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Fantasy

The Last Tale Of The Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi, an intoxicating fever dream of perfection

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The Last Tale of The Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi truly has a chokehold on me.

I’m obsessed with books that have prose so gorgeous you could drown in it, the ones where the sentences are so rich they take your breath away. I can’t stop thinking about The Last Tale of the Flower Bride and honestly I want to eat this prose with silver spoon.

“But she saw something in me. Something that turned her kiss into a knife that cut me free from the dark.”

The story is also this claustrophobic, glittering gothic meets fairytale obsession (such a me book if ever I read one) and the obsessive love of Indigo and the Bridegroom and their toxic secrets and shared, fantastical delusions was entrancing. I love how the fed off each other with their need for a life so entrenched in fairy tales and mythology that they didn’t have to really participate in reality. Everything was a game, or a dare, or a test. They way she is everything and he is nothing, and yet he proved her match in their battles of wit and whimsy.

I also really loved the split timeline, how in the past we get to see Azure’s point of view, the little girl Indigo grew up with, and their codependent friendship. It gives us this new angel to the story, this way to learn Indigo (we do not get to be inside her head), and I just loved this. The way the story is about two people’s adoration and obsession of this unknowable, rich, intoxicating person.

I saw the twist coming but I loved how it landed. And an old sentient gothic house that has opinions and changes as the book goes on?! Everything I want in a book. The whole thing is a gorgeous fever dream.

“You never forget the moment when beauty turns to horror.”

I also love how it was fully drenched in whimsy and fantasy but yet was it all in their heads? We shall never know. This is already my favourite read of 2024.

“This is why fairy tales are dangerous: their words sneak into your veins and travel into the chambers of your heart, where they whisper of your exceptionalism. They say: Ah, but remember the boy who walked into the woods and came out a king? Oh, but what of the girl who was kicked and slept in ashes? Remember the man who was only kind and so life bent around the shape of his smile? But we are not exceptional.”

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage… or their lives.
Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

goodreads | amazon

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett (Cosy Light Academia Fairy Tale Fantasy!)

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Emily Wilde captured my entire heart in this beautiful story.

This is exactly my kind of book–steeped in fairy folklore where the fae are whimsical and clever and full of myths and wickedness and tricks and utterly unreal levels of magic. And I adored the set up of this! Emily Wilde is a human professor (an antisocial, introverted one at that) whose lifelong aim is to complete the first ever comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She does plenty of field work, tons of studying, and she views faeries through a very scientific lens. It was honestly such a unique and compelling story and I loved the framework.

The book is also told in journal entries. I do like this style of format, and it allowed us to be very intrinsically swept up in Emily’s thought processes and made her a very deeply empathetic character despite her stand-offish presentation.

Emily travels to a remote village in Scandinavia called Hrafnsvik as she works to complete her encyclopaedia, and the setting is so wintery and chilled and frosted over with ice. You can feel it on the pages. There is also a cosy element to the story overall, with the aesthetics of the cosy cabin and bookish scenes. It was giving Light Academia too, tbh, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

“One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories.”

“The Folk were of another world, with its own rules and customs—and to a child who always felt ill-suited to her own world, the lure was irresistible.”

The story mainly features Emily and Wendell Bambleby, another professor from Cambridge who invites himself along on her expedition and who she is frustratedly annoyed at because she’s sure he’s trying to take credit for her work. They have a sort of frenemies-rivalry going on, except it’s mostly in Emily’s head (lmao). Wendell is just the most flamboyant eccentric academic idiot to grace a page and I absolutely loved him from the start. (Think Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle, basically, and you’ve got the vibe.) He is the sunshine to Emily’s grump. He is the extravagance to Emily’s frugal reservations. They are SUCH opposites, that they’re a total delight on page together.

I’ll also take a moment to say I suspect Emily was coded as autistic, and I’m unsure if that was intentional on the author’s part. As an autistic individual myself, I found the rep interesting, not bad, though not exactly landing true autism…so I wonder if Emily is just meant to be very introverted. Something to muse on, and I’d love to hear other readers’ opinions.

The overall plot is not face-paced, but I loved that. I loved the cosy village scenes, and the discovery of new fairies, and the pauses for Wendell shenanigans and the adventurous twist at the end. It’s infused with magic and told in such a lovely voice, and I throughly enjoyed every page.

