The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor | Book Review

When a house is beset with a great and terrible haunting, people in Rookwood send an exorcist.

But when the haunting is, by all accounts, rather mild…

They send for me.

The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor

LENGTH: 272 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Graphic Novel, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Putnam’s

RELEASE DATE: 23 July 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Perfect for fans of everything from Lockwood & Co. to The Haunting of Hill House, this gothic graphic novel follows a young medium with the gift—or curse, as some might say—to communicate with the dead. This ghost story “powerfully, tenderly, and empathetically examines death, grief, and the afterlife” raved Kirkus in a starred review!

Dorian Leith can see ghosts. Not only that, he listens to their problems and tries to help them move on to the afterlife. It’s a gift that’s made him an outcast to everyone in town. That is except for his dearly departed grandmother, who he’s partnered with to turn this paranormal ability into an honest living, and the local bookshop owner, who seems to be the only non-deceased person willing to give him a chance. But it’s all worth it to Dorian, who feels like he’s been given a bigger purpose. A chance to save those who cannot save themselves.

Then one day, the key to Death’s Door is stolen, trapping all the ghosts in the land of the living. Since he’s only one who can see them, the spirits rely on Dorian to retrieve the key before it is too late. If they can’t move on, they’ll soon be consumed by a ghostly rot that has begun to plague them.

As it continues to fester and spread, and the ghosts become desperate for relief, Dorian must do whatever it takes to find a way to bring peace to the restless dead—even if that peace comes at the cost of his own….

My Review

“There’s no fate worse than being forgotten.”

So, I was actually hoping to get this finished and posted yesterday, but I was really busy on Saturday , so I thought I might not. And I didn’t. Anyway, my review for The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor is here now, even if it’s a day late.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel; far more so than the last graphic novel I reviewed. Part of it was definitely because it was a ghost story, and I love those. But I also really liked the setting, the characters, the story, and – of course – the art.

Dorian Leith was a sweet protagonist to follow. I loved his personality and his caring nature, and how a big part of this story was dedicated to his character development. It was great to watch him realize that he can take time for himself, and to learn that his health and happiness matter.

I also enjoyed Brody, his housemate and love interest. I loved his quiet personality (and how he ran an independent bookstore!), and how he was a gentle soul. This book reminded me that, in fact, you can have two kindhearted and wholesome people in a romantic relationship without one of them being sassy.

Also, unlike The Lost Story – the last thing I read – this was a solidly built relationship. It was obvious why Dorian fell for Brody, and in turn it was very clear why Brody had feelings for Dorian. Neither of them were doormats either – both of them were willing to help each other, and not just willing to remain complacent when one of them was in denial of something. Their relationship was also very sweet and wholesome, and they’re definitely the cutest couple I’ve read about this year so far.

The two other important characters – Dorian’s grandmother, Lavinia “Lazarus” Leith, and little Lucy – were also wonderful and necessary additions. This graphic novel would not be the same without them, and even though they’re ghosts, I feel that they drive the plot forward even moreso than the living characters. Grandma Lazarus loved Dorian so much, despite the heavy burden of her regret, and I loved their dynamic. We need more grandmas in fiction. Dorian and Lucy’s sibling dynamic was also very sweet. Watching these two characters – even though they were ghosts – grow and evolve as characters was awesome.

I loved how the plot was nineteenth century esque, and was set in a fantasy setting similar to Gothic Britain. It was simultaneously cozy and mildly creepy, and absolutely perfect for the ghostly story it was telling.

The art was also fantastic. I also loved the colors and the way that hues and shades were used. It all really set the vibe well. The character designs were also great.

Also, and I didn’t mention this above, but I really liked the theming and parallels and other literary devices that Taylor decided to use. I’m not going to spoil anything, but the way that everything came together in the end was wonderful. I also loved all the world building she was able to sneak in, and how everything introduced had a purpose. It was a great story to follow.

This is something I absolutely recommend to fans of Gothic fantasy settings, ghost stories, and graphic novels. I think it would be best read sometime in October, paired with a latte of your choice. As well as a pumpkin spiced candle.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day/night! And that whatever book you’re reading currently is something you’re enjoying!

See ya ~Mar

Quotes I Enjoyed

[Dorian] “That’s the thing about “normal.” It’s different for everyone, and it’s always changing. It’s frustrating. And uncomfortable. And sometimes even feels pointless. And when there isn’t a point to be found, you simply have to make one yourself.”

[Dorian] “So this is how I die.

[Dorian’s Grandmother] “See you on the other side Dorie… One way or another.

[Dorian’s Grandmother] “Well. If i were in your loafers, I would have made a big to-do. And shown that Prudence Greeves a real haunting. Scary music! Flickering firelight! books flying everywhere!

“And the only way to put a stop to the MAYHEM would be for her to watch as her a her very house. In blood! And then they reconcile their differences… She pays you double for ridding her of a ghostly menace… et cetera.”

[Dorian] “Why do you keep suggesting i scare PEOPLE INTO submission?”

[Dorian’s Grandmother] “Because it would work, dear.”

