A thrill ride that’s clearly gathering steam for the next installment.
In the second of a dark epic fantasy series, two brothers battle for the fate of an empire…and perhaps a universe.
Kagen Vale has learned the dreadful truth: The Witch-king of Hakkia, who invaded the Silver Empire and slaughtered the Silver Empress’ children—whom Kagen had sworn to protect—is actually Kagen’s older brother, Herepath, once a respected cleric and scholar. Herepath now goes to ever more extreme lengths to pursue his brother and permanently prevent him from revealing his secret as Kagen goes on the run again, searching for allies and a new weapon against his powerful foe. The Witch-king also faces obstacles on two other fronts. First, his coronation was interrupted, so the subject nations of the Silver Empire don’t fully consider him their ruler, leading him toward covert but brutal attempts to sow discord among them so that they don’t unite against him. Second, the Silver Empress’ sole surviving heirs, the 6-year-old twins Alleyn and Desalyn (whom Herepath has claimed as his own children for reasons that are quickly apparent), are fighting their way out of the dark spell that turns them into sadomasochistic monsters. Will this new, potentially unstable empire collapse from within, or are the dreaded powers that Herepath and his patron god, Hastur, command too overwhelming to defeat? Maberry continues to dump more subgenres—this time, zombie plague plus Indiana Jones–style treasure-seeking adventure—into this still-beguiling kitchen sink of a milieu, but despite the multitude of action scenes, the plot doesn’t advance to any great degree; instead we have a wide scattering of multiple subplots that await resolution in Book 3. Alas, the series also seems to be in need of a good copy editor; some minor discrepancies from Kagen the Damned (2022) have carried through to this novel and spawned new ones. These are not annoying enough to destroy pleasure in the story but do prove to be a bit of a distraction.
A thrill ride that’s clearly gathering steam for the next installment.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-2507-8399-8
Page Count: 704
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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 smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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