Mind-expanding fantasy and SF.
A royal minister in disfavor is ordered to complete a tyrannical queen’s prized project in Barsukov’s fantasy novel.
In an unspecified realm where medieval elements combine with a culture approaching (but not quite reaching) a “steampunk” level of development, Lord Shea Ashcroft is a royal minister who has defied an order by the all-powerful but rarely seen Queen Daelyn to use a gas weapon on protesters. Thus, Ashcroft is demoted to an assignment to ensure completion of Daelyn’s ruinously ambitious legacy project: a soaring tower in Owenbeg, a province bordering on the rival nation of Duma. Though ostensibly a defense against “skyrafts,” the massive edifice seems more an arrogant affirmation of royal power than anything else (its toll, in human and financial terms, triggered the protests in the first place). To keep the structure standing and growing, its chief engineer Brielle has had to resort to accepting aid from the “Drakiri”; these are members of a strange, secretive minority—equipped with advanced, incomprehensible technologies—whose origins are now obscure even to them. Among their most prized pieces of tech are “tulips,” oval devices that can counteract gravity. If not wielded properly, a tulip can cause a drastic implosion, destructively pulling everything in range inward. Brielle’s desperate deployment of tulips throughout the tower leads to catastrophic failures and losses of life—but are these accidents or acts of sabotage? Haunted by the death of his sister Lena in a childhood tulip incident, Ashcroft gets close to a Drakiri woman (coincidentally also called Lena) and learns that a Drakiri superstition predicts the advent of a frightful “Mimic Tower” that will materialize if the tulip-assisted tower of Daelyn continues to persist. Assassination attempts and intrigues at court seed a trail ultimately leading Ashcroft into Duma itself, where the Cold War–like animosity between the two kingdoms takes on literally cosmos-bending proportions.
Readers may be tempted to make analogies between the Drakiri and Jews or Romany people, or to compare the Drakiri devices to the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, another apocalyptic power grimly unleashed in a Slavic setting. But these analogs only go so far as the narrative reaches a metaphysical denouement that goes outside the realm of conventional reality to explicate the tale’s vagueness regarding time, place, physics, and even the reason that Queen Daelyn’s capital remains nameless. Some of this material was originally released as an award-winning novella, Tower of Mud and Straw (2021). In this volume,Barsukov has added a follow-up, City of Spires, City of Seagulls, forming a whole that answers many of the original narrative’s questions, however cryptically. There are similarities to Stephen King’s epic Dark Tower series (though without anything near the marathon page count) as well as to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Lathe of Heaven (1971) and the work of sibling Russian masters Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Barsukov’s storyline becomes quite challenging to follow in the narrative’s latter half, in which plot threads diverge to follow Shea, Brielle, and (via rather conveniently recovered diary entries) the Drakiri Lena, but the payoff is worth the effort. The author’s prose is rarely less than lyrical and poetic (“The balcony windows brought in the smells of autumn’s brandy: smoke from the burning leaves, damp earth, the rotting perfume of forgotten things”). Highly recommended for fans of high fantasy and SF wishing to tread in especially exotic territory.
Mind-expanding fantasy and SF.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781647101367
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Caezik SF & Fantasy
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
A tender reminder that gratitude is a path we choose, one conversation at a time.
In Green’s inspirational novel, a journalist boarding the wrong train discovers the right moment to speak the words that matter.
Daniel arrives at the Beacon station carrying a leather notebook filled with an unfinished eulogy for his still-living grandfather, only to be swept onto the mysterious 5:07 Gratitude Express, a steam locomotive that appears “for those who want to express gratitude.” His uncanny journey sends him through vividly rendered moments from his own life, where he witnesses the ripple effects of kindnesses he has offered and reunites—sometimes for the first time—with people who were permanently shaped by those actions. Each stop brings a new encounter: A childhood classmate says, “That morning, you altered the course of my life”; an elderly woman confesses, “Your simple act of kindness saved me that day”; a mentor tells him, “You need to figure out what you’re good at and what you like to do. Because when you do that, your potential is limitless.” By the time Daniel reaches Cedarville, intent on seeing his grandfather—the person who most profoundly shaped him—his reflections echo the conductor’s warning that “Time is unpredictable, and unsaid words bring pain and regret.” What follows is a moving affirmation of connection that honors the story’s central message: Appreciation should be expressed to the living. Green structures the narrative as a fable, with emotional clarity and cinematic pacing. The train’s dissolving walls, the recurring whistle rising “high into the dark sky,” and the symbolic briefcase filled with long-kept letters lend the tale a gentle magical-realist texture. While the storyline remains linear and accessible for all ages, the themes—regret, legacy, and intergenerational love—invite adult reflection. The prose is simple, intentionally so, grounding the fantastical elements in an earnest emotional register. This is not a plot-twist-driven story; it’s a quiet parable urging readers to act before time steals their chances. Readers who appreciate heartfelt, uplifting narrative journeys will find resonance in Green’s message.
A tender reminder that gratitude is a path we choose, one conversation at a time.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9798891385252
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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