[Morrigan] “Welcome to limbo… Dorian Ghostkeeper.”

MY LINKS:

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The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer | Book Review

Once upon a time in West Virginia, two boys went missing.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

LENGTH: 338 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Ballantine Books

RELEASE DATE: 16 July 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell vanished in a West Virginia state park, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Jeremy is a famous missing persons investigator with an uncanny ability to find the lost, while Rafe is a reclusive artist unable to stop creating otherworldly paintings and sculptures he shows to no one. He bears scars inside and out from his disappearance but has no memory of what happened while they were gone.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth behind their time in the woods. While the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons.

But the time for burying secrets comes to an end when vet tech Emilie Wendel hires Jeremy to find her long-lost sister… the long-lost sister he and Rafe knew while living in that hidden kingdom. Now the former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories. Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy return to the enchanted world they called home for six months… for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

My Review

First you were missing. Then you were lost. Then you were forgotten.

Hey, I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted a book review. But I caught Book Indecision Syndrome last week after reading more of One Piece, so that’s why it’s been over two weeks. Sorry.

Anyway so, this book ended up disappointing me. Slightly. I’d really wanted to like The Lost Story. The premise interesting and unique and it has a lovely cover. But then, I don’t know, I guess I hyped it up way too much in my head, so when the book started to go a little downhill for me, I was more disappointed than I normally would’ve been.

Let’s just get into it. Okay, so I really, really liked the first third of the book. I thought the intrigue and buildup was great. But once the group actually got to the magical fantasy world (known as Shanandoah) the novel started to irritate me a little. I don’t really know why – it was probably a mix of different things, I guess.

For one thing, the world building took a dive. Like, without the intrigue and Shanandoah no longer being of the unknown, it kind of fell flat on its face. To me anyway. The magical fairytale aspect was gone entirely (which might have been the intention, IDK) and I realized that that was the only aspect the magical fantasy land had going for it in my mind. And Shanandoah didn’t live up to the hype for me, I guess, and that was probably my biggest issue with it. Also, the magic system was poorly defined and I had multiple issues with it that I don’t feel like going into.

I did like some of the cast, however. Rafe was the most interesting and compelling character in the book for me, and I enjoyed Jeremy and Emilie quite a bit as well. But after they crossed the border to Shanandoah, they and their dynamics with one another got marginally less interesting. And sorry, but Rafe and Jeremy’s romance really annoyed me. Mostly because it only got development from Rafe’s side. Jeremy was just immediately in love with him the second he laid eyes on him as teenagers, which is one of the absolute worst of romance tropes because then authors decide they don’t have to build on or give a reason (or reasons) that Character A is in love with Character B. It’s just so, ugh, and I really think it did a disservice to both Jeremy’s character, as well as his romance with Rafe.

Skya was the absolute worst though. She’s hyped up to be super amazing, and that might be part of the reason that I hated her. Also, for whatever reason, everything she did irritated me. And her relationship with Emilie never felt genuine to me. Maybe if she’d left to seek out her sister herself I’d feel like she cared about her the way the book says she does, but she didn’t so I didn’t. (I don’t care if she’s a queen or not, Shanandoah is a magic realm and they were fine without her before she got there as far as I can tell.) Sure, she got a beautiful room set up for her, but she basically just sat on her ass and waited for her sister to show up. For fifteen years.

The characters near complete disregard for the Earth dimension really bothered me. Like, it would have been so much more interesting to me if they came to realize that Earth has some good stuff too, that there were good things to be found besides moms, and that you can’t just go live in a magic world and forget all your problems forever. Which, I guess was one of the book’s points – and it does explore it (a little) – but I don’t like the way that it was executed. At all. (We the readers live on Earth, and the author makes it seem either boring and awful. I didn’t like that).

Also, the “big choice” near the end of the book is ultimately made for the characters, so it felt anticlimactic. Both climaxes also felt extremely anticlimactic, because The Lost Story‘s foreshadowing is so terrible and unsubtle that you know everything is gonna be alright both times. Also, everything in this book is ridiculously predictable, and that annoys me.

The thing that irritated me the most, though, was the Storyteller’s Corner section of the book. They interrupted the flow of the story, and needlessly clarified things or padded out the book unnecessarily. This line in particular irritated me especially:

“I wrote the story. I don’t make the rules.”

YES YOU LITERALLY DO! That’s the whole point of crafting and telling a story! The rules just don’t write themselves – they have to come from someone’s brain. I hate it when authors say crap like this, it feels like they’re trying to sound clever or pushing accountability off of themselves or something. (Neither works by the way – you just sound pretentious.) I don’t know. This is just something that makes my blood boil whenever I hear/read it. And to read it in such a meta way, in a work of fiction no less, felt extremely conceited to me. To write a story, you have to write the rules surrounding it. There’s no other way. Also, it was extremely annoying.

