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Fantasy

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

Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong (plus a special Q&A with the author!)

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If you’re looking for a decadent YA fantasy, this one is calling to you.

I’m super lucky to be able to interview Kate J. Armstrong, so read on for the Q&A too!

Nightbirds delivers this lush and detailed world that is so easy to get lost in. It has a unique forbidden-style magic system where a kiss can gift power and the set up reminded me of the Grisha dynamics with magic being praised and worshipped by some, but persecuted and controlled viciously by others. Add that into this Caraval meets Gatsby glittering and luxurious style world, and you have Nightbirds. The parties and balls and gowns were all beautifully described–and loved the contrast of that with rebellion and flames later on.

She grew up being told it couldn’t be, and she believed.

The story follows three main characters, our magical Nightbird girls: Matilde, Sayer and Æsa. Matilde definitely felt like a main character, confident and glamorous and privileged, who doesn’t notice she is a bird in a cage. Sayer has the bitter, stabby personality so immediate fave for me. Æsa is an absolute sweetheart and so caring and lovely. Like protect Æsa at all costs please and thank you. While there is also romance for each of the girls, the focus is on sisterhood and friendship. There are some side-character POVs and tbh quite a huge cast, so there’s a lot to keep track of making it perfect for readers who like fantasy that goes deeper.

Your magic is something rave and no doubt powerful. But it isn’t a poison… I know because it comes from you

The story also feels like a love letter to women empowerment, drawing off age-old imagery of girls as caged birds, girls being used by powerful men, girls as witches when they cannot be controlled. The Nightbird girls can gift magic with a kiss, but what if everything they’ve been told all their lives about their powers is a lie? It’s a story about girls uniting, raising each other up, and refusing to be held down by an oppressive society.

Would recommend if you like…

  • lush and pretty world building with Caraval x Gatsby vibes
  • girl friendships and empowerment
  • magic, all the magic
  • evil churches trying to control magic
  • betrayals and twists
  • romance! kisses! love!
  • rebellions

Hi Kate, I’m so thrilled to have the chance to chat with you about your gorgeous debut, Nightbirds! Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey, from first seed of an idea to publication?

KATE J ARMSTRONG: It’s lovely to be here! I was hiking up a mountain in Montana when I had this very clear image bloom in my mind of an opulent room and a girl in a feathered mask kissing a boy who had paid for the favor. She was giving him something besides the kiss, too: magic. I wanted to know what sort of magic it was and why she would give such a potent power away. A few months later, I was sipping a champagne cocktail in a 1920s-themed speakeasy in New York City. The place was clearly meant to transport you back in time to the 1920s, that time of sparkling flappers, sultry music, and shadowy, illicit-feeling thrills. It had me thinking about that era’s Prohibition: the way the ban on booze made drinking dangerous, and thus accidentally made it glamorous, turning what had been a commonplace substance into a symbol of rebellion, decadence, and status. I thought about how, in chasing alcohol into the shadows, Prohibition also created a dangerous underworld that made its own rules. And then I thought: what if, in that masked girl’s world, there was a Prohibition around magic? What if the rarest and most powerful kind was intrinsic to women? What would happen if a coveted, illegal, morally controversial power was something only girls could claim?

I started writing Nightbirds in 2018, but I didn’t send it out to publishers until 2021. While this book might be my first published novel, I’d already written four before it. Number Four got me my agent, but it didn’t end up selling. That was a big blow to my confidence, but I felt sure that Nightbirds was something special. Lucky for me, my publishers agreed.

Nightbirds definitely is something special!! And the journey to publication is no easy feat for sure. What drew you to writing fantasy and what was your favourite part of creating the world of Nightbirds?

