Magical characters navigate curious lands in an absorbing series installment.
A human mage searches for a long-lost heir as part of mission to free his imprisoned faerie love in Nielsen’s fantasy sequel.
Months after the events of The Claiming (2023), Summer faerie princess Lady Dew Drop, nicknamed “Dewy,” remains a captive of the Winter Fae. They’re confining her to their Winter Court until Spense Ferrous, an apprentice mage in the human kingdom Telridge, tracks down a missing Heir—the child of exiled Princess Snow. It’s a seemingly impossible task that Spense willingly takes on, as he and Dewy have fallen for each other. His plan is straightforward: Find the faerie Oracles and ask them where the Heir is. As this involves trekking the dangerous faerie lands, Spense travels with his half-brother Crown Prince Dirk and other Telridgians to the mystical region of the Between. Meanwhile, Dewy works with the unexpectedly accommodating Winter King Lumine to develop her water magic. If she manages to uncover a link between water and powerful blood magic, it could change everything. Nielsen ably depicts the various environments; brisk cold and “winter-starved pines and fir trees” surround Dewy, while “bent and stretched” trunks and branches form archways and corridors in the Summer faeries’ palace. It’s a solid backdrop for a breezy story teeming with modern dialogue and descriptions, including a “royally pissed off” Dirk. The two lovers recall Romeo and Juliet, but the author keenly expands upon their seemingly star-crossed status. Much of the narrative, for example, is about acceptance; for example, Spense, as the son of King Ferrous and Head Cook Cait, isn’t treated as well as Dirk is. There are also profound moments that focus on understanding others’ cultures: Winter faeries struggle to learn human customs, and Winter and Summer Fae are virtual opposites in many ways, including in their attitudes toward meat-eating. The strong-willed, ever-positive Dewy is a standout in a vibrant cast, even if she pines for Spense, who comes across as incompetent at times.
Magical characters navigate curious lands in an absorbing series installment.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781509255450
Page Count: 404
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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