But the book wasn’t all bad. Like I said, the first third of the book was great – not to mention the ending was decent. I also liked that the book has a map of Shanandoah at the beginning. Maps in books are great. The characters also had their moments – except for Skya – and I did like them for the most part. The dialogue was also well written and natural for the most part, though it did get a little too quippy at certain times. (Enough so to be irritating.) The descriptions were also well done, and I liked that the book ended somewhat open ended, but mostly not. (If there’s ever a sequel however, I’m probably not going to read it.) The best part of the book for me, and the reason it got three stars in the first place, was because it has a great recipe at the end of the novel.

I do find it funny though, that this cover has been so often compared to the Chronicles of Narnia, and, one one occasion was called Narnia meets CSI. Because I didn’t think it was like that at all. (Also, the person who said the thing about CSI must not have seen it, because it wasn’t like that at all. Jeremy just had a magical tracking ability, there wasn’t any science or any biochemical testing whatsoever.) I thought it felt more like Peter Pan or even The Wizard of Oz, especially vibes wise. Actually, the only thing that reminded me of Narnia was kids falling into a magical world and then eventually leaving for some reason or another. (Though the plot of The Silver Chair is brought up and it sounded a bit like the plot of this book. I admittedly don’t know hardly anything about the Narnia books aside from the first four.

I think people who greatly enjoy and have nostalgia for classic fantasy fiction like I’ve listed above will enjoy The Lost Story. Also, those who like certain romance tropes will probably like it as well. If you’re expecting a fleshed out fantasy world with a well written magic system, however, you might be a little disappointed. This book is far too whimsical for that, and it’s not interested in telling its story that way. (Sorry if this review got a little ranty BTW – I had some things to say, lol.)

As always, thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

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The Dragonwatch Series by Brandon Mull | Book Review

Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull

LENGTH OF SERIES: 5 books

GENRES: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction

PREDECESSOR: Fablehaven (2005 – 2009)

PUBLISHER: Shadow Mountain

RELEASE DATES: 14 March 2017 – 26 October 2021

DESCRIPTION OF BOOK #1:

In the long-awaited sequel to Fablehaven, the dragons who have been kept at the dragon sanctuaries no longer consider them safe havens, but prisons and they want their freedom. The dragons are no longer our allies….

In the hidden dragon sanctuary of Wyrmroost, Celebrant the Just, King of the Dragons, plots his revenge. He has long seen the sanctuaries as prisons, and he wants nothing more than to overthrow his captors and return the world to the Age of Dragons, when he and his kind ruled and reigned without borders. The time has come to break free and reclaim his power.

No one person is capable of stopping Celebrant and his dragon horde. It will take the ancient order of Dragonwatch to gather again if there is any chance of saving the world from destruction. In ancient times, Dragonwatch was a group of wizards, enchantresses, dragon slayers, and others who originally confined the majority of dragons into sanctuaries. But nearly all of the original Dragonwatch members are gone, and so the wizard Agad reaches out to Grandpa Sorenson for help.

As Kendra and Seth confront this new danger, they must draw upon all their skills, talents, and knowledge as only they have the ability to function together as a powerful dragon tamer. Together they must battle against forces with superior supernatural powers and breathtaking magical abilities.

How will the epic dragon showdown end? Will dragons overthrow humans and change the world as we know it?

My Review

Writing a novel is like climbing a mountain that does not yet exist, reaching for handholds that become tangible only as you curl your fingers around them, yearning for a tower- ing summit that must be willed into reality before you can stand on it.
Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven and Dragonwatch

So, I finally got around to reading the final Dragonwatch book. And honestly, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Especially after how subpar books three and four felt at times while reading.

Though not as good as Fablehaven – and I’ll talk about why that is in a bit – Dragonwatch is a very solid middle grade fantasy series. And just a solid fantasy in general, if we’re being honest here. It was a wonderful, yet completely unexpected continuation of a series that I thought was over. Many writers return to their biggest successes years later, or never stop to begin with and just keep milking the cow, and so often it overstays its welcome or sours the earlier installments. But Dragonwatch didn’t do that – it continues a story from beyond its original ending in a way that feels very natural. (Not to mention the lack of sequel bait at the end of The Keys to the Demon Prison was wonderful, even if finally reaching the end of Fablehaven book five felt bittersweet.)

As this is a sequel series – and is considered to be the second half of a story by the author himself – it would be impossible to discuss Dragonwatch without talking about Fablehaven. At least a little bit. (Don’t worry – I’m not gonna get too much into it.)

Creating an entire series is an even grander and more daunting expedition. Writing the Fablehaven and Dragonwatch series has been quite a climb. I spent ten years of my life producing these books, and now I’m finally done. I believe these were mountains worth climbing, and I am happy to leave them as part of the landscape so others can explore them.
Brandon Mull

But anyway. Fablehaven. It’s a series from the ’00s that I feel got a little bit lost in the shuffle ’cause of certain other big fantasy books at the time that were targeted towards YA and middle grade. But I really enjoyed it when I first discovered it around 2008. I thought that the individual plots of each book were each engaging and stood on their own very well. I adored the characters, particularly Seth and Kendra, and loved their character growth. And I loved the dialogue and the writing and the execution of Mull’s ideas. Not to mention the pacing of each novel was incredible, I don’t think I was ever bored or felt like any of the books suffered from Middle Book Syndrome.

