Review of Lies We Sing to the Sea, by Sarah Underwood

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Lies We Sing to the Sea

by Sarah Underwood

HarperTeen, 2023. 420 pages.
Review written March 12, 2023, from a library book
Starred Review

Ah! This is the sort of book I was hoping to read by being on the Morris committee! (It came after two in a row that I didn’t finish.)

I’m not sure if Lies We Sing to the Sea is based on an actual Greek myth or embellished as a history of Ithaca after the story of Odysseus. But the premise is that Ithaca was cursed and every year has to offer twelve maidens to Poseidon, or the sea will ravage the island and kill many others.

As the book begins, Leto, the daughter of the last oracle, has received the mark of Poseidon – scales around her neck – so she’s sentenced to be hung with eleven other maidens. She almost escapes at one point, and of course we think that’s going to happen, because it’s the start of the book. We get the perspective of the prince as well, who hates to oversea the deaths of twelve girls every year.

But it actually happens. Yes, she meets eyes with the prince – but then Leto actually dies by the noose and her body is swept into the sea.

The next chapter, though, introduces us to Melantho. She lives alone on an island. She has become Poseidon’s creature. And she takes twelve bodies out of the water.

But then one of the dead girls opens her eyes – as one has done many times before, but decades ago. Leto is the twelfth girl to wash up alive on Melantho’s island. And it will be up to her to break the curse – by killing the prince.

We know it won’t be easy. After all, the prince is a viewpoint character, not some nameless evil guy. He doesn’t even want to order the killings.

And then Leto manages to bring Melantho with her as she leaves the island, something that’s never happened before. Together, they go back to Ithaca, posing Leto as the prince’s betrothed from Athens, and equipped with the power of Poseidon over the waters of the sea. Leto needs to kill the prince, and she needs to do it in the sea.

The story from there is woven expertly with twists and turns. Each character has secrets and back story that come out only gradually. They all want to break the curse, but will they be able to do it?

Fair warning, there’s some sex in this book, but not very closely described. Something that struck me as interesting was that this was the second young adult book I’ve read recently where a main character loves two people – but it’s not presented as a love triangle or even a choice she has to make – she simply loves both of them. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that, but in this particular book it worked out believably.

And the writing in this book is lyrical and beautifully woven – appropriate for a mythological tale.

I’m writing this review at the start of my Morris reading, but now I know that whatever we pick, they’re sure to be excellent – because this is one of the choices. It’s always wonderful in committee reading to find that first book you would be proud to include as your winner – and know that our choices are only going to expand.

sarahunderwood.uk
EpicReads.com

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Review of A Language of Dragons, by S. F. Williamson

Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Language of Dragons

by S. F. Williamson
read by Henrietta Meire

HarperCollins, 2025. 12 hours, 47 minutes.
Review written February 3, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.

Here’s a historical fantasy novel set in an alternate reality 1923 in a London where sentient dragons live among humans, and the prime minister is a woman, having negotiated a peace agreement with the Dragon Queen after the dragons of Bulgaria rose up and killed all the humans there. However, written into the peace agreement is a strict class system. And staying in Second Class, with its privileges of being able to go to University, is conditional on passing exams at seventeen.

Vivian Featherswallow passed her exams and hopes to become a dragon linguist. She already knows six dragon languages. But when her parents are arrested as being part of the rebellion, and her cousin taken as well, Viv will do anything to save them – even set free an imprisoned criminal dragon to burn the prime minister’s office where they’ve got the evidence against her parents.

Well, that doesn’t work so well, and let’s just say that the rebellion heats up. Viv has a chance to redeem herself if she’ll work on solving a dragon code – at a place called Bletchley.

I laughed when Bletchley was mentioned, because it’s the current favorite topic in children’s books. Last year, off the top of my head, there was Max in the House of Spies, The Bletchley Riddle, and The Enigma Girls. This time, the top secret folks at Bletchley were trying to figure out what the dragons were saying with their high-pitched squeaks and clicks (like bats or whales) above the pitch that human ears can hear, but able to be modified by a clever machine.

Okay, up to this point I was all in. I loved the nuances of the dragon languages Viv knows (because yes! It makes sense that dragons would develop their own languages). But I had a little trouble with the whole Bletchley code-breaking apparatus applied to it. They were trying to figure out what the dragons meant with “Trill #4” or “Tone #11” – and I never did understand how the codebreakers even learned which pitch was which, let alone what they meant.

