Some people will see this as a loving homage to Narnia, with similar elements easily identified: Lucy, Susan and Peter are obviously Evelyn, Philippa, and Jamie, with Aslan recreated in Cervus the stag, and the Woodlands creatures shadows of Narnia natives. Others will see it as a Narnia rip off. For me, I like to […]
My friend Emily May called this an ‘’ugly, awful little book” and she’s absolutely right, it is ugly, it is awful, and it is absolutely awesome. I found Damsel to be highly readable once I figured out it was quirky and whimsical (it took me about two pages). I also found it to be serious […]
I love YA fantasies about young girls finding their power, but I’m a bit overwhelmed specifically by the ‘women are super oppressed because men find them dangerous’ trope that keeps popping up. Grace and Fury was absolutely fine as a YA fantasy (no magic!) and OK kind of novel really. The best thing about it […]
Disclaimer: Andrea Berthot and I are friends on Goodreads. This is because after reading The Heartless City and The Hypnotic City I kind of went all stalkery and wanted her to be my new BFF. This holds absolutely no sway on my opinion of her books because they are fucking awesome whether I say so or not. […]
In Garden of Thorns, teen burlesque dancer Rose decides to escape the company that is holding her prisoner by taking a hostage at the next show. But it turns out he’s the exiled heir and leader of the rebellion, and he takes her hostage in the mistaken belief that she is an assassin, and spirits […]
In the world of The Diminished, everyone is born with a twin, except those who are singleborn who are destined to rule. If a twin dies, the remaining twin becomes ‘diminished’ – cursed to go insane, they are shunned by society. This is the story of a young singleborn man named Bo and a diminished […]
Sea Witch was marketed as a prequel to The Little Mermaid meets Wicked, and since I love both, I immediately requested to read and review this. It’s the story of Evie, a young Danish girl secretly a witch, and what she’ll do to save the people she loves. If you know either The Little Mermaid […]
The Queen’s Rising is a beautiful and imaginative story about Brienna, a young woman torn between identities, and the journey she takes to help reclaim her heritage. The tale starts in a kind of quasi-French or other Western European Rennaissance-era kind of place where a very describable goal for children and young people is to […]
A spoiled, privileged, none-too-smart girl with a mental illness is thrown into the most awful of jails and must content with a cruel prison guard who is determined to uncover the secrets that put her there. Mira is the Hopebearer, nothing more than a pretty face and a voice for the Luminary Council to placate […]
When Ruby is captured and sent to prison for being a Fireblood in a land ruled by Frostbloods, she is unexpectedly rescued by a group of monks who want to use her to challenge the rule of the current Frostblood king. But Ruby will first have to master her uncontrollable pyromancy if she’s to stand […]
