By Liz Braswell
For those interested in dipping a toe into fantasy with a bit of romance -- but without florid prose or plot holes the size of Avalon -- Samantha Shannon's "Among the Burning Flowers"(Bloomsbury, 288 pages, $29.99) is a good place to start. It is a prequel to the popular "The Priory of the Orange Tree" (2019) and a worthy introduction to the world of Ms. Shannon's Roots of Chaos cycle.
Ms. Shannon tells her story, of evil dragons reawakening, from three different points of view. Marosa Vetalda should be helping to rule the kingdom of Yscalin, or at least marrying her fiancé, Prince Aubrecht of Mentendon; instead she is being kept isolated by her controlling, paranoid father. Escape is impossible: She's in a fortress in a city on a volcanic mountain, surrounded by rivers of lava and perched high above the fields of flowers her mother once loved. (Spoiler alert: The dragons burn them.) Estina Melaugo is a dragon-culler who barely supports herself by killing the beasts who have been sleeping in caves since the last time they almost destroyed civilization -- though they seem to be waking in increasing numbers as the great, evil dragon Fýredel emerges from his own slumber and once again threatens mankind. Aubrecht watches from afar as Yscalin falls to Fýredel, its ruler and populace subjugating themselves to the cruel dragons, desperate to avoid their wrath.
The worldbuilding here is excellent and the politics almost too detailed. The dragons are so nasty they make those in "Game of Thrones" look like toddlers having tantrums. Fiery fun.
T. Kingfisher is a prolific writer and illustrator who also writes under her own name, Ursula Vernon, when creating for younger readers. "Snake-Eater" (47North, 271 Pages, $16.99), for adults, is a good entry into mythopoeic fantasy. It's sprinkled with the faintest touch of spice but happily lacks the tired tropes of most romantasy.
Sometime in the near future, Selena is on the run from an abusive relationship, hoping to live with her aunt in a mostly abandoned part of the Southwest. Sadly, her aunt turns out to be dead, but Quartz Creek's postmaster encourages Selena to move into her house anyway. Selena soon finds herself welcomed into the quirky community, a close-knit group that scrapes by on the seasonal influx of tourist dollars and a year-round system of mutual aid. She works in her garden, falls in love with the western sky and landscape, takes care of her dog, Copper -- and begins to notice gods (like the one encouraging her squash to grow) lurking around her new place.
There's also the little matter of the very realistic and not-unpleasant dreams she's been having that involve a handsome man and a fur-covered bed. But the situation soon turns sour as he is revealed to be the vicious roadrunner-god known as Snake-Eater, who assumes she is there to take her grandmother's place as his partner and grows angry when she rejects him. Ms. Kingfisher deftly handles religion, indigenous beliefs and human doubts about it all in a showdown that has gods and humans (and one DJ) pitted against one another to save Selena and her new life.
In Jim C. Hines's "Slayers of Old" (DAW, 352 Pages, $29) a half-succubus grandmother, a retired Hunter of Artemis and a man who was once one of the most powerful wizards in the world live together in Salem, Mass., at what could be called a retirement home for supernatural professionals. There's a bookstore on the main floor, which helps bring in cash. But cultists are cultists, and when a local man starts recruiting teens to slay the demons haunting the area, an investigation by the three reveals his much larger, more elder-goddish plans.
Self-reflection forms a large part of this book: The hunter has to live with the realization that many of those she killed were innocent while the friends she left behind may not have been; the half-succubus has to navigate a rocky relationship with her son as her granddaughter starts to notice changes that aren't a normal part of human puberty; and the wizard has to deal with the fact that he cannot control his memory, much less his great powers, anymore. It's a barely concealed "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" meets "Thursday Murder Club" and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
--Ms. Braswell reviews science fiction and fantasy for the Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 02, 2026 09:29 ET (14:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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