Read it for:
♡ fairy tale vibes and folklore stories
♡ sunshine x grump (light) romance
♡ cosy dynamics and wintery setting
♡ stiff, grumpy characters learning to be loved
♡ light academia meets fairy tale magic
♡ journal entries format

Beautifully written, with characters you’ll grow so fond of, this is the whimsical yet cosy fantasy I have been craving and couldn’t love it enough!

Thank you to Orbit UK for the copy!

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

goodreads | blackwells | amazon | orbit uk

published January 10, 2023

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black (Wicked Fairytales To Adore!)

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Being a huge fan of The Cruel Prince trilogy, my expectations were super high for The Stolen Heir.

And oh I am shouting, because this was so so so so good. I’m absolutely obsessed!! I adore Holly Black’s style of fairy tales and fairy worlds, and this was absolutely addictive, biting, wickedly magical, beautiful and powerful. I just felt so stuffed full of inspiration and excited magic when I was finished–I love this feeling!! I am absolutely pining for book 2, of course, and after the way this one ended–2024 is going to be a good year for books.

An important question is probably, “Can you read The Stolen Heir without reading The Cruel Prince series?” And yes! I think you can. It does have spoilers for TCP obviously because it’s set several years later. But this follows the POV of Wren, who was a minor character (and just a child) in TCP, and while her story is built off the events of TCP, she brings a brand new perspective and storyline.

Also let me just say I am OBSESSED with the dark fairy tale bent to this. How the folk were so vicious and monstrous and stunningly beautiful. How the games had that macabre bent. Wren has been through hell and considers herself a feral, guarded, sharp-toothed thing. She can’t possibly understand why anyone would like her, let alone help her, and distrusts Oak extremely. Gentleness under a feral exterior is one of my favourite types of characters to read about, so this just had me living.

“Stop waiting. Sink those pretty little teeth into something.”

“Perhaps it is Oak who is the fool, who caught a wolf and thought that by putting it in a gown and speaking to it as though it were a girl, it would become one.”

The story is full of the good old fairy tale tricks and twists too. I LOVED every single aspect of it, the schemes and “don’t trust anyone” vibes. There are new characters to adore and old ones to fall in love with all over again. Oak is such a complex character, you just keep finding out new layers to him as each scene progresses. Charmer with a dark side? YES.

Read it for:
♡ dark fairy tale vibes and folklore
♡ feral girl x charmer boy
♡ clever plots and twists
♡ beautiful prose
♡ mentions of old The Cruel Prince cast
♡ thoroughly addictive storyline

This story had me falling in love with dark fairy folktales all over again with it’s vivacious writing and stunningly layered characters and plot twists to explode your heart. Highly recommend!!

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the review copy!

Return to the opulent world of Elfhame, filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires, with this first book of a captivating new duology from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black.
Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.
Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, Lady Nore, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.
Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.

goodreads | dymocks | amazon | allen & unwin

published 03 Jan, 2023

the isle of the gods by amie kaufman (seafaring adventure of gods and magic)

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Gods, quests, seafaring adventures…The Isle Of The Gods delivers. This comes with a classic YA fantasy vibe that is both comfortable and familiar and easy to get lost in. Despite being over 400 pages, I flew through this one, and it does have the kind of ending that’s going to leave you hankering for a sequel.

One very interesting thing about it is definitely the world-building. It had this gaslamp historical fantasy vibe that felt reminiscent of our world (in the slang, the dollars, etc) but is still thoroughly a second-world fantasy. Like they have automobiles but also classic old-fashioned style ships. Enter lore and legends and magic systems with elemental spirits and slumbering gods, there is a lot to keep readers intrigued. I also admit my attention got snagged by the boys’ backstories–anyone else really interested in the prince’s school escapades with Keegan and Jude?! Because I would love a book on that.

“It’s not that I thought I’d live forever. I just didn’t expect this kind of advance notice about when I was going to die.”

We have quite a few of narrators, but I would definitely say Selly stole the show. She is your tough-as-bricks sailor girl who just wants to prove her mettle and also ditch life a lowlife deckhand and take her place at her father’s side. Then we have Leander, the sassy flirty prince who is not-so-keen on his destiny that includes a quest to the isle of gods. His old schoolmate (and total nerd) Keegan is an unintentional addition to the adventure. Then there’s Jude, a complicated teen who just wants to protect his family, but is forced to do the bidding of a gang lord. And Laskia, sister of the gang lord, who is helping her sister start a war.