And this is why I feel that though it’s a great series, Dragonwatch doesn’t quite hit the same for me as Fablehaven did. And yeah, I’m sure that nostalgia is definitely at least a little involved here, but I just don’t think that Dragonwatch is quite as good. For one: books three and four – Master of the Phantom Isle and Champion of the Titan Games – definitely feel a little bit middle book syndrome-y. There’s just something about the pacing of them for me, I dunno.

Second of all: Seth is incredibly annoying in these same two books, and I hated following his chapters at times (sometimes I just DESPISE amnesia plots if they’re done certain ways). It felt like I was following a different character at times, which kind of irritated me during a few parts. Like, I get it I know how an amnesia plot works, but at the same time it was a bit frustrating.

And last of all: there were just so many more new characters introduced and other miscellaneous stuff that felt a bit unnecessary and usually disappeared after a while. I also wasn’t too keen on Kendra’s and Seth’s younger cousins for much of the series either. They were introduced in the first Dragonwatch book, yet they felt unnecessary for much of the story of the series. Sure, they fulfilled their character arcs at the end of the books, but they just annoyed me for whatever reason.

I’m sure that you can tell by now that I felt that the third and fourth books were the weakest of the series. And you’d be correct – I definitely think that. But I also felt that it had a strong start as well as a strong finish. And my grievances with the series are honestly very few; as I’ve said – this is an absolutely solid fantasy series.

I didn’t want to write Dragonwatch unless it would build upon what Fablehaven started in a way that felt important. Now that I’m done, I feel like Dragonwatch is the second half of a single sweeping story, and that without these five books, the adventures of Kendra and Seth would be incomplete.
Brandon Mull

Let me just make a little list of some of my favorite things about Dragonwatch (Note – The Return of the Dragon Slayers was the most recent book I’ve read – it’s been well over a year since I read any of the others – so my points will basically be about this book in particular or the series as a whole):

The way the entire series – Fablehaven and Dragonwatch – came full circle in a few different ways.
- Muriel, the witch antagonist from the first Fablehaven book, appears and has a significant part to play in book five of Dragonwatch.
- Kendra and Seth have a moment in the room they originally stayed in during Fablehaven.
- Themes from the first series return and circle back in a satisfying way.
- Kendra and Bracken have another touching moment at the end of the Dragonwatch series that builds on the moment they had five books earlier at the end of the Fablehaven half of the series. I adored it.
I loved seeing many of the characters return from the Fablehaven part of the series. So many books come back years later and ditch much of the original cast, but this one doesn’t do that, which I appreciated.
Seeing new magical places was awesome. Moving beyond the magical preserves was awesome. I just love the Fablehaven world building and universe in general.
Brandon Mull managed not only to stick a series ending with Fablehaven not once but twice. So many series struggle with this aspect of writing, but neither half of the series does. Both Fablehaven’s and Dragonwatch’s endings are satisfying and feel earned.

So yeah, I liked a lot of stuff about the Dragonwatch series. But this review is already getting super long so I can’t talk about everything I enjoyed. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys middle grade fantasy, and especially kids in middle school. As someone who read half of this series in middle school when it was still just Fablehaven, I think that kids this age will find it to be a great series and will enjoy it.

Because of this, my median star rating for the entire Dragonwatch part of the series is:

Anyways, as always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic day/night!

Also, if you celebrate it, 🇺🇸🎇 Happy 4th of July!! 🇺🇸🎇

See ya ~Mar

I have many other books and series to write. Some of my fa- vorite ideas have yet to be written. I can’t wait to share them in the years to come.
Brandon Mull

My Star Ratings for Each Book

Wrath of the Dragon King by Brandon Mull

Master of the Phantom Isle by Brandon Mull

Champion of the Titan Games by Brandon Mull

Return of the Dragon Slayers by Brandon Mull

MY LINKS:

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A Tale of Two Knights by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler | Book Review

Tristan & Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights (An Arthurian Love Story) by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler

LENGTH: 336 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, YA, LGBT+, Graphic Novel, Fiction

PUBLISHER: HarperAlley

RELEASE DATE: 4 June 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In this queer reimagining of Arthurian legend, Knights of the Round Table Lancelot and Tristan set out on a quest to find the missing magician Merlin, but instead discover an unexpected romance. An inclusive, magical twist on the enduring legend of Arthur that is a tale for the ages.

Merlin is missing, and Camelot is under attack.

When King Arthur calls for aid, Morgan le Fay answers her estranged half brother’s plea—for a price. She’ll locate Merlin in exchange for the mysterious magical sapling their father bequeathed to Arthur on his passing. Much to her chagrin, Arthur insists on sending two Knights of the Round Table with her.

Sir Lancelot has carefully built himself a reputation as the most well-liked of Arthur’s knights, but he can’t crack quiet Tristan’s brooding exterior. Sir Tristan is silently battling a curse—one that has bound him to the lady Isolde against his will, and one he grows ever more desperate to break.

