A woman’s striking metamorphosis and pain drive this compelling debut.
A sex worker with a tragic past discovers her inner strength and self-worth in Wright’s debut fantasy novel.
In a fantastical, sprawling, rural land divided into kingdoms of clans composed of divergent races, a young woman named Klara provides drink, sustenance, and sexual services to the patrons of an alehouse. One evening, she’s offered an unlikely opportunity by a tall, dark-haired foreigner. Waywyrd, a wizard, seeks a cook to join a traveling party, and he convinces her to accept his offer. Months pass before his return, and Klara’s dream of escape from her hated circumstances fades, but Waywyrd and his party, members of the Keltoi clan, show up as she is busy servicing a particularly loathsome customer. Her fortunes soon improve. The Keltoi appreciate having someone who can serve a tasty meal after months of enduring their own cooking. Eventually, Klara becomes thought of as the seventh member of the Keltoi party. As Karn puts it, “I don’t think of you as a whore that I could pay for pleasure as I wanted it. You’re a member of the company and I’d like to think we’re friends.” But being the only female in the group creates complications; Thorn and his nephew Karn both take a shine to Klara. She discovers that they are both royalty in need of future heirs. Unfortunately, there are those in the party who would sabotage any relationship between a Kelt and a commoner. In her debut novel, Wright does a masterful job of portraying Klara’s journey. The Klara that the reader first meets is guarded and cut off from emotion. After she joins the Keltoi, she begins to open her heart to the possibilities of family and love, though her growing trust proves to be dangerous. Wright also ably develops the rough-hewn Keltoi into distinctive, enjoyable characters. Wright has created an enthralling new series lead, so here’s hoping Klara hangs on until the second book.
A woman’s striking metamorphosis and pain drive this compelling debut.Pub Date: June 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781957910000
Page Count: 353
Publisher: Hart & Hind Publishing Company
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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