KATE J ARMSTRONG: Like most kids, I was always checking the crawl spaces under stairs and the backs of walk-in closets, secretly hoping to find a door to another world there. I love fantasy as a reader because it gives me a chance to walk through that door, to escape into another world altogether. I found myself drawn to fantasy because it gave me the chance to craft a world that enchanted me—one where I made the rules, but where I could also explore very real-world issues. As for creating the world, I loved every minute of it, but particularly building the magical system. There are two types of magic in NIGHTBIRDS: alchemical and intrinsic. The first is conjured by alchemists, and it can be used as medicine, but also as recreation, distilled into cocktails that will let you speak another language for a handful of minutes or make someone’s dress seem to spark and smoke. It is expensive, it effects fleeting, and can be deadly if brewed badly. But the most valuable magic is intrinsic, passed through bloodlines and only found in young women. Enter the Nightbirds, a secret group of girls who can gift their magic with just a kiss. I loved coming up with their powers and thinking about all the ways they could be used.

Matilde, Sayer and Æsa are all such complex and captivating characters–who came into your imagination first? And who was the easiest/hardest to write?

KATE J ARMSTRONG: Matilde arrived first, and pretty much fully formed! She’s the veteran Nightbird of the trio: spoiled, privileged, confident and sassy, she doesn’t see anything wrong with the Nightbirds system. When I thought about creating my other characters, I knew I wanted them to be very different from Matilde – I love a cast of very distinct characters who have to work to understand each other. I also wanted those girls to challenge and push her, and to let readers see the Nightbirds system through a totally different lens. Enter Sayer, the daughter of a Nightbird who fell from grace, who has some scores to settle. She’s a fan favorite already, and I can see why: her anger at the unjustness of the world, and her take-no-prisoners attitude, is something I think we all can cheer for! She has nothing but contempt for the system, and she forces Matilde to question who its rules were really built to benefit. After that came Æsa, who is the sweetness to Sayer’s sharp edges and the timid blush to Matilde’s saucy smile. An outsider from the wind-swept Illish Isles who has become a Nightbird to keep her family from starving, and raised by a pious father in the shadow of a church that preaches it’s a sin to use magic, I think she might be the most relatable of all the girls.

Matilde and Æsa were the easiest to write, perhaps because they were clear opposites: from the beginning, I understood who they were and what mattered to them. Prickly, guarded Sayer was a little more difficult to pin down. She’s the kind of person that isn’t easy to get to know, but once you’re under her guard she’s as loyal and steadfast as they come. I found that was true in writing her, too!

I loved how different they were and how that turned out to be an incredible asset to them working together as the ultimate team. When do you usually write and what is your writing space like?

KATE J ARMSTRONG: I like to write in the morning, when the world is quiet and the world hasn’t had a chance to intrude on my daydreams. And I like to write in lots of places: cafes, parks, the beach. All I need is my headphones and my writing playlist! Although when I first start a book, I tend to write things by hand, and I do a lot of that in nature. I do a lot of plotting while I’m out on walks. But the place I spend most of my time writing, these days, is in my garden shed. My husband took what was once a spider-filled tool shed and turned it into this amazing little studio, which I’m slowly filling with my favorite books and pieces of art (and, of course, a bed for my greyhound). I love having a small space that’s dedicated to writing. When I go in there, everything else fades away.

Can we beg for a hint about what you’re working on next?

KATE J ARMSTRONG: I’m working on Nightbirds’ sequel! I can’t wait for readers to find out what’s in store for the girls in this one. I can’t say much about it, other than there will be more of many things I love: intrigue, betrayal, big magic…and, of course, kissing.

And lastly! What have been some of your favourite author moments so far?

KATE J ARMSTRONG: There have been SO many. Holding my bound book in my hands for the first time. Seeing my beautiful maps in their final form. Meeting teen readers (and their moms!) on the road. Nothing fuels me quite like meeting readers in the wild.

