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FOUL DAYS

This gritty, atmospheric fantasy brings folklore to life, but a lack of cohesion won’t get past astute readers.

A young witch fights to regain the powers she lost in order to save herself, and her city, from the very real monsters that haunt them.

On New Year’s Eve, while the rest of the world celebrates, the walled city of Chernograd waits for monsters. The monsters of Dimova’s debut fantasy, rooted in Slavic folklore, enter this world during the 12 days between the New Year and Saint Yordan’s day, when the veil between worlds is thinnest. For a witch like Kosara, the arrival of the Foul Days means risking her life fighting monsters like upirs, samodivas, yudas, and karakonjuls to protect her city. As the monsters descend, Kosara distracts herself by playing a hand of cards with a stranger from Belograd, the city beyond the wall. Crossing the wall illegally during the Foul Days is highly suspect, but the stranger states his reason: He wants Kosara’s shadow, the source of her power as a witch. This is a bet Kosara would never take—until tonight. Outside, the Zmey, known as the Tsar of Monsters, begins to call for her. Every year, he comes. Every year, Kosara evades him—but not without trauma. This year, he vows she won’t escape. Trapped and desperate to survive, she surrenders her shadow. In return, the stranger hastily transports her outside the wall. Safe in Belograd, Kosara finds her mind spinning. Why did the stranger want her shadow? How did he possess magic strong enough to transport her to safety? How did the Zmey find her so quickly? While most Chernograd citizens would give anything to cross the wall, Kosara needs a way back in. Without her shadow, she’s nothing, and while the Zmey wants her, she will never be truly safe. In Kosara’s attempts to get home, she finds Asen, a Belogradian cop from the Supernatural Investigations Unit, looking for the stranger with her shadow. Together, their adventure takes them across the wall and beyond as they fight every monster on the Witch and Warlock Association’s record as well as their own internal demons. The worldbuilding keeps the pages turning, as the fun of being immersed in moody Chernograd with ghosts in bathrooms and monsters lurking on corners distracts from thin plotting. Kosara calls herself a mediocre witch, which makes her character likable, but also provides a convenient excuse for the way she gets into a myriad of regrettable scenarios. Readers looking for more solid backstory—Why are the monsters only in Chernograd? What of the supernatural exists elsewhere?—can hold out hope for Book 2.

This gritty, atmospheric fantasy brings folklore to life, but a lack of cohesion won’t get past astute readers.

Pub Date: June 25, 2024

ISBN: 9781250877314

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Tor

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024

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FOURTH WING

From the Empyrean series , Vol. 1

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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IRON FLAME

From the Empyrean series , Vol. 2

Unrelenting, and not in a good way.

A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.

Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.

Unrelenting, and not in a good way.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023

ISBN: 9781649374172

Page Count: 640

Publisher: Red Tower

Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024

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