Selly begrudgingly helps Leander on his quest to the gods, outwitting the terrorists who want him dead so they can start a war, there’s also so many chase scenes and fights and epic displays of magic. It also definitely delivers on the sailing and ships part, which was fun, and while they didn’t spend a lot of time with the gods, I was really intrigued when that part rolled around at the end. I think that’ll come out to play in a bigger way in the sequel.

If you’re after a YA fantasy with banter and seafaring journeys and stubborn magic with a tentative romance of yearning, this one is for you!

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the review copy!

Magic, romance, and slumbering gods clash in the start of a riveting fantasy series spanning gangsters’ dens, forgotten temples, and the high seas from the New York Times bestselling author of the Illuminae Files and the Aurora Cycle.
Selly has saltwater in her veins. So when her father leaves her high and dry in the port of Kirkpool, she has no intention of riding out the winter at home while he sails to adventure in the north seas. But any plans to follow him are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician’s marks on his arms commandeers her ship under cover of darkness: He is Prince Leander of Alinor, and he needs to cross the Crescent Sea without detection so he can complete a ritual on the sacred Isles of the Gods.
Selly has no desire to escort a spoiled prince anywhere, and no time for his entitled demands or his good looks. But what starts as a leisure cruise will lead to acts of treason and sheer terror on the high seas, bringing two countries to the brink of war, two strangers closer than they ever thought possible and two dangerous gods stirring from centuries of slumber…

goodreads | amazon | allen & unwin

published 2nd May 2023

a hunger of thorns by lili wilkinson – corrupt witchy magic and twisted forest underworlds

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If you’re looking for a book that embodies dark whimsy…A Hunger of Thorns is calling to you. It gave me huge vibes of “what if alice in wonderland was sapphic and full of witches and corrupt magic” and it delivers just that. This is a tale of fairy tales turned toxic, love turned obsession, desperate quests and unlikely allies. It lingers on the edge of horror tbh, and since I’m in a horror-mood, I really appreciated that angle.

The story is told by Maude who is a witch who has lost her magic…and she’s also lost her best friend to a mysterious shut-down power plant that is festering with corrupt magic. Maude and Odette’s relationship is complicated and bordering on toxic. Maude has been deeply in love with Odette ever since they were children, but Odette has grown up sharp-edged and crass. They haven’t been friends for a while when she goes missing, but that doesn’t stop Maude pledging to find her. Plus there are pieces missing in Maude’s memory and also in the history they’ve always been told about magic and witches. Throw in a complicated relationship with Maude’s long-dead mother (a twisted, possibly bad witch–or was she?) and two sapphic grandmothers who love Maude deeply but maybe are keeping things from her…and you have a plot threaded in mystery. Maude is also a very morally grey character, driven by a creepy obsessive love but who is also very loyal.

The world building was super interesting too, as it’s a similar-to-our-world-but-not-quite. It feels a bit like Britain/Ireland but it’s a world separate to our own.

The writing is super lyrical and reminded me of fairy tales, but again, with that twist of macabre whimsy. Egg moons and thrupenny biscuits and all the tea you could ask for (because doesn’t tea fix everything!!). When we end up deep in the toxic wasteland of the power plant, the descriptions grow wild and woolly just like the atmosphere and there is so much to explore. There are plenty of monsters to face–but physical and metaphorical.

Definitely a story to pick up if you like fairy tales on the darker side and sapphic witches and falling deep into worlds of twisted magic and wild, wild sentient forests. The sticklewood is here and it will get its hooks in you.

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the review copy!

Maude is the daughter of witches. She spent her childhood running wild with her best friend, Odette, weaving stories of girls who slayed dragons and saved princes. Then Maude grew up and lost her magic – and her best friend. Storytelling is her only gift that remains.
Odette always hungered for forbidden, dangerous magic, and two weeks ago she went searching for it. Now she’s missing, and everyone believes she’s dead. Everyone except Maude.
Maude is sure she can find Odette inside the ruins of Sicklehurst, an abandoned power plant built over an ancient magical forest –a place nobody else seems to remember is there. The danger is, nobody knows what remains inside Sicklehurst, either. And every good story is sure to have a monster…

goodreads | amazon | allen & unwin

published 18 Apr 2023

hell bent (ninth house #2) by leigh bardugo – deliciously dark

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I finished reading Hell Bent last week and let me just say (succinctly) AHHHH. This sequel has been long awaited (Ninth House came out in 2019 can you believe) and am pleased to say I thoroughly enjoyed Hell Bent. Dark, bloody, full of tricks and demons and puzzles and schemes, it is a breathless journey. Alex continues to punch her way through problems, and the book really delved into the survivor mentality too. I do love when books unpack trauma and mental health issues amongst plots of clever twists and wicked powers.