Thank you so much for all these incredible answers, and congratulations on your beautiful debut!!

thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review copy

Date Published: 28 Feb, 2023
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
In a dazzling new fantasy world full of whispered secrets and political intrigue, the magic of women is outlawed but three girls with unusual gifts have the chance to change it all.
Magic may be illegal in Simta, but you can find it if you know which whispers to heed. None as tantalising as the ones about the Nightbirds, Simta’s best kept secret. These privileged girls have the ability to gift their magic to others with a kiss – something the church would have them killed for. But protected by the Great Houses, their identities safe behind masks, the Nightbirds are well-guarded treasures.
Matilde, Æsa, and Sayer spend their nights bestowing their unique brands of magic to well-paying clients. But this Season’s Nightbirds find themselves at the heart of a political scheme that threatens their secrets and their safety. When they discover that their magic is far more than they were ever told, they see the carefully crafted Nightbird system for what it is: a gilded cage.
Now they must make a choice – to remain kept birds or take control, remaking the city that dared to clip their wings.
Filled with sumptuous, cinematic writing and dazzling details, Nightbirds is a fiercely feminist fantasy debut where the most potent magic lies not in a kiss, but in the truth.

Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams – Haunting Story of Sisters, Curses & Ghosts

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This is such a dark and haunting story.

It’s the kind of horror where the paranormal things happening are less atrocious than what the humans are doing. It’s a very dark and sobering book and is set in the 1950s in southern USA. (Side note, I am Australian so I haven’t learned USA history in depth.) Also if you hear the word “horror” and go “ehhh no I don’t read that”, waaaaait. This isn’t full of jump-scares and probably is also classified as paranormal historical YA too. Needless to say, you should definitely still read!!

It follows the story of Charlie and Magnolia, twins separated at birth. Their father was a white heir to a rich plantation family, and their mother a Black housekeeper. They ran away together, but were later murdered, and each of their grandmothers took one of the babies: because Charlie was born Black and Magnolia very light-skinned and able to pass as white. They were JUST BABIES. They didn’t get a choice. Magnolia was basically ripped away from Charlie and their Black grandma and never even got to know she had a sister or Black heritage. She only finds out when the book begins and her white grandmother dies (she was such a cruel awful woman too).

“Because every time I accept that I’m worth less – less than a man, or a white person, or a gosh-darn oil baron – it punches a hole in my spirit. Punch enough holes and your spirit breaks.

It’s told in dual POV by both sisters and I loved them both a lot, though I think Magnolia had the bigger personal arc. Once she learns she’s Black, she ends up cursed and unable to eat/drink and is seeing terrifying ghosts, because it’s like part of her has been fractured in two. It’s time to choose a side. Meanwhile, Charlie grew up in New York (while Magnolia stayed in the south) and she fights for full rights and she’s forthright and wonderful. The sister bond was LOVELY too. They are literal strangers at first, but 🥺 their hearts know each other.

The book doesn’t shy away from covering horrible historical events: murders of slaves, the absolute obscene amount of racial prejudice Black people faced and their casual killings by bigoted, evil white people. Sobering reveals happened at every turn. And it’s also full of the fierce love, joy, and pride of the Black community. They were fully willing to accept Magnolia if she chose to stand with her people. It’s a very powerful story.

Curses, ghosts, a creepy house full of horrific secrets: it’s a story that says the dead aren’t who you truly have to fear when humans are capable of worse to each other.

Title: Mirror Girls
Author: Kelly McWilliams
Date Published: February 8th 2022
Genre: YA Historical Fiction, Horror
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Purchase: Book Depository
Add it on Goodreads
As infants, twin sisters Charlie Yates and Magnolia Heathwood were secretly separated after the brutal lynching of their parents, who died for loving across the color line. Now, at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, Charlie is a young Black organizer in Harlem, while white-passing Magnolia is the heiress to a cotton plantation in rural Georgia.
Magnolia knows nothing of her racial heritage, but secrets are hard to keep in a town haunted by the ghosts of its slave-holding past. When Magnolia finally learns the truth, her reflection mysteriously disappears from mirrors—the sign of a terrible curse. Meanwhile, in Harlem, Charlie’s beloved grandmother falls ill. Her final wish is to be buried back home in Georgia—and, unbeknownst to Charlie, to see her long-lost granddaughter, Magnolia Heathwood, one last time. So Charlie travels into the Deep South, confronting the land of her worst nightmares—and Jim Crow segregation.
The sisters reunite as teenagers in the deeply haunted town of Eureka, Georgia, where ghosts linger centuries after their time and dangers lurk behind every mirror. They couldn’t be more different, but they will need each other to put the hauntings of the past to rest, to break the mirrors’ deadly curse—and to discover the meaning of sisterhood in a racially divided land.

