Review of This Wicked Fate, by Kalynn Bayron

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

This Wicked Fate

by Kalynn Bayron

Bloomsbury, 2022. 310 pages.
Review written November 13, 2022, from a library book

This Wicked Fate is the second book about Briseis, a descendant of Hecate, one of the Greek gods. In the course of her battle in the first book with descendants of Jason, one of her two mothers was killed. By the same descendant of Jason who years ago killed her birth mother, the descendant of the goddess.

But Hecate can keep her mother safe for one cycle of the moon. So in this book, Bri and her allies and relatives are working to complete an impossible task — collect the last piece of the Heart of Absyrtus.

If that sounds like the plot of a Rick Riordan book, it did to me, too. I think it’s safe to say that if you enjoy the Rick Riordan books, you’ll enjoy this one, too. The main difference being these characters are older teens, most of them are black, and the romances are between women.

Although there are life-or-death stakes, the story reads as light-hearted and fun. I like Briseis powers — she can command plants, make them grow, and is unaffected by any poisonous plant. Two of her allies have become immortal from previous encounters with the Heart.

But they face many obstacles learning where the remaining piece of the Heart is, getting there, and bringing the pieces together. And of course there’s a deadline with the cycle of the moon, and others who want to get there first.

I wasn’t tremendously invested in the characters, which might be simply because I hadn’t read the first book. But I did enjoy reading the story and liked seeing a brainy Black girl triumph in an action-packed adventure tale.

kalynnbayron.com
bloomsbury.com

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Review of Echoes of Grace, by Guadalupe García McCall

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Echoes of Grace

by Guadalupe García McCall

Tu Books (Lee & Low), 2022. 375 pages.
Review written November 5, 2022, from a library book

This was a hard book to read, yet a lyrical and powerful one.

Grace and her sister Mercy live near the border in Texas with their father, their abuela, and Mercy’s little boy Alexander. But right at the beginning, when Grace is supposed to be watching Alexander, he runs out into traffic and is killed.

But Grace keeps on seeing him. He follows her around as she goes about her day, as he did before. And this goes with the Echoes that Grace sees, strange visions and otherworldly people. Her mother and grandmother had visions like that, but her family isn’t very patient about them, and her sister hates her because of Alexander’s death.

And while Grace is coping with everything life is throwing at her, she also remembers what happened three years earlier, when she went to Mexico and stayed with her mother’s mother. This was after her mother was killed nine years before that. The chapters alternate, leading up to an awful event.

But why did her mother never tell them that their grandmother was alive? And why is Grace only now remembering what happened? And how does it relate to the visions of her mother that keep popping up in disturbing ways?

This book is not about sweetness and light. But it is about love and power and carrying on.

ggmccall.com
leeandlow.com

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Review of The Invocations, by Krystal Sutherland, read by Kit Griffiths

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Invocations

by Krystal Sutherland
read by Kit Griffiths

Listening Library, 2024. 13 hours, 7 minutes.
Review written October 20, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

First, fair warning: This book is much darker than the books I usually review, closer to horror than the cozy kind of fantasy I usually enjoy. But even I have to admit that this book is skillfully written, building suspense throughout and tying multiple threads together in a satisfying way.

This is a world like ours, but where women can do magic by tattooing an invocation on their skin that gives a demon a small piece of their soul in exchange for power, and tethering that demon to the person for the rest of her life.

This book has three main characters: Zara is in high school and is trying to find reliable books on necromancy. Because she’s determined to bring her sister back to life. Her sister was killed almost one year ago, and the books all say that after a year, there’s not enough of the person left to reliably bring them back. If Zara can’t do it, she’d like to find a witch who can.

Jude is the daughter of a billionaire, but she’s been sequestered away from the family ever since she messed up her life by accidentally cursing herself. She found a spell book and thought she’d mess with it – and did a terrible job of tethering a demon to herself. The wound is rancid – and so is Jude’s soul. She tried two more invocations to try to help deal with the consequences, but they didn’t work as hoped for, and Jude is looking for a witch with real power.

How does Jude look for a witch? She throws money at things, and she pays a detective to see the crime scenes of a serial killer who’s killing women with spells on their bodies – and removing the skin where the curse was tattooed. It turns out that Zara’s also visiting crime scenes, since her sister was the first victim of the serial killer. Well, they find a business card at a crime scene, which leads them to Emer.

Emer is hiding out at Oxford, pretending to be a student so she has access to the library and ways to get food. Ten years ago, her entire family of nineteen other witches was slaughtered by witch hunters, when she was only seven years old. It turns out that all of the serial killer’s victims had shortly before their deaths gotten a spell from Emer.