Without giving too much away, Hell Bent centres on Alex and Dawes looking desperately for a way to get Darlington out of hell. Rituals, summonings, a gauntlet invoked by blood that will open the gates of hell–they’re quite literally ready to try everything, no matter the cost. Even if the cost could be losing Lethe itself. Alex and Dawes budding friendship was everything; they are such polar opposites in personality (Alex is sharp and dangerous and dark, and Dawes is a total soft-hearted, cosy baking introvert) but the team work these two put in is divine. Then the surprising addition to their duo is the reoccurring appearance of Turner, and then add in also dumbass golden retriever Tripp. And suddenly we have the foursome who are going to hell for a little exchange student trip to fetch Darlington. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG.

I did think the book would be darker and the fall out worse though, but possibly this is just on me 😂 and the horror I’ve been reading lately. I loved the pacing of it, the ever-rising stakes, how it wasn’t a traditional 3-act structure so it honestly kept me engaged the whole time. The finale sets up gloriously for more books and like–omg my heart maybe screamed a few times in happiness at the imagery–am holding my breathe here to keep back spoilers. So basically read it and tell me what you thought!!

Deliciously dark, this is dark academia meets urban fantasy with a good dose of demon tricks, unforgivable acts, blood-soaked history references, and untamed powers.

Thank you to Hachette Australia for the copy!

Alex Stern returns in another tale of murder and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite. Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell.
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory?even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

goodreads | book depository | hachette aus

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake – Dark Academia, Magicians & Ancient Libraries

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I enjoyed myself immensely reading The Atlas Six.

The hype was pretty intense for this one. (It went from self-published book to getting a cult following fandom online and then due to that it was picked up by Tor Books for a big deal…I think it’s even optioned for a movie now? So wild origin story.) And usually I’m at odds with the hype these days (tragically) but this suited me utterly and thoroughly. I also listened to the audiobook and couldn’t recommend it enough. I’s a full-cast narration and has 6 different voices. Usually I find so many narrators overwhelming, but I loved how this one unravelled.

The Atlas Six is about secret societies and the Library of Alexandria. It’s dark academia and uncoils a story around the power of exclusive knowledge, arcane sacrifices, and magicians getting drunk on their own power. It is slam packed with magic, in an academic and somewhat philosophical way. A lot of the science-mathy scenes went over my head, but I still really enjoyed those sections. Compelling if ostentatious. There’s lots of unravelled psyche and messing with heads too, and I loved always love that.

Six incredibly powerful magicians are invited to the exclusive Alexandrian Society. If they get through their first year of initiation, they will be full members. Six are chosen, five can go through. But the five have to kill the one. We have two physicists, an empath, mind-reader, illusionist, and a naturalist.

I loved the insane levels of magic powers, how these six are clever and powerful and academic rivals, each arrogant but also longing to be part of something more. It is so very character driven and the dynamics were fascinating.

Tristan ended up being my pessimistic favourite. Nico and Libby were the ADHD/autistic duo, I cannot be convinced otherwise. (Literally Libby is just so autistic, I adored it. I also liked that though they are locked in a frenemy-enemy dynamic, they aren’t slated to be a couple at all.) I liked Parisa; she definitely wants to burn the world down but she is beautiful and we’d let her. Reina hates people, loves books so thoroughly relatable. And Callum can go choke.

However overall I have to admit…nothing happens. I kept waiting for plot to start, but genuinely it’s full of conversations and discoveries and mindscapes and all that. But that saying, I was not bored! I’m not sure how I feel about the very final twist but I do want the sequel asap.

It’s an academic and twisty introspective dark academia with a rotting undercurrent of magic and power. These six people could make or break worlds and you can’t look away from the process.

Title: The Atlas Six
Author: Olivie Blake
Date Published: March 1st, 2022
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells
Add it on Goodreads
The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few…
– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.
When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

A Snake Falls To Earth by Darcie Little Badger — Lipan Apache Fantasy of Storytelling, Shapeshifters and Hurricanes

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This book is an actual a soft and wholesome delight. 🥺

Last year I fell in love with Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger so I needed her next book SO BADLY. A Snake Falls To Earth is a gorgeous follow-up. It has a different feel than Elatsoe (the biggest factor being it feels much younger), but it cemented my love for the author’s voice and storytelling style. Sometimes you just want to read about soft kids who want to help people and take care of each other and 😭 cherish tight-knit friendships above all else.