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
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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.

[Double Reviews] The Tower At The End of Time & The Revelry – Magical Fantasy Stories

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I have two reviews to share with you today, for a double little treat 👀👌🏻 These are both sent from Walker Books (thank you so much!) and one is YA and the other is MG. So let’s dive right in 😌 Hope you enjoy!

The Tower At The End Of Time #2 by Amy Sparkes

Date Published: January 6th, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells
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Adventurous, magical and brilliantly funny sequel to The House at the Edge of Magic.
Nine and her friends have broken the curse on their marvellous, magical House, and are free to travel the worlds once more! Their first stop: The Wizarding Hopscotch Championships. There’s only one problem: the House is nervous about travelling – and gets the hiccups! Bouncing from world to world with every “HIC!”, they finally land at the championships, only for Flabberghast to have an unfortunate run-in with square number nine, and find himself faced with the terrible Tower at the End of Time. But maybe here they can find out how to cure the House’s hiccups, and Nine might finally discover who left her the beloved music box, and who she really is… A young middle grade novel full of humour, magic and mischief – and the second in a three book series.

This was a delightful Middle Grade book with so, so much whimsy and chaotic magic! It felt like Alice in Wonderland colliding with Howl’s Moving Castle — but instead this time it’s a very opinionated flying house. And the house is not having a great time considering it has been stationery for 3 years, and now taking off again has left it with a damaging case of the hiccups (it might even explode if this keeps up). Add in an electric array of characters including a bizarre wizard, a talking spoon, a troll, and Nine herself (an orphan who just wants a family!!) and you have a book that is very charming and light-hearted to read.

A small confession here is that, I didn’t know it was a sequel! I was graciously gifted a copy as a surprise, so I just cheerfully dived and was there like, “Hmm, this feels like a sequel? But maybe not.” Well, it was. 😂 That said, I think it was enjoyable on it’s own, but I definitely recommend starting with book one. I’m curious about the origin of Nine and how she came to be tangled up in this moody house. I did feel like Nine didn’t have much agency for most of the book, so I wonder if book 1 set up her character more.

The style is also great for young kids too, with lots of nursery rhyme references and silly magic (hopscotch competitions! magical tea cupboards! enchanted houses with the hiccups!) so it was definitely geared at the littlies. There is a tower of doom to traverse and answers to be found to difficult questions, but at the heart of the book is found-family and lots of inventive problem solving.

A cute read for sure!

The Revelry by Katherine Webber

Date Published: January 6th, 2022
Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells, Dymocks
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A story of best friends, bad luck and the consequences of breaking the rules in a town built on secrets and superstitions.
I am girl of Ember Grove, and these are my woods… Growing up in Ember Grove, Bitsy Clark knows better than to mess with the long-held traditions of her hometown. Until her best friend, Amy, persuades her to sneak into the Revelry – the end of school party in the woods, to which only those leaving are invited. When she wakes the next day, Bitsy can’t remember anything from the night before. Weirder still, whenever she tries to speak about the Revelry, Bitsy chokes on the words. But this is just the beginning, and what starts out as a run of bad luck starts to feel like a curse. As Bitsy’s life goes from bad to worse, things only get better and better for her best friend. It’s as if there’s only so much luck to go round and Amy’s getting all of it…

This is a YA contemporary with just a pinch of fantasy, to keep you guessing if everything Bitsy goes through is real…or not. It’s set in a small odd little town, where every year there’s a secret and magical Revelry. Only accessed by invitation to those graduating high school. It’s the Once In A Life Time experience and NO one talks about it afterwards, though it’s definitely said to change your life. The story is told by Bitsy Clark who is dying to get into the Revelry early. She sneaks in with her bestie, Amy, but when they wake up the next morning…they have no idea what happened. The only thing Bitsy knows is that she’s cursed. When something good happens to Amy, something terrible happens to Bitsy. Their friendship starts fracturing big time as the little things grow. Jobs are lost. Embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions happen at school. Bitsy feels like she’s failing at every turn and, worse, Amy doesn’t even seem to care.

