A vivid mix of history, romance, and folklore with a notably relatable hero.
A teenager leaves 1940s Pennsylvania to seek her destiny in medieval Russia in the second book in Mathison’s Old Rus fantasy series, following Vasilisa (2021).
It’s 1942, and 15-year-old Elena Ivanova Volkonsky loves James Cagney movies, flying with her pilot father, and listening to great-grandmother Babka’s Russian ballads about witches, spirits, ogres, and giants. Her favorite: the saga of “Dobrynya and the Dragon.” A strange black stone gives her visions of the dragon slayer, and her focus shifts to Mitya, Dobrynya’s teenage son, as events unfold involving his father and the court’s ruler, Prince Vladimir. Elena’s odd feeling of kinship with Mitya, her discovery of her mother’s companion black stone, and hints of enigmatic secrets allow her to find her way into the Russia of Babka’s tales. Mathison weaves themes of love, betrayal, and self-discovery into a believable world of magic, myth, and history. In it, three remarkable young people—Elena, 16-year-old noble Mitya, and their young companion, Sasha, a 12-year-old boy saddened by his own secrets—embark on a quest through forest, desert, and mountains to find Dobrynya, whom scheming Prince Vladimir has ordered to slay one last dragon. (A mysterious traveler lists the trio’s unseen burdens, integral to what is to come: Mitya carries his “father’s sins,” Sasha bears “the burden of knowledge without wisdom,” and Elena’s “line bears the burden of the stones.”) Mathison’s tale hauntingly interweaves the dragons, 1940s America, and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in a way that might have felt forced in less-skilled hands. Elena is a spirited hero who’s quick to castigate herself for impetuosity but just as apt to put her knowledge, generosity, and intuition into action. As she affects those around her, she absorbs lessons about love and loss. Readers will root for Elena to stay with Mitya and not return home, and the author masterfully finesses that decision. Also included is a glossary of historic and mythical Russian names and words.
A vivid mix of history, romance, and folklore with a notably relatable hero.Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 9781735003788
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Starr Creek Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.
The conclusion to the Villains trilogy asks, In a world where there are no heroes, what does victory really mean?
Schwab’s world is one where violent near-death experiences can engender ExtraOrdinaries, people who come back to life with a new superpowered ability, but lacking empathy, patience, and a variety of other, gentler qualities. In this installment, Victor Vale is becoming increasingly desperate; ever since Sydney Clarke used her power to bring him back from the dead, control over his own ability to cause and dampen pain has been slipping. Sydney herself is chafing against her life on the run with Victor’s protective ex-cellmate, Mitch Turner, and struggling with missing both Victor and her dead sister, Serena, whom she might not be able to resurrect—and definitely shouldn’t. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist, Dr. Gabriel Gray, discovers the existence of ExtraOrdinary people and seeks to harness their power for himself with tragic consequences for himself and many other people. Because the narrative skips around in time, it becomes clear fairly early that a final conflict is looming at EON, a high-tech facility where ExtraOrdinaries are imprisoned and experimented upon. This series has really lived up to its title; while antiheroes and villains have been popular protagonists for quite some time, not every writer is willing to lean into the darkness as hard as Schwab does. Some of her characters were psychopaths even before their near-death traumas, which means they didn’t have much moral fiber to begin with. And even the people who are basically good do a lot of bad and often foolish things when faced with a crisis…and there are a lot of crises. The strength of this series lies in Schwab’s ExtraOrdinary power to make you care for many of these incredibly rash, ethically dubious—some verging on irredeemable—characters anyway. As a result, the story rises above the usual grimdark cynical slog; instead, this is a gripping and nuanced saga with an ending that feels both inevitable and well earned.
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250192233
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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