A Snake Falls To Earth has two narrators in two different worlds. (1) is Nina, a Lipan Apache girl who is a storyteller at heart and loves connecting to her roots and believing in old myths and legends. She lives in our world and her family runs a bookstore and her grandmother’s land miiiiight be a crossing between two worlds. (2) is Oli is a cotton mouth snake in an alternate dimension, one of the animal people who can shift shapes at will. He’s newly left home and loves reading and has made some unusual friends as he camps in the forest, but when one of his friends gets very sick, he realises the answers lie in earth. Cue — universes COLLIDING. But gently. Because no loud noises here.

I loved both Nina and Oli’s stories but I was kind of more invested in Oli. He has a ton of “everyday adventures”, from catching voices in jars to meeting his coyote soon-to-be-besties to having a run in with a nonbinary eagle to getting his tail stepped on. It reminded me a lot of my childhood faves of Farthing Wood and Beatrix Potter. Just gentle, cottagecore vibes. He also gets more page time (I think?). While Nina’s part was still lovely, as she tries to translate a story from her late great-(great?!?!) indigenous grandma who spoke in a Lipan dialogue Nina didn’t know. Plus Nina’s half deals a bit more with climate change critiques and hurricanes.

It did feel very young, basically middle-grade voice and vibes. Mostly this is because none of the characters had flaws? Everyone was just really kind and curious, and the book kept reassuring the reader that nothing bad would happen, so even when we DID get some high stakes, it all smoothed out easily. So basically — read this if you need a break from stressful books 😂🙌🏻 but also just read it because it’s GOOD 😌✨. I appreciated the change of pace and the comfortable vibes.

Other things I liked

  • Oli basically just avoid confrontation at ALL COSTS and his #1 hobby is napping in the sun…so like, maybe i too am a snake.
  • I just loved the animal people shapeshifters 🥺
  • the focus definitely is on friendship, and Oli’s bond with Risk and Rain (the coyote twins) is super lovely.
  • there are lowkey monsters in the background
  • Nina was so chill. 10/10 would like to be her friend.
  • Nina says she is asexual on page, but Oli also seemed super ace to me! He was pretty much like “marriage seems ok i guess if you meet the right person but idk”. BLESS.
  • lots of homage and love words Lipan Apache culture and the importance of verbal storytelling

If you’re looking for a book that is both wholesome and comforting, full of heart and storytelling and friendship and chaotic teens on adventures — this is it!! It was a lovely story and beautifully written.

I also listened to the audiobook from NetGalley and really loved the narrator too!

Title: A Snake Falls To Earth
Author: Darcie Little Badger
Date Published: November 9th 2021
Genre: YA Epic Fantasy
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells
Add it on Goodreads
Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.
Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.
Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.
And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.
Darcie Little Badger introduced herself to the world with Elatsoe. In A Snake Falls to Earth, she draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family. It is not to be missed.

 

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters — Haunted Music, Messed Up Families, & Murder Mysteries!

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This is exactly the kind of book I’d been craving!

I’m currently on a creepy-forest-and-low-key-horror reading kick lately, and I had preordered this ages ago (fun story 😂it took like 4 months to arrive despite preordering) so I was like NOW IS THE TIME. I ended up listening to the audiobook and it was so fantastically narrated. Sometimes heavy Southern accents are hard for me (an Australian) to understand, but this worked out! I absolutely sank into the story and it entirely stole my heart.

It’s so deeply about grief. I think the audiobook narrator enhanced this but…my heart broke several times over. Generational grief, suffering, self-torture, and secrets. It’s about a family whose pain runs layers deep, but their avoidance of it just poisons themselves. I kind of love books about dysfunctional families and their secrets, so this captivated me.

Shady Grove’s family falls apart when her step-father is murdered and her brother, Jesse, is jailed for it. She’s not even over her father’s death and his legacy of playing a magic fiddle that can raise ghosts haunts her. She wants the fiddle back. Even more so now, because she needs it to figure out who really killed her step-father so she can get her brother out of jail. She’s always winced at being seen as “white trailer trash” but her family is such a mess. Reclusive aunt. Dead father. Haunted ex-family home. Magic in their bones. Angry brother. A Shadow Man that haunts her sleep. I loved her absolute determination, but also her softness. She is a vulnerable girl keeping herself together through sheer grit. Music owns her soul — but not always in healthy ways.