So now they have a new agenda – to find the serial killer. Emer feels a responsibility to the women who turned to her for help. And is there a connection between the serial killer and the witch hunters who killed her family? She tells Jude that she can’t break the tether with the demon who’s tormenting her, but Jude is persistent, and she has money and connections to help Emer find the killer. Zara, too, is told that Emer wants nothing to do with necromancy – but let’s just say that Zara is a very determined girl. (And this is yet another book where I’m screaming at the character who wants to raise the dead: “That’s a really bad idea!” But I do believe that she would do it.)

And yes, it all comes together in a truly horrifying way. And yet it’s satisfying. How is that possible? Well, you’ll have to read it to find out. We’ve got a mystery – figuring out the serial killer. We’ve got light romance – attraction between two of the girls. We’ve got misogyny against women with power, and we’ve got a terrifying final showdown where we’re not sure anyone’s going to survive.

No, that doesn’t sound like something I’d normally pick up. It happened to be the first YA Speculative Fiction book nominated for the Cybils where my audiobook hold came in. But it had me riveted all the way. Before long, I was rooting even for the rich girl with the festering soul, so that shows you Krystal Sutherland is a skillful writer indeed.

krystalsutherland.com

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Review of There Is a Door in This Darkness, by Kristin Cashore

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

There Is a Door in This Darkness

by Kristin Cashore

Dutton Books, 2024. 372 pages.
Review written October 8, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

It was a bit surreal to read this book a month before the 2024 election with Donald Trump running against Kamala Harris, because the events of the book mainly take place in the week of the 2020 election with Joe Biden running against Donald Trump. And they flashback at times to the 2016 election, very much with the sense of “Not again!” So let’s just say that the “Not again!” feeling was heightened for me, reading it now.

And let me stop right there and say that there’s absolutely no effort made to present a politically “balanced” perspective in this book. The book mostly calls Trump “the monster,” but at one point, if I remember correctly, he’s called “the pouting pustule.” (There was another colorful one that I don’t remember and couldn’t find after the fact. Wish I’d marked them!) I personally enjoyed reading about characters whose perspective pretty much matches mine. But if you’re a Trump fan, read this book only if you want an alternate perspective, not presented gently. Hey, you’ve been warned.

Beyond that, this book had a lot of nuance and warmth, exploring grief and friendship during the pandemic.

The book takes place in Boston during the pandemic, before and after the 2020 presidential election, featuring Wilhelmina, who graduated from high school the past June and now is taking a year off to help out her family during the pandemic. Her two younger siblings need monitoring for online school, and two elderly aunts are staying with their family. Her father has asthma, so they’re strictly wearing masks and being careful about where they go, and Wilhelmina feels a little overwhelmed by so many people in their small apartment.

On top of that, her two best friends, Judy and Bee, get to do things together, because their families are in the same pandemic bubble so their younger siblings in the same grade can do school together. Wilhelmina feels left out, but feels guilty for feeling left out.

And on top of that, Wilhelmina is still deeply grieving her third and favorite aunt, Aunt Frankie, who died a couple years ago and left her lots of wisdom – plus a great big hole in her heart.

And then, after she’s driven Aunt Margaret to an eye appointment, strange things start happening. Like a message coming down from the sky. And an elevator opening to the wrong place. And more. And these strange things throw her together with a guy named James whose parents own the donut shop in the same building as Aunt Margaret’s eye doctor. He has strange things happen, too. Is it some kind of message? What are they supposed to do?

The story is told at a leisurely pace that at first made me impatient, but soon had me savoring it. There are alternating chapters with the present – during election week – and the past, especially time Wilhelmina had with her three aunts, spending most summers with them in Pennsylvania.

It’s all very lovely, mostly Wilhelmina dealing with Frankie’s death, but with more themes woven in, including finding hope and seeing good even in people who voted for the monster.

The romance is gently and beautifully done. Not only is there no sex in this teen romance, but since it’s during the pandemic, there’s no kissing, either.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Wilhelmina has a condition that causes her a lot of pain in moving her body. So that’s one more thing she’s dealing with.

Here’s how the book begins:

Frankie used to make the world shine, or at least that’s how Wilhelmina Hart remembered it.

This book is about how Wilhelmina learns to shine.

kristincashore.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear, by Robin Wasley

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear

by Robin Wasley

Simon & Schuster, 2024. 405 pages.
Review written October 2, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Given the title, I wasn’t surprised when this turned out to be a zombie book. I was, however, surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Sid Spencer is an adopted American teen girl who lives in a town on a fault line – but not an earthquake fault line so much as a magical fault line. It’s not the only such town in the world by any means, but tourists come from all over the world to see the magic seeping up from the cracks like rainbow mist. Among the townsfolk, eight people are Guardians, but no one knows who they are. Each Guardian has a magical power, but also a Key made of bone that secures a segment of the fault line.

