Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

In the epic fantasy Zodiac: The Talismans Rising by Kyrie Dunphy, X takes an artifact called the Yin Scroll from a hidden chamber beneath a jungle cenote, and in doing so triggers a massive chain reaction. This disrupts the system governing a realm called Sheng Xiao, where twelve clans rely on talismans to regulate the natural forces and political stability. Empress Jade rules from the Imperial City and responds by sending trained fighters called Zodiac Guardians to secure those talismans before X expands his control. Cade retrieves a second artifact known as the Yang Scroll to counter the imbalance, while Veronica leads a team into a forest in Souris to obtain the Rat Talisman. As both sides move across the regions affected by environmental shifts and internal unrest, control over the talismans determines the direction of the conflict.

Kyrie Dunphy’s Zodiac: The Talismans Rising builds piece by piece, beginning with a simple premise: objects tied to animal clans regulate order, and once one is taken, everything that depends on it begins to shift. Dunphy does not hurry this idea along. She lets it play out through Veronica, who goes after the Rat Talisman in Souris forest by answering the Rat King’s riddles, and fights to retain it in moments that tell us exactly who she is. Omar, quieter but no less important, is responsible in a different way, desperate to hold onto a relic until its release, and stepping into a leadership role. Dunphy employs X patiently, setting the central conflict in motion by arranging the theft of the Yin Scroll and extending that disruption through allies. Where Dunphy shines is not just in crafting what happens in the story, but where it happens. A cenote marked with zodiac carvings collapses as the scroll is taken, while in Listra, rising water transforms a trial into something more unpredictable. Dunphy builds a system of clans, Guardians, and imperial authority under Empress Jade, and then tests how that system responds under pressure. The appeal here lies in watching that structure bend, shift, and continue forward through each new encounter. This is a spectacular epic fantasy. Very highly recommended.