The first installment in a fantasy series that will make fans of Joe Abercrombie’s novels feel right at home.
In Lancour’s fantasy novel, a group of misfits takes on a mystery mission.
This epic sword and sorcery story opens unconventionally, with a job posting: A mysterious parchment has been circulating in the city of Roth, the capital of the Kingdom of Roth, summoning mercenary candidates and swords-for-hire to the Boar’s Tusk Inn for a possibly very profitable venture. A disparate group of people gets wind of this opportunity, including down-on-his-luck fighter Corelan, successful mercenary Lena, Tim Spade (a member of the Psychic’s League), and the formidable Murzahd Churdaku of the Pesh uk Daka Clan; a motley array of fighters looking for adventure and the chance of a much-needed payout. But Andarius, King of Roth, has found out about the job offer and is suspicious of it—the parchment seems to have been issued by Kudakaan, the chief security advisor for Duke Pendor, who is next in line for the throne—which makes King Andarius wonder if this job might somehow imperil his new Treaty of Lords and possibly plunge the kingdom into chaos. He tasks his marshall, Welton D’Mark, to infiltrate an agent into the Boar’s Tusk Inn meeting. But the meeting itself only leads to further mystery: A group is assembled to undertake a mission in the distant district of Devonshire, but they’re given no further details. There follows a series of adventures in which our unlikely heroes get to know each other—and begin to realize there’s more to their job than meets the eye.
This is very familiar, Tolkien-inspired territory: a fantasy world of mountains and forests, medieval-level technology, plenty of taverns, a panoply of exotic races, dangerous enchantments, secret organizations, and, more distantly, the threat of an ancient evil awakening. To an extent, the author embraces cliché; every shadow is “dark,” and every thud is “dull.” But Lancour adds some new life to the old formula, mainly through sharp prose, often laced with wry and very contemporary humor: “Lena watched the men struggle with the armor with an expression exactly halfway between amusement and irritation,” reads one passage, “as she calmly and professionally donned her own dual-layer protection.” Likewise, some of the secondary characters, particularly Thulcandra the Great (into whose realm our heroes march), are amusingly histrionic. Many supporting characters are equally well developed: Welton grudgingly notes that King Andarius “seemed to fill the space with his presence, dominating attention by simply being.” The worldbuilding that’s gone into Roth and its many peoples (particularly the matriarchal Selyr, who keep their menfolk at home making meals for the family) is laid out smoothly and naturally over the course of the novel—expositional info-dumps are rare in these pages. The book is the first in a series, and it very much feels that way; the leisurely pace of much of Lancour’s narrative prepares readers for a “to be continued” ending. The vividly drawn characters (especially the likable loser Corelan, on his path to personal redemption) and well-orchestrated action will keep readers turning the pages. The first installment in a fantasy series that will make fans of Joe Abercrombie’s novels feel right at home.Pub Date: May 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781736656624
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Wandering Bear Creative
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