And then, one segment of the fault line comes open – and besides earthquakes and a magical forest taking over, zombies come out of the fault, attracted to living people and able to kill them with their bare hands. When it hits, Sid is alone at home and manages to trap a zombie in the basement after she sees it kill a neighbor. When Brian, a friend of her brother’s, breaks into her house, Sid tasers him before she realizes who he is. He tells Sid that he’s a Guardian, and so is her brother Matty. And the reason the fault line came open was that one of the other Guardians is dead. The man who killed him stole that Guardian’s key, but he was able to pass his power to Matty before he died, so no one can use the key but Matty. Oh, and the dead Guardian also put a magical wall around the town, so everybody on the outside is safe (including the rest of Sid’s family), but no help is coming to save them.

So the mission is to somehow navigate the town full of zombies, get the key from the bad guy – who turns out to be invulnerable to magical or physical attacks – and get it to Matty, whom no one has seen since before the breach. This is not an easy mission, as besides his own magic powers, the bad guy has teams of thugs with guns doing his bidding. He knows who all the Guardians are, and he wants all their powers and all their keys.

Thus, a saga begins. The task is daunting. But along the way, magic is leaking out of the breach, and ordinary people are developing magical powers, with each one unique to them.

Sid’s magic power ends up involving connecting with people. And that’s also the power of the book. The magic for me was a little muddled and confusing in spots, and yes, there was plenty of death and gore, but the story of found family and connections and working together against all odds – was powerful and moving. There was also a theme about friendship and forgiveness – for the past months Sid had been estranged from her best friend and her boyfriend because of something that happened – but the disaster puts all that in perspective.

This isn’t a relaxing book to read. The zombies are scary and strong, but the human villains are even worse, and the task seems impossible at times. But joining in Sid’s adventure just felt so warm and human. She’s a flawed teenage girl trying to survive – but also to help the people she loves – and even new people she meets. It turns out that disaster makes her shine, and it felt like a privilege to witness that.

robinwasley.com

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Review of Hearts That Cut, by Kika Hatzopoulou, read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Audiobooks, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Hearts That Cut

by Kika Hatzopoulou
read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Listening Library, 2024. 12 hours, 20 minutes.
Review written June 27, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Let me start out by saying that I love the recent trend of fantasy duologies instead of trilogies. Honestly, I’m probably more delighted with it because I’d gotten used to trilogies, so every time I pick up a second book expecting a dark middle act and instead get a triumphant ending and don’t have to wait for more – I’m almost giddy with delight.

I’ve also found that books where I had reservations about the first one in the series, especially world-building details (How would that really work?) – I forget about those reservations when I read the second book probably because I’ve gotten used to the ideas and am now ready to treat them as underlying assumptions. This happened recently with Ghostsmith and happened again with Hearts That Cut. I don’t think this is a flaw in the authors’ world-building. I think it’s my tendency to be highly critical of world-building when it’s first presented to me. In the case of this book’s predecessor, Threads That Bind, it was hard for me to get on board with a world where invisible threads connect people with everything they love. Our heroine, Io, has the ability to see those threads – and cut them. All I could think about was how hopelessly tangled those threads would get. But in this book, I’d already accepted the idea and the magic governing it, and wasn’t worried about that.

Another quibble with the original is the existence of the Otherborn – descendants of gods with specific powers. First off, there are just a multitude of different types of Otherborn, all with a different color shining in their eyes when they exercise their powers, and how would anyone remember them all? But more unrealistic is that certain Otherborn – such as Io’s family – always have a certain number of siblings. And it’s not like Io and her sisters were triplets. What if their parents hadn’t actually wanted to have three kids? Would Io’s older siblings not have gotten their powers? And how are there so many different Otherborn with specific numbers of siblings? Like the nine Muse sisters, for crying out loud? How does that work out?

But I actually didn’t think much about all that when I was listening to this book. (I thought about it again when I went to write this review. Probably shouldn’t have!) And I ended up loving this book. There’s some time manipulation involved in the plot (because of specific powers by certain individuals), and I usually don’t like that – but in this case it was handled well, as a problem to be solved, and I loved how it all came together.