As the trio journeys through Albion, sparks begin to fly between the two knights. But before they can unravel the tangle of feelings and secrets between them, they will have to face a threat that could destroy all of Camelot—unless they and Morgan can learn to work together to destroy it first.

My Review

I love retellings. Fairytale, classic fiction, legends – it doesn’t matter. I love reading reinterpretations of old works, as well as stories based on or inspired by them.

Regarding Tristan & Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights however… I found it very mid. It wasn’t even close to being a bad book, but I didn’t really enjoy it that much either. I guess it was just another book that wasn’t for me. The art is fantastic though – it was my favorite thing about the graphic novel! (I gave my rating an extra half-star because I loved it so much.)

Aside from the great art, I kind of felt that the rest of the stuff the novel had going for it was pretty meh. The characters were very, very basic and weren’t well defined, and the plot and “twists” were extraordinarily predictable. It just wasn’t a book that I super enjoyed. Also, the title is way too long.

This graphic novel also felt like a fanfiction, not gonna lie. (And I mean, technically I guess it was…) Especially with how the story was presented and the way it was written. There wasn’t really much to establish the background or world (because everyone knows about King Arthur and stuff right?), and it all felt kinda rushed. Like, I’m all for a fast paced adventure, but you gotta establish your world and characters first.

I also wasn’t sold on the romance. I never really understood what Lancelot initially saw in Tristan. The latter was mostly irritable and standoffish and didn’t interact with anyone if he could help it. Was it just because Tristan was hot? Because that’s not good enough for me sometimes when it comes to books and stuff. I need something more than that. And Lancelot spent a good amount of time mooning over Tristan for (what I felt) was seemingly nothing.

Morgan and Arthur’s slight animosity didn’t make sense to me after I finished reading A Tale of Two Knights either. Like, I get it, in Arthurian lore they’re antagonistic. But they didn’t really have a reason to be here. And the mystery of why they put each other off was one of the more interesting things about the novel, and I didn’t feel like it had a good payoff. Also, everything regarding the plot resolved just a little too nicely.

Anyway, I don’t really have anything else to say. This clearly wasn’t for me, but others might enjoy it. And the art was amazing.

As always, thank you for reading and have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Some Interactions I Liked

[Guinevere] “I miss being out in the field. And I miss having you around. Camelot could use you.”

[Morgan] “I’m here now. All it took was my brother’s kingdom to fall into utter chaos.”

[Arthur] “I do wish we could meet under better circumstances.”

[Guinevere] “Maybe if you had invited her for dinner every once in a while.”

[Arthur] “I…”

[Morgan] “Careful. It’s a long drop. And we don’t know what’s underneath the water.”

[Lancelot] “Don’t tell me. Something isn’t right about this place.”

[Morgan] “What gave it away?”

[Morgan] “It doesn’t matter where you come from… Or who you are… Or what you struggle with. You don’t do it because you’re a knight. You don’t do it for a title or glory or for Arthur to pat you on the back. I don’t do it just because I’m getting paid. We do it because it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t matter who was born a peasant or noble. It doesn’t matter if I’m part fae or if I’ve lost most of my magic. We don’t get to sit around and mope.

MY LINKS:

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Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis | Book Review

If a human was made up of the experiences of their life, was Gav anything at all?

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

LENGTH: 352 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Titan Books

RELEASE DATE: 28 May 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A sharp-witted, debut high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival – all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.

It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something.

It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you.

Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed.

But as he realizes that nothing – from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess – is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all – who does he want to be?

A high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, an evil wizard convocation, and a garlic festival. All at once. All in all, Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.

My Review

He woke up with no eyebrows and no idea how he’d gotten into such a position.

I was really looking forward to Dreadful. And I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t end up being as much of a gem as I’d hoped it would be. Like, I still really liked certain parts of it, but on the whole I just felt very meh about it.

The concept of this novel was something I found extremely interesting and was all it took for me to hype myself up for it. But, I dunno, I just felt like it was a bit bland for me. I’ve heard it compared to Legends & Lattes, because they’re both kind of slow-burns, and I agree with that. I think that that might be part of the reason that Dreadful didn’t gel with me as much as I’d hoped.

First off: the stuff I liked. I really enjoyed the characters; I feel that they were the strongest part of the book. Gav was both amusing and interesting to me because I’m a sucker for amnesia plots (if they’re done right), and the circumstances and framing of the novel made the whole thing funny to me. Eliasha was also a brilliant inversion of the princess archetype. I loved her personality and how she wasn’t conventionally attractive and that her interests weren’t conventional either. Gav and Eliasha also had great platonic banter, and their friendship was fun to follow. I also really liked the side characters, like the goblins and the villagers. The garlic festival was hilarious!

The plot was okay. It wasn’t anything super unique, as it’s purposely riffing on fantasy tropes, and is inspired by one of Rozakis’ husband’s D&D campaigns from a few years ago. I like it when books get a bit meta sometimes though, or are self aware, so a lot of it was fun.

I did find stuff to be kind of predictable, however, but that’s not always a bad thing. It did make a couple of parts kind of boring though, and the climax was not very exciting (for me) to read. The book also got a bit too self aware and preachy at some points.

