A smart, fast-paced series finale that ties up loose ends while providing all the action readers have come to expect.
The concluding installment of Harkness’ YA fantasy series pits young soldiers against a new kind of enemy.
The fifth and final book in the A War of Banes and Demons series finds demon slayers Garet and Salick back in the city of Shirath after their dangerous trip to the Far North, where they discovered that the demons they’d been fighting were being created by a powerful enemy. What they find on their return shocks them both: Already weakened by continuous demon attacks, the city will face a final onslaught on the spring equinox, which is worryingly close. Trax, king of Shirath, is also showing signs of losing his grip on his people and his sanity. Soldiers, for example, refuse to perform unlawful executions on his orders, exacerbating the sense of fracture within the city walls. Soon, the Fifth Ward’s Maze, where “the dregs of the city” reside, finds itself under attack by the arrival of a new type of demon—one created using humans: “As expected, since the demon had spread no fear as it approached, he found silkstone plates fixed to its skull with small iron nails….Its face was no longer even vaguely human, but bore a fully toothed beak, eyes as black as a starless night, and a helmet-like crest that stretched from just above the stone plates to the back of its head.” Alongside the rich descriptions and brisk action are explorations of larger themes: good versus evil, the weight of power, and what it means to be human. A bittersweet ending—complete with a shocking banishment and slightly less shocking wedding—provides a fitting conclusion to a saga that still contains the potential for many more adventures.
A smart, fast-paced series finale that ties up loose ends while providing all the action readers have come to expect.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention.
A duology opener that revisits the world of Divergent (2011).
Beatrice “Tris” Prior is Divergent. But before she can select Dauntless, her Choosing Ceremony is interrupted by a group of factionless rebels, and her good friend is killed. Amid the chaos, Tris sees Evelyn, the wife of Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton—but Evelyn supposedly died years ago. And, shockingly, she’s an Amity woman who’s holding a gun. Tris doesn’t tell anyone, even her father, when he later questions her. Her brother, Caleb, chooses Erudite—the faction that’s most critical toward the Abnegation and their practices—and Tris feels pressured to stay in Abnegation. But when her father tries to erase her memories, she knows she’s unsafe. Tris’ mother helps her escape to the factionless, where Tris meets Four, a Dauntless boy. Their relationship shows her that she was right to leave Abnegation—and that maybe the rebels are correct to want the death of the faction system. As Tris becomes friends with the other “faction failures,” she realizes that no faction is as it seems, and that power is a corrupting influence they can’t escape. This exciting work revisits beloved characters, offering a new understanding of them and of what happens when we stand up and ask questions. Returning fans and those new to this world will appreciate the witty banter, slow-burn romance, and heartache stemming from betrayal and complicated familial love. The leads are cued white.
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention. (Dystopian. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063462595
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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