Beyond that, though, there are bullies guarding them and more and more reasons to join the rebel side, but Viv has been promised her whole family (including her baby sister, now in an orphanage) will go free if she gives the prime minister the key to the “dragon code.” And it gets somewhat convoluted from there – who to trust, what’s going on. Mind you, this could be a case of I didn’t listen closely at a crucial point and lost the thread, but there was also a bit more Angst on the part of the main character about every decision than I care for in a novel, and her decisions did go back and forth, so it was hard to keep track of what she was trying to do. It was also a little bit hard to believe anyone would have accepted the dystopian society they were living in. And there was some awful violence portrayed. I mean, they’re fighting with dragons, so what did I expect?

All that said, I loved the idea of sentient dragons who are not exactly tame dragons, living together with humans in a fragile peace. The story did not end with this book, and things are very likely about to get much worse, but it did end at a satisfying pausing point. Despite those quibbles, I’m fascinated enough by this book, I’m sure I’ll want to hear more.

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Review of Drown Me with Dreams, by Gabi Burton

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Drown Me with Dreams

by Gabi Burton
read by Dami Olukoya

Bloomsbury YA, 2024. 12 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written August 17, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Let me say again that I love the new trend in fantasy books of publishing duologies instead of trilogies. Drown Me with Dreams completes the duology begun in Sing Me to Sleep (a 2023 Sonderbooks Stand-out), following the siren Saoirse, who’s the only one of her kind in the kingdom of Keirdre, after the king slaughtered them all as monsters. (An advantage to listening to the book is now I know how to pronounce that.)

Things have changed for Saoirse in this book – I don’t want to give too many details and give away the first book, but now Saoirse is living openly as a siren, and she finds a way to cross the barrier to leave Keirdre. But she won’t be able to come back if Hayes doesn’t bring the barrier down – and that could have terrible consequences.

In this book, besides doing some sleuthing and plotting for the good of the kingdom, Saoirse also learns not to be afraid of her power – and that she doesn’t have to use it to kill.

In the first book, I got a little bogged down with the world-building – a kingdom enclosed by a barrier that not even birds can get through? I have trouble believing it. But in this book, I was used to the idea, and the focus was more on how could they bring it down without starting multiple wars. There was also speculation about what makes a good ruler. Can a good man be a good ruler to a kingdom that was founded to reward ruthlessness?

I’m also a little skeptical of Saoirse’s ability to taste other people’s emotions. Because how does it get in her mouth instantly? I mean, if it were a smell, it could waft in the air, but these were described even as tastes in the back of her throat. Again by this time, I was used to the idea, and the descriptions were so creative, never mind details like that. The emotions weren’t described as simply salty or spicy or sweet, but through a wide range from cinnamon to orange to old stew going rancid. It turns out that with this power, Saoirse can tell when someone is lying, which did make sense.

For most of the book, Saoirse is across the barrier from the one she loves – but she can dream walk to see him. There’s another world-building detail that was a little hard for me – they can touch and feel each other, but it’s only a dream. So when Saoirse talks to Hayes in the dream walk – what is her actual body doing? Apparently nothing. It’s all a little murky – but the romance is beautifully done, and questions of trust are explored. And then the beads she uses to dream walk stop working exactly when it causes the most possible misunderstanding. (Which is precisely how coincidences should work in fiction – cause problems, and we’ll believe it. Solve problems, and it feels way too convenient.)

So – without giving details, this second book made me love the whole duology more. The first book was a debut novel I read when on the Morris Award Committee – and this second book is even stronger – full of tension and intrigue, and finishes off the story in a satisfying, but not predictable way. The author has already grown in her writing in just one book. I look forward to seeing what she will do next.

gabiburton.com

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Review of Graciela in the Abyss, by Meg Medina

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Graciela in the Abyss

by Meg Medina
illustrated by Anna and Elena Balbusso

Candlewick Press, 2025. 236 pages.
Review written July 22, 2025, from my own copy, given to me at ALA Annual Conference and signed to me by the author.
Starred Review

First, I am a huge Meg Medina fan – and am privileged to think of her as a friend. When she saw me in line to get the book signed, she greeted me by name and gave me a big hug! How did this happen? Meg was the winner the year I was on the Newbery Selection Committee, and I was privileged to be part of the group that changed her life – and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer and more deserving person!