THINGS I LOVED

  • The music aspect! The haunted fiddle is amazing and creepy and all-consuming. Althooooough…Shady does start a bluegrass band with her friends and I 💀 cannot deal with country music. I will look passed this. 😪
  • Big friend groups! It actually deals with toxic friendships (I do think Sarah was thoroughly toxic to Shady).
  • Shady is bisexual!! She has a crush on Sarah (who is closed off and cold to her) and ends up also crushing on Cedar (who is a soft but smug cowboy and a real sweetheart).
  • JESSEEEEEE. Okay to be absolutely honest, he’s my favourite character. He doesn’t have a lot of page-time, but he is obviously a huge catalyst to the story and the driving force behind Shady’s actions. His backstory BROKE me when it all comes out. He’s angry and stuffed with survivor’s guilt and he’s absolutely thoroughly alone 🥺I am in pieces for Jesse and this kid really deserves a hug. When he broke down crying near the end just….me too, son. (The way Shady was angry at him…no 😭)
  • It was so emotional and it truly made me FEEL that.
  • Loved that it had creepy magic and superstition but it was still rooted in our world. It’s not so much set IN a forest, but there’s a woods that plays a good part.
  • Also loved little toddler Honey 🥺👌🏻

It’s a highly emotional story with a riveting murder mystery and ghosts with sharp teeth and anguished tears. It’s full of grief, but also healing. I totally loved the characters and I wanted nothing more than for Shady to face her past and find a way to face the future.  

If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept.
Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.
But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.
In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.
Family secrets, a gorgeously resonant LGBTQ love triangle, and just the right amount of creepiness make this young adult debut a haunting and hopeful story about facing everything that haunts us in the dark.

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How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black (#3.5) — Illustrated, Whimsical Perfection

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Being back in Holly Black’s Cruel Prince world was absolutely everything I needed right now.

I’ve always said I craved Cardan’s perspective for this series. We get slivers of his backstory, his making, so slowly that we are left gloriously starved for it. So being gifted a novella purely from his perspective? A TREAT. We thank the faerie queen so deeply. 😭

What To Expect…
This is a novella (I always wish novellas were longer 😪) and it’s several stories told by Cardan ranging from when he is small, right up till post-Queen of Nothing timeline. So no, don’t read this before The Cruel Prince trilogy! It’s also illustrated and must admit the art is just gorgeously stunning (done by Rovina Cai). They are just that little bit ethereal and whimsical and smoky and exactly how I pictured both Cardan and Jude. From their faces to their body language.

“Why didn’t you hate everyone?” he asks. “Everyone, all the time.”
“I hated you,” Jude reassures him, bringing her mouth to his.

Do you ever just read something and sigh because it’s so perfect…
This was exactly what I wanted (EXCEPT I NEED MORE) and had those snippets of Cardan in our world (him trying to interact with mortals is hilarious 😂) to some of his childhood backstory. More insight to how he became the feral, toothy beautiful little villain he was so proud to be…until he wasn’t proud. Until it wasn’t enough and he wanted more. It also had all the lines that made me soft-happy-sigh.

And Cardan was just in PEAK CARDAN MODE, so dramatic and very self-satisfied at how beautiful he is 😌 But also glimpses into his lonesome life and jealousy longing for love.

It also is told in a thoroughly whimsical style. It feels like the trilogy’s writing plus a fairy tale all in its own.

“It is a mere nothing. No need for dramatics.”
“I am nothing,” Cardan said, “if not dramatic.”

I throughly loved this…
Whimsical and lovely, full of anger and sharp edges. Just that little bit of indulgent “what happened after” feels that makes my  reader/fan heart so happy and satisfied. I’m so glad it exists. Gorgeous inside and out.

An illustrated addition to the New York Times bestselling Folk of Air trilogy, that started with The Cruel Prince, from award-winning author Holly Black.
An irresistible return to the captivating world of Elfhame.
Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue.
Before he was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone . #1 New York Times bestselling author, Holly Black reveals a deeper look into the dramatic life of Elfhame’s enigmatic high king, Cardan. This tale includes delicious details of life before The Cruel Prince, an adventure beyond The Queen of Nothing, and familiar moments from The Folk of the Air trilogy, told wholly from Cardan’s perspective.
This new installment in the Folk of the Air series is a return to the heart-racing romance, danger, humor, and drama that enchanted readers everywhere. Each chapter is paired with lavish and luminous full-color art, making this the perfect collector’s item to be enjoyed by both new audiences and old.

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thank you to the publisher for the free copy