One of my most anticipated sequels of 2025 was Isi Hendrix’s Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb, the second entry of the Afrofantasy series. I was more than ready to dive back into the world and see what the author had in-store for the characters.

The tone of this second outing felt far bleaker than the previous entry in the series, which made sense. The danger wasn’t at an end, and the High Queen’s Tomb presented another magical—albeit dark and challenging—journey for the burgeoning shaman. I mean, the dead were literally rising. However, it wasn’t a typical take on zombies. I appreciated how the author developed the situation too, because it was more complex than it first appeared. The consequences made the story into a race against time, and the stakes were considerably raised because of it. But, the prospective danger wasn’t only to the world but also in a personal sense too.

After all, Adia had a lot on her plate. She was dealing with the aftermath (and trauma) left by her experiences fighting against Orlark as well as her complicated feelings over the loss of a friendship. Adia had to learn some VERY hard lessons in the High Queen’s Tomb. With her powers: she needed to understand the responsibility that came with them. With the friendships she’d forged (with Thyme and the emperor, Darian): to better value (and rely) on the people who had her back. And, at the same time, she also had to navigate the changes to the Academy of Shamans.

As far as secondary characters, there were new and familiar faces; unexpected allies, and even shocking betrayals. (Bubbles, the cat, was still adorable.)

Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb was an excellent follow-up to the first.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Storytide) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Great read, especially for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers! Mystery, strong lead, will recommend for middle grade readers for high engagement.

Adia isn’t sure she wants to go back to the Academy of Shamans. After everything she went through last year, she’s almost tempted to stay away, but when almost everyone starts randomly falling asleep and the dead start coming back to life, Adia knows that she has no choice but to embark on a brand-new quest to save herself and all her friends from the evil Olark and his new attack on them.

I received an advanced reading copy of Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb in exchange for an honest review.

Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb is a middle grade fantasy novel by Isi Hendrix. It’s also the sequel to Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans, which I was fortunate enough to read a few years ago. Now, I was excited to see what other adventures awaited Adia!

This book started some time after the first one ended. In this time, Adia has been away from the Academy after the chaos of last year, when she defeated the evil Olark and freed Darian, the emperor, from Olark’s clutches. Now, she’s going back to the Academy as a student, and she’s not sure how it’s going to work out.

Action starts pretty quickly in the book, with the dead walking and looking for, of all things, Adia’s eyes. Even when things quiet down a bit, and the characters set out to plan how to fix this newest plot, it means that there is the constant tension of time running out, especially since people keep randomly falling asleep for longer and longer periods of time.

The Academy remains as charming as ever, with the living building housing all the would-be shamans, and despite Adia’s intervention in the last book, not as much has changed as she would have hoped. Also, new enemies are introduced into the story, with the Council coming into the Academy, and, what was my favorite part of the book, the return of Adia’s aunt and uncle, and the tension surrounding that! Of course, they’ve never cared for her, but now that she seems to become somewhat important, they’re dealing with a more complicated situation than they could have expected. I actually had a few laughs when reading about them.

The second Adia Kelbara book was once more charming, and a very quick read! I can see a lot of middle grade readers, and especially those who love reading about magic schools, loving this series! I believe it’s supposed to be a trilogy, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the finale. Hopefully we’ll get it next year!

Adia Kelbara and the High Queen’s Tomb will be released on June 3. You can preorder your copy here.

Oh. My. Gosh. This was EPIC!!! I love Adia and her journey, through doubt and fear into her own power and discovery, and learning to let her friends be there for her. This was brilliant!! I loved Thyme and Darian and Gini. Sabo was such a fascinating character, I would love a prequel for her! Pretty much love everything about this world and series!!

I was a fan of the first Adia Kelbara book, so I was very pleased to be able to read and review the second one. Once again its a unique fantasy world with lots of enjoyable characters, both human and godly. Adia gets a better handle on her powers in this book and faces an old enemy. There were a few parts that dragged, mostly when Adia would inexplicably decide she needs to handle things on her own despite a litany of personal limitations and multiple friends who are all but throwing themselves at her to help her. There's a twist ending that's pretty each to guess as well, but the fact that the secret isn't hard to figure out doesn't reduce the impact of the reveal and its set up for the next book(s?).