So of course there is no surprise that I love this book. Let me tell you what I love about it.

First, it’s in a stunningly beautiful package. It’s a middle-grade novel, but it’s illustrated. There are full-page illustrations periodically throughout the book as well as chapter heading decorations. And underneath the beautiful paper cover is a gorgeous illustration on the case of the book.

The story itself is a unique fantasy tale about water spirits. The book begins in the Prologue with Graciela’s death! (This is a surprise in a children’s book.) She fell into the sea when she ignored her older sister’s cautions. But in chapter one, she wakes up a hundred years later as a sea spirit. And she has a loving guide named Amina who helps her learn the ways of the sea. She becomes a glazier who polishes sea glass, so people find wonderful treasures on the shore.

However, not all sea spirits are good. There are Needlers in the deep who make trouble for everyone. And there are places that are dangerous for a sea spirit who hasn’t mastered her new powers yet. When she died, Graciela didn’t lose her tendency to go where she wants to go despite the warnings of others.

Our other main character is Jorge, a boy who lives in the village on the shore with his family of blacksmiths. He wants to make toys, but his parents say that’s a waste of time. When he finds an eerie harpoon his ancestor fashioned to slay sea spirits and steal the pearls of their teeth – Jorge wants to destroy it, but that’s not easily done, and his parents want to use it as designed.

The two threads end up coming together, and Graciela and Jorge need to work together to protect the sea and make things right.

The undersea world Meg Medina has created is beautiful and mysterious. I love how different this book is from the many other children’s fantasy novels I’ve read. Though there is some death, and Jorge has horrible parents, this is a gentle fantasy that would make a wonderful read-aloud for an upper elementary school classroom.

megmedina.com
candlewick.com

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Review of Wooing the Witch Queen, by Stephanie Burgis

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Romance, Starred Review 0

Wooing the Witch Queen

by Stephanie Burgis
read by Amanda Leigh Cobb

Macmillan Audio, 2025. 8 hours, 33 minutes.
Review written June 12, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve long enjoyed Stephanie Burgis’s books for kids – fun fantasy stories with imagination and heart. They always make me smile. So it was something of an adjustment to listen to a sexy romantasy for adults from her – but in the end, it, too, has imagination and heart and made me smile.

The set-up is that Archduke Felix from the ever-expanding Empire has been controlled and abused for most of his life by his father-in-law. He’s not even allowed to study governance, but kept busy with literature and poetry. But now that his beloved wife has died, he knows that his father-in-law is laying plans to kill him. So he has nothing to lose. He’s going to go to the neighboring country where the Witch Queen Saskia has overcome her evil uncle and taken control – because she is the one person who’s successfully stood up to the Empire’s forces so far.

He grabs a dark cloak and is surprised when no one stops him, and he’s apparently welcomed to an audience with Saskia. What he doesn’t know is that she recently placed an ad for a dark wizard to put her magic library in order – her uncle left it in disarray. And as Felix is waiting at the door, he hears her telling her allies how happy she would be to execute Archduke Felix – because of all his father-in-law has done in his name. So when she mistakes him for a librarian, he takes the job.

And it turns out that studying literature and poetry is perfect training for being a magical librarian. And Saskia finds him surprisingly kind and careful – unlike any other dark wizard she’s ever met.

But of course he can’t just settle down and stay a librarian. He’s going to have to tell Saskia the truth at some point, and hopefully before the Empire finds a way to take down Saskia’s magical wall and annex her kingdom.

This book starts a trilogy that includes Saskia’s allies, the other two “Queens of Villainy.” I’m going to want to read them all.

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Review of Beauty Reborn, by Elizabeth Lowham

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Beauty Reborn

by Elizabeth Lowham

Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2023. 200 pages.
Review written June 27, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a sweet retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It reminded me a little more of the Disney version than of the original fairy tale, since there’s a library in the castle and a Gaston-like villain and a scene with wolves in the forest. But I always love retellings of this story, and this was no exception.

