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BROKEN BY MAGICK

Detective Inspector William Brighton of Scotland Yard gets a possible break in his latest case when the person who allegedly kidnapped a young girl calls Brighton and asks to meet. This brings him to Zaliel, a wizard who demands to know where Brighton’s estranged mother, the author Anna Brighton, is located. Brighton has no idea, nor does he quite believe in Zaliel’s magic, despite the wizard bringing some bronze statues to life. But there is an indisputable link to Brighton’s mother, since Zaliel is a character’s name in Anna’s popular book series, The Magical Wooded World. In the meantime, the very real wizard, who still wants Anna’s location, abducts some other girls, and Brighton’s own daughter goes missing. An interrogation leads the DI to a forested spot where he stumbles onto a world (not unlike the one Anna has written about) populated by fairies, elves, a pegasus, and other fantastical creatures. In this place, Brighton encounters some gun-toting goblins and the hefty explosive they’ve stolen. Howis deftly blends a fantasy narrative with a police procedural; even when the supernatural elements take center stage in the latter half, the story remains grounded in the protagonist’s investigative work. (The kidnapping case, for example, involves infamous gangster Sid Fields, who raises the stakes for Brighton by threatening the DI’s family.) Both the heroes and villains wield magic (like telepathy) as well as more familiar weapons, such as firearms. Brighton is an appealing lead; he has the earmarks of a world-weary law enforcer who’s occasionally roughed up (“What happened to your face?” his wife asks at one point) but is still a devoted family man. Numerous mythical beings are introduced in the novel—a standout is Eddie, a “tall stocky female” with pointy ears. This entry kicks off a series, with the ending unquestionably setting the stage for a sequel.

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BROKEN BY MAGICK

T.W. Howis

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RELEASE DATE: today

Fantasy readers will warmly welcome the colorful cast of this compelling, genre-blending novel.

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In Howis’ urban fantasy, a detective investigating the abductions of children discovers a world of mythical beings.

Detective Inspector William Brighton of Scotland Yard gets a possible break in his latest case when the person who allegedly kidnapped a young girl calls Brighton and asks to meet. This brings him to Zaliel, a wizard who demands to know where Brighton’s estranged mother, the author Anna Brighton, is located. Brighton has no idea, nor does he quite believe in Zaliel’s magic, despite the wizard bringing some bronze statues to life. But there is an indisputable link to Brighton’s mother, since Zaliel is a character’s name in Anna’s popular book series, The Magical Wooded World. In the meantime, the very real wizard, who still wants Anna’s location, abducts some other girls, and Brighton’s own daughter goes missing. An interrogation leads the DI to a forested spot where he stumbles onto a world (not unlike the one Anna has written about) populated by fairies, elves, a pegasus, and other fantastical creatures. In this place, Brighton encounters some gun-toting goblins and the hefty explosive they’ve stolen. Howis deftly blends a fantasy narrative with a police procedural; even when the supernatural elements take center stage in the latter half, the story remains grounded in the protagonist’s investigative work. (The kidnapping case, for example, involves infamous gangster Sid Fields, who raises the stakes for Brighton by threatening the DI’s family.) Both the heroes and villains wield magic (like telepathy) as well as more familiar weapons, such as firearms. Brighton is an appealing lead; he has the earmarks of a world-weary law enforcer who’s occasionally roughed up (“What happened to your face?” his wife asks at one point) but is still a devoted family man. Numerous mythical beings are introduced in the novel—a standout is Eddie, a “tall stocky female” with pointy ears. This entry kicks off a series, with the ending unquestionably setting the stage for a sequel.

Fantasy readers will warmly welcome the colorful cast of this compelling, genre-blending novel.

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Pub Date: today

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2026

Review Program:
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Categories:

FANTASY |

GENERAL FANTASY |

GENERAL FICTION

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AGNES AUBERT'S MYSTICAL CAT SHELTER

Heather Fawcett

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RELEASE DATE: Feb. 17, 2026

Doesn’t entirely hang together but still manages to hit the spot.

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In an alternate early-20th-century Montreal, sparks fly between the operator of a cat shelter and a reclusive magician.

Agnes Aubert is not kindly disposed toward magicians, especially not after a magical duel blows a hole in the building that housed her and her cat shelter. Unfortunately, finding another spot isn’t easy, so she’s happy to take the reasonably priced location on the Rue des Hirondelles. But that’s before she discovers the building’s owner secretly living in the basement: Havelock Renard, the world’s most powerful magician, who also happens to be allergic to cats. As this decidedly odd couple work out a system for cohabitation, Agnes develops some uncomfortable feelings for Havelock; she also can’t deny her attraction to the police detective who thinks (not entirely incorrectly) that the shelter is a front for the illegal sale of magical Artefacts. In comparison to the carefully constructed universe of her Emily Wildeseries, Fawcett’s worldbuilding and plotting are a bit sloppy; the magical system is not laid out as clearly as more pedantic readers might wish, and there’s one part of Agnes’ quandary that gets resolved in a rushed, not truly believable, way. The book also implausibly suggests that an allergy to cats is curable by exposure (rather than managed by a magical antihistamine, perhaps?). But one has to admire the author’s acumen in finding the absolute sweet spot for a cozy fantasy, after all the other ones set in cafes and adorable little shops. It could seem either twee or a cynical grab at the market, but it’s neither; Fawcett clearly understands the complicated but rewarding relationship between humans and cats. It is also charming to set a story in Montreal, where both brioches and bagels are on offer.

Doesn’t entirely hang together but still manages to hit the spot.

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Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026

ISBN: 9780593973257

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Del Rey

Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025

Categories:

FANTASY |

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY |

PARANORMAL FANTASY

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New York Times Bestseller

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ALCHEMISED

SenLinYu

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RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2025

Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.

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New York Times Bestseller

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.

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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

Categories:

FANTASY |

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY |

EPIC FANTASY

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