The writing was mostly okay. I thought that the dialogue and point of view came across pretty naturally. I did find some of the descriptions to be overused and annoying, though. The amount of times the author used stuff like “the saturnine face” made me want to throw my tablet across the couch. It really irritated me.

But yeah, overall this was a pretty okay book and a decent debut. It may not have been my cup of tea exactly, but I think that lots of other people will enjoy it. Especially if you like more slow paced and light-hearted stuff.

A Few Quotes I Liked

So, this was shock. It seemed terribly inconvenient that the brain’s reaction to being placed in mortal jeopardy was to become much stupider.

“Do you want to get fireballed by mistake?”

She shrugged fatalistically. “Will get fireballed eventually.”

If he hurried out, it was because he had very important research to do. It was not a retreat.

“Your good sense. Your common sense can inspire me to another way of life. To goodness.”

“You could start with letting me go.”

“Something smaller.”

“How about not being a complete asshole to everyone you meet?” she said acidly.

As always, thanks so much to everyone for reading, and I hope you have a not-dreadful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

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The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin | Book Review

“I’ll go,” he said. “And when I wake up, I’ll try to figure out what the devil is planning on doing to Novo-Svitsevo.”

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

LENGTH: 414 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, LGBTQIA+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Random House Canada

RELEASE DATE: 7 May 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Set in a Jewish folklore-inspired reimagining of 19th century Eastern Europe, this queer dark fantasy debut pits two estranged husbands and a daring spymaster on opposite sides of a civil war. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, C.S. Pacat, and Katherine Arden.

Dimitri Alexeyev used to be the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo. Now, he is merely a broken man, languishing in exile after losing a devastating civil war instigated by his estranged husband, Alexey Balakin. In hiding with what remains of his court, Dimitri and his spymaster, Vasily Sokolov, engineer a dangerous ruse. Vasily will sneak into Alexey’s court under a false identity to gather information, paving the way for the usurper’s downfall, while Dimitri finds a way to kill him for good.

But stopping Alexey is not so easy as plotting to kill an ordinary man. Through a perversion of the Ludayzim religion that he terms the Holy Science, Alexey has died and resurrected himself in an immortal, indestructible body—and now claims he is guided by the voice of God Himself. Able to summon forth creatures from the realm of demons, he seeks to build an army, turning Novo-Svitsevo into the greatest empire that history has ever seen.

Dimitri is determined not to let Alexey corrupt his country, but saving Novo-Svitsevo and its people will mean forfeiting the soul of the husband he can’t bring himself to forsake—or the spymaster he’s come to love.

My Review

How will I know the Name? Dimitri fought to be practical, even if the pain in his body was enough to drive him mad.

Just as your sins are written on your bones, the angel replied, so will you bear the name of God.

So, like, I wanted to like this book. I really, really wanted to. It had such an interesting premise and the cover was absolutely incredible. Plus, I really love the title; The Sins on Their Bones – it just sounds so cool and unsettling at the same time!

But I didn’t. And I’m not saying that it’s a bad book, because I don’t think it necessarily is. I just don’t think it was for me. And that’s because of the almost constant horniness. And smut. Sorry everyone, I’m just not into that stuff! Plus, since it was constant there, it was difficult to skip past it without missing important parts of the story. I couldn’t stand it, it was so annoying. I hate it when books get hypersexual or horny, it’s just something I don’t find very interesting or engaging (it’s also the thing I hate the most about the ACOTAR series).

Another thing I didn’t like was some of the characters. I hated Dimitri at the beginning of the story. I found him and his whining to be annoying to follow. Yes, I understand that he was extremely traumatized. But did he really have to be that whiny? After his big character moment about halfway through, however, he ended up becoming my favorite POV character to follow. And that’s again due to the aforementioned horny stuff.

I don’t understand how Alexey could possibly be as sex driven as he was. Like, he was revived in a demonic ritual, and his body and all its processes were all altered and messed up because of that. His body temperature was cold and his blood was discolored. How the heck is his libido functioning that well?! And he was horny like, all the time. It was basically constant during his chapters. And he was supposed to be this evil mastermind type of guy that can’t be fooled, but the second (SPOILER) shows up he gives him access to everything. Because Alexey is just that horny.

I found Vasily to be pretty annoying too. But like, in a different way to Dimitri annoying and Alexey annoying. Well, not quite different to Alexey annoying. I hate pining when it’s constant. And Vasily was constantly – and I mean constantly – pining for Dimitri. It was so much that it felt like it eclipsed everything else about his character, because I’m having trouble remembering other aspects of his personality. I guess he was clever? I don’t know.

I liked Dimitri’s close-knit group of friends, though. I liked their dialogue and the way that they all interacted with Dimitri and each other. It was pretty natural sounding, and I found the interactions to be sweet. Their personalities were all pretty defined, which was nice to see after forcing my way through some of the POVs.

The only other thing that I really liked was the mythology and world building. I haven’t really read books with Jewish inspired aspects like this, so it was very interesting and refreshing to read. I found it to be pretty unique. But yeah, that’s all that I really liked about the novel.

