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
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.
Kova offers a fantasy novel set beyond the Nightgale Mountains in the walled fortress of Vinguard where citizens live in fear of the next deadly dragon attack.
Vinguard’s residents are always on guard against the threat of dragons, but they must watch more than just the skies. Living among them, hiding in plain sight, are the “dragon cursed”—people who, at any moment, may transform into terrifying winged beasts and destroy the city from within. For most of Isola Thaz’s life, she’s been told she’s the reincarnated savior of Vinguard. But just as she begins to suspect that she may be dragon cursed, she’s tossed into Vinguard’s Tribunal—a contest in which every 18-year-old competes in tests of skill and might to separate loyal citizens from the dragon cursed. As she’s sequestered for this rite of passage, Isola hesitantly allies herself with a handsome fellow competitor named Lucan. However, as the teens face such trials as fire-breathing automatons (“The silver beast comes to life with a swing. Its claws shear through the dim light”), starvation, and actual dragons while unarmed, Isola begins to feel that Vinguard’s traditions come at a cost that’s too steep. Meanwhile, Vicar Darius, Lucan’s father and the leader of Vinguard’s shadowy theocracy, the Creed, is desperate to take Isola’s powers for himself—and, to that end, he puts her into increasingly tortuous situations. However, neither he, nor Isola’s teenage rivals, are very compelling antagonists; instead, they come across as caricatures of cruelty. Still, the novel is fast-paced and action-oriented with a punchy prose that prioritizes movement over fantasy aesthetics. A sometimes-fraught romance between Isola and Lucan slowly blooms, but Isola’s relationship with her family forms the true emotional core of the narrative. Although the worldbuilding in fairly simple, the story sets up a massive mystery that promises big payoffs in a potential future installment.
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781649377838
Page Count: 448
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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