So the interesting thing about this is that it’s VERY easy to wonder: is the curse real? Or is Bitsy just being extremely catty to her best friend? There are a lot of coincidences, and a lot of moments where Bitsy’s bad decisions just come back to bite her. I think the book was taking a look at teen girl friendships. How bitterness and cutting behaviour can come out of nowhere, and it can ruin everything if you let it.

Bitsy got more and more focused on herself and her perceived woes that she really treated Amy badly the whole way through. Downside to this — Bitsy was pretty unlikeable. Her selfishness towards Amy was hard to forgive.

I did love the concept of the Revelry, and the snippets of magic in the woods (the strange girl! the history of their little town slowly coming out and dark secrets revealed). It’s also a super fast read, bite sized and concise. If you enjoy books like Moira Fowley-Doyle and The Hazel Wood, this is one to check out.

Only A Monster by Vanessa Len – Time Travelling Monsters & Heroes

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I’ve been seeing more urban fantasies of monstrous creatures and dark cities coming out and I have to say, I am here for it.

Only A Monster by Vanessa Len is looking to be one of the Big Name releases for 2022 and I was very keen to get my hands on it. (Also the cover is such dark whimsy 😙👌🏻) It promised a hero x monster romance, time travelling, antiheroes, and powerful families with dark powers. And I am excited seeing Australian-based authors go far too!

The story follows Joan Chang-Hunt as she spends the holidays with her grandma’s family in London. Part human, part monster, Joan has a severe disconnect with her monster-side. She knows about being a monster (the book starts with a prologue of a young-Joan being told the weight of the monster secrets needs to stay hidden as she performs her first piece of magic) but she doesn’t really understand what it means. Until, as a teen, she accidentally steals time from a human and travels. Then the truth hits hard — monsters drain years (and life) from humans in order to travel to any era they please, popping in and out of centuries for pleasure and fun. Joan is a pretty Straight Laced Do-Gooder and is horrified. But her introduction to the monster world takes a pretty steep learning dive when she’s attacked by the terrible Oliver family — and protected by her human boyfriend.

Who turns out to be the fated Hero of all the monster family’s legends. The Hero who is going to kill them all. So basically — Joan chose the wrong person to have a crush on.

The story dives straight into an on-the-run plot line as Joan escapes the monster massacre with the help of Aaron Oliver (nemesis of her family!!) I actually expected them to fall in love? 😂 But they were more antagonistic frenemies, slowly gaining trust and friendship, as Joan tries to find a way to go to the past and warn their families of the incoming massacre.

It did leave me with a lot of questions, like why are the Olivers and Hunts enemies? Hopefully the sequel has aaaall the answers 🙌🏻 I did expect it to be a darker, but it’s definitely a good start for YA readers looking to try urban fantasy.

Fast-paced, time-travelling, enemies-to-lovers and star-crossed romances, with a girl battling her monstrous side as she tries to save her family — this is the perfect read for fans of This Savage Song and Shadowhunters.

“You’re a hero and I’m a monster,” she whispered. “There’s only one way that story ever ends.”

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review copy!

Title: Only A Monster (#1)
Author: Vanessa Len
Date Published: February 2022
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells, Dymocks
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Don’t forget the rule. No one can know what you are. What we are. You must never tell anyone about monsters.
Only a monster would kill a hero. Right?
Every family has its secrets, but the summer Joan Chang-Hunt goes to stay with her Gran in London, she learns hers is bigger than most. The Hunts are one of twelve families in London with terrifying, hidden powers.
Joan is half-monster. And what’s more, her summer crush Nick isn’t just a cute boy – he’s hiding a secret as well; a secret that places Joan in terrible danger.
When the monsters of London are attacked, Joan is forced on the run with the ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family who are sworn enemies of her own. Joan is drawn deeper into a world that simmers with hostilities, alliances and secrets. And her rare and dangerous power means she’s being hunted. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .
. . . she is not the hero.