A seamless blend of action and character development.
A conflicted hero gets caught up in a battle for his soul during a war between good and evil in T.V. Holiday’s paranormal novel, one in a series.
Travis Holiday (aka The Iron Warrior), God’s appointed savior of humankind, has been recovering from a great personal loss following the events of series-starter Slaying Paradise (2024). He rescues a woman named Crystal Kelly from being assaulted by two men, and they fall into a casual relationship. Crystal tells him about the “Night Night” case—a rising body count is hitting the city of Carnage Coast. Intrigued, Travis visits his old friend, police officer Sgt. Hicks, who partners Travis with Rebecca Walters, the detective assigned to the case. Although Rebecca doesn’t want to hear it, the bite marks on the victims are caused by a vampire—all of the dead bodies (which go on to become more vampires) are the work of the Crimson Queen. She’s the advance scout for her husband, Monsoon, the “Harbinger of the Black Sun” who has been assigned to destroy Carnage Coast by the devil, Luc. Wrestling with his own darkness, Travis (along with an ever-growing group of allies) must find some way to stop the Crimson Queen and Monsoon. Holiday has created a complicated backdrop with the champions of God and Luc fighting over seven battlegrounds, and he smartly maintains focus on Travis; this keeps the story from feeling too chaotic. This series entry brings back winning supporting characters such as former divine champion Mike and his wife, Shannah, while introducing new players (including Travis’ girlfriend, Crystal, and his adopted daughter, Ashley) to help pull Travis back from the abyss. The author spins a twisty narrative, frequently springing surprises just when events seem to be settling down. Holiday’s playfulness regarding vampire myths, such as one character’s use of garlic missiles, is highly enjoyable. This is a fascinating story charting one man’s evolution in the midst of a war.
A seamless blend of action and character development.Pub Date: May 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798992729405
Page Count: 317
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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