In this version, the villain raped Beauty before she went to the castle. She feels like it was her own fault because she’d been in love with him. But when she said No, he got angry, and ended up taking what he wanted. Beauty took her father’s place at the castle, almost hoping the Beast would finish her.

But then… I like the way the relationship between Beauty and Beast develops, with him at first afraid to let her see him, and Beauty at first getting triggered by any touch. I love the way the others in the story, beginning with Beast, do not turn from her in disgust (as she expects) when they find out what happened to her.

I’m still a bigger fan of Robin McKinley’s two retellings, Beauty and Rose Daughter, but you simply can’t have too many retellings! I loved what this one brought to the story as to why the hero became a Beast – and I like the resolution at the end. This was a love story I could believe in and got completely behind.

This book has no sex scenes, despite Beauty having triggers because of the previous rape. This is refreshing – I’m starting to feel like sex scenes are obligatory in YA novels – and makes the book extra nice for younger teens or for older teens who don’t actually want sex scenes in everything they read. I hope I don’t sound judgmental! I mostly enjoy the sexy YA novels. But it was nice to read a solid YA romance set in medieval times that realistically had them waiting for the wedding (as they most likely would have done in medieval times). This is one that I could believe the two fell in love with each other and that they will indeed live happily ever after.

elizabethlowham.com

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Review of The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon, by Grace Lin

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon

by Grace Lin

Little, Brown and Company, 2025. 340 pages.
Review written July 4, 2025, from my own copy, purchased at ALA Annual Conference and signed by the author.
Starred Review

Grace Lin’s new book has the hallmarks of her other award-winning works: Beautifully illustrated by the author (one of the few people to win both Caldecott Honor and Newbery Honor) and woven through with Chinese mythology. This one, rather than being set in a mythical land, is set in a modern city’s Chinatown.

I got to hear Grace Lin speak about this book, and the reason she likes to make beautiful books is that when she was a child, she loved lavish, beautifully illustrated editions of Grimms’ and other European fairy tales. But she had one book of Chinese fairy tales, and it was ugly with sparse black-and-white pictures and stilted translations, giving her as a child the impression that Chinese fairy tales weren’t as good. No child will ever get that impression from Grace Lin’s books!

And the special edition of the book I got at ALA is a stunningly beautiful book with sprayed edges showing a dragon and a lantern. Inside the book, there’s a picture for each chapter and frequent full-color images. When a tale within the story is told (and there are several), the tale is set off with a colored border.

But besides the beautiful look of the book, the story is a perfect tale for younger readers ready to listen to a chapter book – I hope this book is featured in many, many classroom read-alouds for years to come.

The main characters of the book are Gongshi – spirits of stone.

It is impossible to tell just by looking at a stone if it is a Gongshi. But, eventually, the right kind of human will feel the spirit’s dream like one feels the sun after it rains. And that human will take the sleeping stone and carve it. And the stone becomes a statue.

That is when the Gongshi awakens.

It turns out that the elaborate City Gate leading to Chinatown is a portal to the magical home of the Gongshi. They go out into the world and protect and help humans. But when they take a break, they go home through the gate. Those gates normally feature two lions, the Lion and the Lioness. The Lion holds a ball – the Sacred Sphere – and the Lioness holds a Lion Cub. In the spirit world, that lion cub is named Jin, and he becomes the hero of this story.

Though he doesn’t start out as the hero. In anger, he kicks his zuqiu ball in the house, and it knocked over the pedestal holding the Sacred Sphere, which rolled away. Jin was not able to stop it, and it rolled right out the gate. Then a man took it from him. And when Jin tried to go back through the gate to his mother, the gate was closed!

On the other side, all the Gongshi are trapped as well by the closed gate. So they can’t come out to help. Jin must somehow find the Sacred Sphere and open the gate. And yes, that quest involves a girl he meets – a girl who can see and speak with him – and a dragon – a dragon who currently has the form of a worm.

The story weaves together several tales and perspectives from both sides of the closed gate. Every tale has a part in the eventual resolution, and it’s a wonderfully woven story of young ones rising to the occasion and making the world better, against enormous odds.

gracelin.com
lbyr.com

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Review of A Bright Heart, by Kate Chenli

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Bright Heart

by Kate Chenli

Union Square & Co., October 17, 2023. 331 pages.
Review written May 29, 2023, from an advance reader copy sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

As this book opens, Mingshin is being tortured and killed by her betrothed, Prince Ren, the man she funded and strategized with so he would become king. He tells her that he will marry her cousin, the one he always loved anyway, and no king would marry a commoner like her.