The Sins on Their Bones is an interesting book with great world building and some great characters. But everything else about it bothered me in some way (it’s the horniness and sex – it’s always the horniness and sex). I think that other people who like unique fantasy based settings and smut will enjoy it, though, so I recommend it for you guys.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who decided to read this. I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Conversations I Liked a Little

“Who gave you the right to tell me what to do?” Dimitri asked sulkily, trying to bat Mischa’s arm away.

“The Lord our God, and also you, you ass,” Mischa said.

“I’m scared,” he finally admitted, his voice gravelly and hoarse. “I’m so scared. I don’t want to lose another person I should be keeping safe. I don’t want to lose any of you.”

“That’s the curse of ruling, my darling.” Annika ran her thumbs across his cheeks, wiping away his tears the way his own mother never had. “That’s the weight of the crown you wear. Loving the tools that you use to protect your empire. And some of those tools might break.”

“Ah.” Vasily chewed his lip. “You can’t pay in money. You have to pay in pieces of yourself.”

“Stop the carriage right fucking now.” Mischa made for the carriage door, but Vasily blocked them with an arm. “There’s no way I’m letting any of us cut off pieces of ourselves to read a book.”

“The boy’s the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo,” the head said suddenly.

“Yes, yes, you said something about that,” Aleksandr grumbled. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he can’t bleed on any of the books.”

“I know,” Vasily said, gripping Dimitri’s knee harder. “I know. But there’s nothing we can do for the dead. All we can do is try to save the living.” Dimitri shook his head.

“I agree,” he whispered, except he didn’t sound like he did.

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A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers | Book Review

“Remnants are powerful things. Hard to ignore. But you have the sense and the tools to avoid getting sick from that water. And I… I know that the world I’m headed to is not the world the originals walked away from.”

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

SERIES: Monk & Robot #1

LENGTH: 147 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tordotcom Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 13 July 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers’s delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.

It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They’re going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers’s new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

My Review

If you ask six different monks the question of which godly domain robot consciousness belongs to, you’ll get seven different answers.

I’ve read very few books in my life that I’ve considered perfect (or near-perfect, honestly), but A Psalm for the Wild-Built was absolutely one of them. Some might not consider it so, but this one really resonated with me, and it was a bit of an eye-opening read for me.

The journey itself and the basic plot was sweet. I really like how this whole thing was driven by Dex’s need to hear crickets – which are uncommon are living quite a distance from human civilization in A Psalm for the Wild-Built’s world. But as the novella goes on, you as the reader, begin to realize that this isn’t exactly what Dex really wants or needs. And it was beautiful and heartbreaking and so, so relatable when everything comes to light.

Also, I really found Dex to be very relatable. Their thoughts and feelings, which slowly came to light through their conversations with Mosscap (the co-protagonist), really felt like stuff I’ve had running through my head at several points in the last couple of years. Particularly the need to feel like you’re fulfilling a purpose or doing something to benefit other people or the world as a whole. That… was something that really resonated for me. I’ve never felt this much on the wavelength of a character I followed in a novel before, or said novel in general. It made me feel a lot better about myself, and also that I’d read this book sooner.

I also really enjoyed Mosscap and it and Dex’s slowly growing friendship. The character moments and growth was fantastic. It all almost felt slice-of-life. This was a very character driven story, which is not something I always like, but if it’s written well (which it was) and it hits just the right spot (which it did), then it’s amazing.

If you haven’t read this novella yet, I recommend you do so. It isn’t very long, and it’s a very sweet and relatable story. It’s a great little soft sci-fi experience, and I think that everyone should at least give it a shot.

Anyway, as always, thank you everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Favorite Quotes

It was an odd feeling. Any other day, the act of going through a door was something Dex gave no more thought to than putting one foot in front of the other. But there was a gravity to leaving a place for good, a deep sense of seismic change.

Sometimes, a person reaches a point in their life when it becomes absolutely essential to get the fuck out of the city.

The robot noted this. “Did you just apologize to the bloodsuck for killing it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It didn’t do anything wrong. It was acting in its nature.”

“Is this typical of people, to apologize to things you kill?”

“Yeah.”

“I can go a hundred miles, give or take.”

“So, that’s… sorry, I’m slow at math.”

Dex frowned. “What?” How was the robot slow at math?

“Hush, I can’t multiply and talk at the same time.”

“We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.”

“I am made of metal and numbers; you are made of water and genes. But we are each something more than that. And we can’t define what that something more is simply by our raw components.”

“But that’s… that’s immortality. How is that less desirable?”

“Because nothing else in the world behaves that way. Everything else breaks down and is made into other things.”

“It’s pretty here,” Dex said. “I wouldn’t have imagined I’d say that about a place like this, but—”

“Yes, it is,” Mosscap said, as if making a decision within itself. “It is. Dying things often are.”

Dex raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little macabre.”

“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.”

“Then how,” Dex said, “how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?”

Mosscap considered. “Because I know that no matter what, I’m wonderful,” it said.

