marriage turns into a nightmare from which she must escape.
Because of her extraordinary beauty, Valla has been promised in marriage to the mysterious Count Leonid in exchange for supplies for her village. To reach his castle, she must journey through the dreaded Gottyar Wood, rumored to be haunted by magical beings, the yiliksii, or “cursed children of the forest.” She’s accompanied by her brother and his wife, but when a beast attacks them in the forest, clawing Valla’s face and destroying the beauty the Count expects, she falls gravely ill, hovering near death. When she wakes from her fever, she meets with unexpected kindness from Ermo, her betrothed’s brother, that stands in stark contrast to the heartlessness of the Count himself. Both the man and his castle are nothing like she imagined: They’re dark, desolate, and steeped in cruelty. Joined in the castle only by the Count’s sister, Yulnia; sinister physician Kiril, who’s Yulnia’s confidant; a handful of servants; and an unimaginable, foreboding presence, Valla begins to unravel the castle’s mysteries. As she does, something stirs within her, calling her to violence and awakening with every secret she uncovers. Well-crafted and deeply unsettling, this folktale-influenced horror novel will captivate fans of the genre, but it’s not for the faint of heart. Valla’s character is richly developed, her transformation from a helpless sacrifice to something far more formidable unfolding with haunting intensity. Main characters are cued white.
A grim triumph. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780063284845
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
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