But as she lies dying, she begs heaven for a second chance – and something happens. She wakes up two years earlier, before she met Ren, soon after they moved to the capital city and the king announced that there would be a competition among his sons as to who would succeed him.

Now Mingshin knows that Prince Ren, as well as her uncle and cousin, cannot be trusted. Can she save her mother from her terrible death in the other timeline as well as their loyal servants and protectors? Can she keep the fortune they inherited from her father? And more importantly, can she keep the cruel Ren from winning the throne and stay alive?

But after being so horribly betrayed, when Prince Jieh shows an interest in Mingshin, she is afraid to trust him, either. After all, no royal would truly be interested in a commoner, would he? And when things start happening differently in this timeline, she’s not sure what course to take.

There’s magic involved in this story, and how it works is a bit murky at times, but we find out along with Mingshin, so that didn’t bother me too much. I like her cleverness and her determination to set things right.

Although this book comes to a resolution, there are many ongoing details, so I will look forward to the continuation of this story. A strong debut novel, with promise of more to come.

katechenli.com
unionsquareandco.com

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Review of The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale

Audiobooks, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Goose Girl

by Shannon Hale
read by Cynthia Bishop and the Full Cast Family

Blackstone Audio, 2012. 10 hours, 16 minutes.
Review written June 3, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
Original review written November 24, 2003.
2003 Sonderbooks Stand-out: My favorite book of the year

In honor of #Sonderbooks25, my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, I’ve been revisiting my earlier reviews. My plan was to reread one book from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs, and I’d decided to reread one for 2003 that I hadn’t read again in all that time – and then I did a search of the library’s eaudiobook collection – and found I simply had to give this favorite a listen. I’m also writing new reviews for the ones I reviewed before my “new” format in 2006 and when I added the blog.

And what a treat! This audiobook is a lavish production of a wonderful story. Every character who speaks gets their own voice actor, and there are musical cues throughout, reflecting the mood.

I’ve always loved fairy tale adaptations, and this is one of my all-time favorites. It makes sense of the original fairy tale and answers some questions. Why did the princess allow her lady-in-waiting to steal her identity? Why did they hang her horse’s head over the city gate? How did she make the wind drive the goose boy’s hat away so he wouldn’t bother her?

I love the way Shannon Hale shows growth in the princess Ani’s character. She starts out overawed by her mother and all too aware of her own inadequacies. Both Ani’s mother and her lady-in-waiting have a magical gift that helps them persuade people – a gift that Ani completely lacks. But over the course of the book, Ani learns the gifts she does have and the power she holds. When out of necessity she lives as a goose girl – she gets to know the working people of her new country – and gains a reason beyond herself to speak up and win back her crown.

This book began a whole series of the Books of Bayern, and so many reviews of Shannon Hale books that I gave them a webpage of their own. It still has a special place in my heart as the book that helped me discover the magic of Shannon Hale’s writing.

shannonhale.com
fullcastaudio.com

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Review of Bad Badger, by Maryrose Wood

Audiobooks, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Bad Badger

by Maryrose Wood
read by Chris Devon

Dreamscape Media, 2025. 2 hours, 41 minutes.
Review written April 24, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Maryrose Wood is good at writing straight-faced stories that gradually get sillier and sillier. This one is perfect for kids ready for chapter books.

Bad Badger is about a badger named Septimus who is afraid that he’s not very good at being a badger. Instead of stripes, he has spots. Instead of living in the forest, he lives in a cottage by the sea. He loves listening to operas in Italian on his phonograph, collecting shells, making omelets, watching the sunset, and other activities not at all usual for badgers.

But then Septimus makes a friend. A seagull comes to his house every week on Wednesday. Gully doesn’t say much besides “Caw,” but Septimus feels their friendship grow and become tremendously important to him – so they share things they each enjoy most.

But when Gully goes missing, Septimus doesn’t know how he will find him, simply that it must be done.

This sweet story is about true friendship and not letting others define who you are.

maryrosewood.com

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