As the book opens, Io is traveling through the Wastelands with Bianca, the former Mob Queen of Alante, who has been turned into a wraith with a severed life thread. She’s trying to track down the gods who ordered the deaths at the end of the last book, and she has hold of a gold thread leading her in that direction. But that plan gets stymied.

She’s left behind Edei, the young man she’s connected to with a Fate thread, and worries that the thread is fraying. Does Edei not want to be with her? And does he feel manipulated into loving her?

I like the way the plot progresses – though I don’t want to give away anything from the first book. I like the community spirit in the Wastelands that Io and Bianca find among people fleeing the many natural disasters gripping their continent. And I like the scrappy band of folks who eventually assemble and who try to make things right against all odds.

So whatever you may think about the likelihood of a world featuring fabulously gifted descendants of the gods in a post-apocalyptic landscape – Kika Hatzopoulou gives us plenty of depth and insights about such a world. I was a bit ambivalent after the first book, but I’m so glad I read on, because now I’m convinced the two make a magnificent story about the resilience of humanity itself.

kikahatzopoulou.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of My Contrary Mary, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows, narrated by Fiona Hardingham

Audiobooks, Historical, Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

My Contrary Mary

by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
narrated by Fiona Hardingham

HarperAudio, 2021. 12 hours, 18 minutes.
Review written March 12, 2022, from a library eaudiobook

Well, this crew of authors who play fast-and-loose with history have finally turned away from Janes to write about Marys — Mary, Queen of Scots, in this case, and an upcoming book about Mary Shelley.

I’m afraid I’m getting a little tired of the style, though it is fun if you’re in the right mood. I liked that this one went back to the world created in their first book, My Lady Jane. In this world, instead of Protestants and Catholics fighting about the thrones of Europe, you’ve got Verities and Edians. Edians are shapeshifters who can transform into their inner animal and believe everyone has one. But Verities believe humans should be human and Edians should be put to death.

Once again, we’ve got three viewpoint characters, each written by one of the authorial trio (though we don’t know which gets which character). Mary, Queen of Scots, has been growing up in the court of France along with her betrothed, Francis the Dauphin of France. The other viewpoint character is Aristotle, who goes by Ari, the daughter of Nostradamus. She does get visions, but they aren’t helpful at all. (The modern reader will enjoy recognizing scenes from modern films.) What Ari is good at is making potions. And that skill is commandeered by Catherine de Medici, Francis’s powerful and scheming mother.

To add to the fun, Mary and her four ladies-in-waiting, who are also named Mary but have nicknames, are all secretly Edians themselves. Mary can turn into a mouse, which is perfect for court gossip – and spying.

But there’s lots of intrigue going on at court, and Mary and Francis are doomed to ascend the throne of France much sooner than they meant to.

I’m not sure how much of real history you’ll learn from this book. The authors give Mary a happy outcome — which is very different from what happened to her in her real life. I confess, I enjoyed her Happily Ever After — even if the repercussions probably would have completely changed the modern world. I also really enjoyed that we saw the characters from My Lady Jane and got to see how well their lives were going.

That book had an outcome that matched very well with history — resulting in Queen Elizabeth on the throne even though Lady Jane Grey and King Edward weren’t actually dead, they were Edians. This book? Well, if it happened, European history would have turned out very differently, with less war and death, which is all good in my book.

Read these books when you’re up for silliness and happy endings involving historical characters who suddenly got much more interesting.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Root Magic, by Eden Royce, read by Imani Parks

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Paranormal 0

Root Magic

by Eden Royce
read by Imani Parks

HarperAudio, 2021. 10 hours on 8 compact discs.
Review written February 18, 2022, from a library audiobook.
2022 Walter Award Honor Book

Root Magic is set on a South Carolina island in 1963 among people with Gullah Geechee heritage. Jez is facing big changes after the death of her Gran. She’s been moved ahead a year in school, so for the first time, she won’t be in a class with her twin brother, Jay. But after school, their uncle, Doc, has decided they’re finally old enough to begin learning Root Magic.

Root Magic has been passed down in their family, and Gran was powerful enough to leave Jez a doll with some amazing powers. Doc tells them that Root work is mainly about protection — but their family needs protection. Their Daddy has been missing for years, there are haints in the marsh, girls at school are mean, and a white police officer is known for harassing root workers.

This book had some big surprises as Jez begins to learn to use her power. She shows compassion and plants seeds that will help her in time of need.

