A brilliantly executed installment in a series about vengeance and self-determination.
In Brower’s second fantasy-series entry,a demigod learns how to wield her powers, but her teacher has ulterior motives.
Following an attack on the safe-haven dimension of Taria, the dark magic that demigod half-siren Renna Strongborn has suppressed for years awakens within her. In her agony, she accidentally opens a portal leading to Sethos, a fae with whom she had been close during her first lifetime and who’d declared himself her “soul guardian” seven years ago. Renna trusts Sethos, so she enters the portal and joins him in his fortress in Daya. She learns that she and Sethos were both abused by Renna’s father, Am-Re, the god of darkness, chaos, and ruin, and despotic ruler of the Vasarys dimension. Eight years ago, Sethos overthrew and killed Am-Re, who’d adopted him, and not only gained his throne, but also some of his powers, which flow through Renna’s veins, as well. When Sethos tells Renna that he intends to avenge his mother and homeland, Renna promises to help. He helps her learn how to wield her powers to their full, lethal potential. Their relationship becomes more intimate, but when he tells Renna about the destruction of Isyos, where Am-Re once ruled, he leaves out a vital detail: The attackers, whom he aims to kill, were the Celestial Gods who had sheltered Renna in Taria—including Khellios, her past-life love interest. While Sethos manipulates Renna, Khellios leaves Taria and goes on a quest to find her. Brower’s sequel is a captivating tale of betrayal, vengeance, and love, primarily told through the perspectives of Renna, Sethos, and Khellios; this gives readers a keen and sometimes-devastating understanding of each character’s motivations, which they sometimes hide from others. The masterful worldbuilding features well-developed systems of both magic and governance. Readers may be mildly disappointed that Renna doesn’t have any meaningful interactions with other women, but her journey—during which she learns to accept and control her powers while maintaining a sense of right and wrong—is truly compelling, as is Sethos’ relentless desire for revenge.
A brilliantly executed installment in a series about vengeance and self-determination.Pub Date: July 30, 2025
ISBN: 9798991248204
Page Count: 440
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.
After 500 years, the Grief of Ages is a distant memory—until dragons hellbent on destruction begin to wake again.
In this relatively brief prequel to the epic The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019), the kingdoms of Virtudom have experienced centuries of relative peace. Marosa Vetalda, the Princess of Yscalin, spends her days behind castle walls under the gaze of her overprotective father, awaiting the date when she’ll be wed to Aubrecht of Mentendon, her ticket to freedom. While the book’s main focus is initially on the political threads weaving the Western kingdoms together, the frailty of best-laid plans is exposed when evidence of the reemergence of draconic beings reaches castle ears. These tales often come from the cullers who make their living slaying these creatures, and who are often blamed for intentionally waking them for profit. No one alive remembers the Grief of Ages, so no one’s prepared when Fýredel, the great High Western dragon, surfaces from the volcanic mountain that towers ominously over Yscalin’s capital city of Cárscaro. What follows is the backstory of how the devoted Yscali kingdom comes to shift allegiance to Fýredel and his master, the Nameless One, a main catalyst to events in The Priory. Overall, this book reads more like history lesson than fantasy adventure, but the sheer terror that befalls the Yscali people as they face Fýredel’s pure evil is both powerful and relevant. Marosa’s plight further solidifies her as a hero worth remembering; her strength and defiance shine through as hope for the future she’s dreamed of slowly flickers out.
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781639736010
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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