If you pass me a book about deeply mysterious families, witches and woods, and corrupt magic — I will love you forever.
Like this is my favourite reading aesthetic. I am the one who can’t stop reading The Raven Cycle, who adores Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, who is sitting here waiting for my Matilda telekinesis powers to kick in. (So far, no luck tho.) So it was an absolutely freaking delight to be back in The Graces world.
I read The Graces in 2016 and was so in love. The sequel was supposed to come in 2017 but it…just…didn’t. I’m not actually sure what happened, but it is now the good year of Twenty Nineteen and The Curses is here.
I’m going to do a double review! But no spoilers! 🤭
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the review-copies!
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It’s like falling in with an old friend when you reread a book you loved years ago! There’s that worry of “oh no will we still click??!” but…I totally adored The Graces still. It’s a book of oddness, a tangle of insecurities and the desperate craving of magic from a lonely girl who needs there to be more to this life. It was atmospheric to the core and I am here for that.
The writing really catches me too — it’s sensory and manages to be ethereal as well as forthright. I love the subtle weaving of magic through this book. Is magic true? Is it not? The writing makes you ache with wanting to know. Until the ending of course, which is like being slammed into the sea at full force. And rereading it had me caught up in such knots?! How did I SURVIVE the wait for the sequel so !! long !!
The Grace family are entrancing, problematic to the core, but yet you can’t look away. I’m with River here. They’re a secretive force, needing none but each other, so when they let that one person in…it means so much. Thalia, with her earthy soft goodness. Fenrin, the sarcastic flirt with wavering faith in his family. Summer, the goth and sharp and fully in love with her witch destiny. And River Page — the narrator who is hiding the darkest of secrets.
(My only qualm reading this one is uncertainty as to whether the book was queerbaiting or not? Summer causally calls River a girlfriend, even, at one stage, but there’s no romantic hints in River’s narration that she ever feels romantic towards Summer. She’s in love with Fenrin…which gives me pause when the straight girl is obsessed with the queer boy.)
Goodreads | Book Depository | Publisher
I went into this absolutely wrapped in anticipation. And it was like a welcome slide back into this witchy and deeply magical story, deliciously vibrant and so sensory that I could taste the mulberries and smell the herbs. The entire book is a feast of power…and of selfishness and insecurity and grief. And afjkdsladjf I just love that.
This time it’s narrated by Summer Grace. And I adore her! She’s easily one of the most epic of the trio of Grace siblings. I did, however, feel this was actually Fenrin’s story…he had all the plot. So I’m curious as to why Summer narrated.
Also am here for how much more sibling life we got. 🙌🏻 They’re still dealing with the trauma of the last book (SOB AREN’T WE ALL) and they’re just such a tight-knit group. They love each other fiercely, but they also know the best ways to hurt each other. Also there is fully a scene where the eat so much cake they can’t function. Quality content. I just love sibling-focused stories, particularly if the siblings are witches.
So did it live up to my 2-years of anxious anticipation? It did in all ways except for how it ended up handling the queerness. I wanted it to pull through and it didn’t and I genuinely felt queerbaited. But maybe I’m misinterpreting it?
The Curses was deeply magical and haunting, all witches and spells and dark threads running through the town. The writing was everything I wanted, and having more Grace sibling time was amazing! But I can’t ignore the queerbaited feel of the ending.
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
is there a sequel you had to wait a long time for? or one you’re *still* waiting for?? and tell me if you’ve tried this duology and what you thought!
Every part of me wants to become a Grace, but I also know that they’re very messed up so I shouldn’t want that, BUT THEY’RE SO COOL AND I LOVE THEM ALL. My middle name is already Grace, so I could just slide it over a bit and I’m there.
SAME THOUGH. I am a middle-name-Grace! So clearly you and I could just like…slot in there. I’m sure we’re weird enough 🙌🏻
Ok good news and weird news; I finally got the email notifying me of a new post!!! I’ve been keeping up via just checking your site but I forgot today and email had my back!! I think it’s because when I went to comment I hit the ‘notify me of new posts by email’ button.! The weird news is that it didn’t have a link for the post.
Also I hadn’t heard about this but from your review I am now very much intrigued. I am very much here for magical siblings
I ALSO GOT AN EMAIL AGAIN AND I’M STOKED 😱🎉please please let this be reeeeal and my blog finally be fixed ajafdksaldf.
I’d never heard of these books before and then came across them in a Waterstones a few months ago, but they did that really annoying thing of a) having no blurb and b) not making it clear anywhere which book came first, so I ended up leaving them on the shelf.
I might have to give these a try, though! I do love a witch book, and it’ll be interesting to see how much the author’s writing style has changed and improved with a 3 year gap between them. =)
Tbh I’m not a fan of these covers with the text on them…it’s kind of even hard to tell what the title is?! But the US hardcovers are GORGEOUS.
Yesss all the sequels 😂 Seriously though I’m super bummed by the lack of promo for this one, I legitimately forgot it was coming out! But I liked Book 1 and I think I need this one too. Sucks about the feel of queerbaiting but glad it was otherwise good. I love a duology!
So much, right!? I kind of remember the first one coming out and so many bloggers hating it lol but I was like: yas witch aesthetic, bring me.
While this isn’t necessarily a book, I waited FOREVER for the Incredibles 2 to come out. The wait for the sequel was so ridiculous, I’m so glad that it’s finally out and that I can watch it on Netflix!
Oh yes, totally with the Incredibles! Although I still need to see it 😂but I waited FAR too long lmao
I felt the same way at the end of the curses and I really want to believe that there is another one coming out but part of me says. No she meant for it be like that to leave you thinking “who did they ever fall in love with?”, “did Morgan ever cause anything else to happen?”. I might be that only one but still it would be interesting just like “Harry Potter deathly hollows” if you don’t know J.K. Rowling put 19 years later to see who they ended up with and how menu children they had even tho we all knew who was with who it was just a sense of relief that “ok the series is over and I’m going to have to live with that.” I mean I might be the only one but still I needed that. So maybe just a thought that there will be a third book because if you look at the pattern she had 5 years in between the graces and the curses so maybe another one will come out in 2022 because I mean who just puts 6 empty pages I mean I wouldn’t unless it was a sign that there will be another one
Does anyone have a book suggestion that I could read after reading something like this?