I have to say that I wasn’t crazy about the way the narrator read this book, and I think I might have enjoyed it more in print. But I’m glad I kept listening. I grew up hearing stories about “witch doctors” in Africa, and this presentation of root work as family heritage done with love and compassion shook up some of those ideas. Though many of the things that happened were firmly in the realm of fantasy, I appreciated the honor the book gave to family, friendship, and tradition. And I enjoyed the surprising twists and turns in the plot.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Sheine Lende, by Darcie Little Badger

Audiobooks, Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Sheine Lende

by Darcie Little Badger
read by Kinsale Drake
illustrations (in the print book) by Rovina Cai

Recorded Books, 2024. 13 hours, 47 minutes.
Review written May 20, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I was so excited when I heard there was a prequel to Elatsoe coming out! Obviously, you don’t have to read them in any order. The events in this book happen first, but Elatsoe was written first. Reading Sheine Lende definitely made me want to reread Elatsoe, which was a Sonderbooks Stand-out and CYBILS Award Winner in 2020.

Like Elatsoe, Sheine Lende is set in a world just like ours – except that magic is a normal part of life. Different people have different kinds of magic available to them, and humans have contact with people from other realms, such as fairies.

Sheine Lende features Elatsoe’s grandmother Shane when she was a teen. Like Ellie, Shane has a ghost dog companion — well, it’s really her mother’s companion. Shane’s mother Lorenza has a pack of three hounds who are trained to track down missing persons. One of those hounds, Nellie, happens to be dead.

But when Lorenza goes missing herself when searching for two missing children, Nellie comes back to Shane, distraught. When Shane tries to take up the search again, she gets transported hundreds of miles away — and finds one of the children. But obviously, magical transport is involved and who knows where Lorenza and the little boy were sent? This was when humans were beginning to use transport by fairy rings. Going on the rescue ends up taking Shane on an epic journey. Also like Elatsoe, Shane gets an opportunity to use her powers to right an injustice against her people, the Lipan Apache.

Again like Elatsoe, this is a beautiful and uplifting book with characters it’s a delight to spend time with. I like the way Shane sees and cares for animals (Even insects! And mammoths!) and her little brother and people who are lost — basically anyone who needs help.

darcielittlebadger.com
levinequerido.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of A Study in Drowning, by Ava Reid

Audiobooks, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Study in Drowning

by Ava Reid
read by Saskia Maarleveld

HarperTeen, 2023. 10 hours, 32 minutes.
Review written May 13, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

This is another eaudiobook I checked out because it was very popular at Fairfax County Library — and one of the best results of that curiosity. I loved the heroine, Effy Sayre, a first-year university student in another world somewhat like ours in the 1950s or so. Effy was put into the school of Architecture even though her scores were high enough for the school of Literature, and literature is where her heart is — because no woman has ever been admitted to the school of Literature.

But when a chance comes from the estate of her favorite author Emrys Myrddin to redesign his family’s home, Effy jumps at the chance, and to her surprise, wins the competition. Effy loves Myrddin’s work so much, she can quote from all of his books, but especially his masterpiece, Angharad. The book is about a girl who loves the Fairy King and is taken as his wife, but who gradually realizes his cruelty — and is his undoing.

The book means a lot to Effy because all her life, she’s been plagued by visions of the Fairy King. Her mother never believed her and took her to a doctor who prescribed pink pills to make the visions go away. But Effy clung to the story of a girl who also saw the Fairy King and ended up triumphing over him.

But when she arrives to the far south coast of the country, things are not at all as she expected. The house she’s supposed to remodel is falling apart with decay, and the nearby sea is finding its way in. She’s greeted by Myrddin’s son, who has some very strange moments, and she never sees the author’s wife. And she begins seeing the Fairy King even when she’s taken her pills.

It turns out there’s a literature student also working at Myrddin’s estate, trying to access his letters and papers to write a scholarly paper about him. He’s pompous and stuffy. But when Effy learns he’s not even sure Emrys Myrddin actually wrote the Angharad, that seems a bridge too far.

But… things happen. This book continues on with a bit of a mystery and a big climactic scene full of danger. Ava Reid did an amazing job with the atmosphere of this book. The house is so decayed, so remote, so sinister, so close to the angry sea, and you get the feeling that the Fairy King might be real. And if so, he’s dangerous.

I do feel like I should mention when a novel for Teens has a sex scene. This has one, with a little bit of description. I did think the romance was beautifully done, with kindness and gentleness toward someone who’d formerly been abused.

Now, there were what felt to me like some big coincidences that allowed them to find crucial documents. And I can’t really believe that papers could have managed to stay intact in a metal box underwater. But those are quibbles. Overall, this wonderful book had me enthralled throughout and wanting to find more rote tasks to do so I could keep on listening. A truly wonderful book about a girl whose salvation has always been books — learning to stand up for herself in real life, despite all those who want to use her.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?