Robust worldbuilding and a millennia-spanning romance make this fantasy series finale a compelling read.
This final volume of an epic fantasy trilogy spans thousands of years and features a multitude of characters.
Julia O’Brien and her husband, Domhnall, are holed up in a cabin in Saskatchewan, hiding out while they lick their wounds. Ronan Gallagher, the man Dom thought of as a brother and someone Julia considered family, betrayed them and is now working with their greatest enemy—Marcus Cassius Longinus. Cassius has been alive for over a millennium, and Julia and Dom have spent countless lives trying to defeat him. Julia, the victim of a curse, is reborn every time she dies. Dom chose to be cursed so he could regenerate and find her again. At one point, Julia recalls: “To him, our love had always been a cause worth dying for.” Now, after so many rebirths, she’s noticed that her memories of her past lives have been deteriorating. There’s something about this life cycle that might end the curse. Julia wants to have a normal life with Dom—to start a family—and the only way to do that is to ensure Cassius’ demise. Julia must develop and fully control her magic. With the help of her friends, found family, and a collection of Druids, Wielders, and Knaves, she must annihilate the evil Cassius and his army of Wraiths. In this third volume, Gateley delivers the epic ending that readers are surely clamoring for. The novel relies heavily on the audience being familiar with the previous books, since characters are known by multiple names and titles that are used interchangeably. For example, Cassius is also called “the Sorcerer” and “the Child of Rome,” with Julia and Dom having similar titles. But despite the work’s heavy backstory and use of multiple names, Gateley skillfully weaves an enthralling tale starring remarkable players on a dangerous mission. The author’s fantasy world is rich and varied, with different types of magic users, including Druids, Bearers, and Wielders, to name a few. These elements, combined with Julia and Dom’s engrossing love story, will please fantasy and romance fans alike.
Robust worldbuilding and a millennia-spanning romance make this fantasy series finale a compelling read.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 289
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2024
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
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
