A striking and intricate fantasy that’s skillfully bolstered by echoes of real-world conflicts.
This epic fantasy sequel finds retired peacekeepers drawn into an all-consuming magical war.
King Cato Regulus rules from his capital city of Veriasi. But he’s become frail, and his adult children, Prince Bolus and Princess Seles, prepare for his death. In celebrating Regulus’ 40th ruling year, well-wishers gather in Veriasi. These include Magnus “the Phoenix” of Coventa, a valuable but retired general, along with his wife, Kera. During the festivities, Magnus and Kera halt an assassination attempt by killers dressed as Lyrians. Weeks later, someone succeeds in murdering the Lyrian emissary as his ship returns across the ocean. Bolus sends the Black Lions, a mercenary group, to Elysium, the Lyrian capital, to “assure the consular government that we had no involvement in the attack.” Fearing the worst from the mercenaries, Seles asks Magnus and Kera to follow and keep the peace. She also introduces them to terracite, a crystalline mineral that provides “magic without magic.” The coastal Lyrians mine terracite from mountainous land belonging to the Ashen, tribes whose lives revolve around magic and the worship of Velestra, the Great Seamstress. Consul Shinrar has outlawed magic, believing that “terracite is the great equalizer.” Once in Elysium, Magnus and Kera learn that the mineral’s swift transformation of Lyrian life brings a steep cost. Morea deftly layers a remarkable variety of narrative tones in this second epic fantasy to star Magnus. Allusions to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq feature heavily, from the parallels between terracite and oil to the use of the word insurgent. At other times, the story runs like an engaging procedural thriller, as the hunt for whomever is causing chaos pushes Magnus and Kera to embed with the locals and absorb every detail. The author’s villains don’t step from the shadows so much as from their complex humanity. As Janus, leader of the mercenaries and a potential friend of Magnus, tells him, “We aren’t here to fix all their problems.” Morea’s love of fantasy drives the stirring finale in which two characters chosen by a prophecy, Elam and Lilith, ignite the region in a magical war.
A striking and intricate fantasy that’s skillfully bolstered by echoes of real-world conflicts.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-66-499824-5
Page Count: 515
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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