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Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco | Book Review

One didn’t steal from the devil and go unpunished.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

SERIES: Kingdom of the Wicked (Book #1)

LENGTH: 372 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

RELEASE DATE: 27 October 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes a new blockbuster series…

Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost–even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked–princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…

My Review

“There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. And one will take your life.”

Hey all. Sorry for the somewhat late review and post. I had intended to have this out by last Friday before we went out of town, but that unfortunately didn’t happen. I also struggled to find a moment to work on it this weekend (while out of town), so I just decided to post it this week. Sorry about that.

Anyway! I didn’t really care for Kingdom of the Wicked. Not that I expected to really like it a ton, but I did expect the writing to be better. Just because it’s YA doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have to have standards! Like, how was this published in the form it was? I definitely needed a couple more rounds of edits.

This book also made me hungry, which wasn’t super appreciated either. I did however, really enjoy the talk of cooking and ingredients and restaurant stuff. I also love to cook and bake, so it helped me immerse myself in this world bit. It’s also the reason this book is rated so high – otherwise I might’ve rated it two stars or probably less. But that was where the immersion ended.

This wasn’t the book for me. I hated Emilia not just as a protagonist, but as a character in general. I was prepared to like her – or at least, I didn’t mind the character that she was at the beginning. She was kind and quiet, and she loved to read. Emilia was also a bit of a dreamer. She’s also pretty cautious, which I don’t see very often in the MCs of the novels I read, which felt like a breath of fresh air. (I didn’t last. Trust me.) Though not on the level as her sister, Vittoria, whom I honestly ended up preferring by the end. Even though she was dead.

But these established aspects of Emilia’s personality and character are completely obliterated almost entirely when Vittoria is murdered. Then she immediately turns into an angry, bitter person, entirely obsessed with revenge. Like it becomes her whole personality. Which is stupid. She also forgets that she has an entire family whom she (allegedly) loves unconditionally, and who loves and cares for her unconditionally. Which is also stupid. Like, the book even tells us – in Emilia’s voice no less! – that even though she and Vittoria used to be close when they were eight years old and younger, they’ve since grown apart, and aren’t really close, anymore. So Emilia’s very sudden and very extreme reaction didn’t make sense to me. Oh, and that cautiousness, that refusal to take risks until she had more information about stuff? Utterly gone. Maniscalco could’ve done so much with this and other aspects of her character without making the established person the protagonist started out as becoming completely unrecognizable. Such bad writing.

I also hated Wrath, both as a love interest and as a portrayal of one of the seven deadly sins. He doesn’t even act all that wrathful! Heck, whenever he’s with Emilia, he acts more lustful than anything else. You’re supposed to make me believe that this guy is supposed to be a hundreds, probably thousands, of years old nonhuman who’s that horny?!? And that he has some completely different agenda and goals of his own? I don’t see it. Whatever character you were trying to push isn’t what ended up on the page. Also, his and Emilia’s banter was annoying and their dialogue wasn’t that natural (and I’ll talk about the dialogue in general soon, don’t worry), and they had no chemistry. At. All. I hate them both.

The last big, and probably most important thing – in terms of a good book, that is – that I didn’t like about Kingdom of the Wicked, was the dialogue. And the way that the narrative in general was written. The dialogue sounded a bit too modern, which is something I don’t always hate, but in this case it was too much and it took me out of the story. Emilia’s POV in general – AKA: the narrative – also had this problem. (It was kind of the opposite problem I had with Children of Ragnarok, which I DNF-ed.) Not to mention they had plumbing. What year is this, author? You left it entirely ambiguous.

So yeah, I didn’t end up liking this book. Sorry for the review being a bit rant-y, but so much of this book bothered me, I just couldn’t help it. I’ll probably never read another of Maniscalco’s works again, and I’m definitely not interested in continuing with this series. That’s how much I didn’t like it.

As always, thanks to everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Quotes I Sorta Liked

Outside, wind rattled the wooden chimes in warning. In the distance, waves crashed against the shore; the frantic whispers of water growing louder as if the sea was a mage summoning vio- lence. On this date for nearly a decade now-the storm followed the same pattern. Next, thunder would roll in quicker than the tide with lightning cracking electric whips across an unforgiving sky. The devil demanded retribution. A blood sacrifice for power stolen.

It wasn’t the first time he’d be cursed by witches, nor would it be the last.

Man had a funny way of blaming the devil for things he didn’t like. It was strange that we were called evil when humans were the ones who enjoyed watching us burn.

Subtlety was an artform lost on the demon, apparently. Though I supposed when he was the biggest, baddest predator around, he had little to fear.

I looked down at my new, finely made dress and frowned at the dark layers. “Why do villains always wear black?”

“Better to hide the blood with, witch.”

“You’re no one’s but your own, girl. Don’t ever forget it.”

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Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw | Book Review

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” she says at last, slow, guarded.

“Them?”

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw

SERIES: Persons Non Grata #1

LENGTH: 110 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor.com

RELEASE DATE: 11 October 2016

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

John Persons is a private investigator with a distasteful job from an unlikely client. He’s been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid’s stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable.

He’s also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he’s hunted gods and demons, and broken them in his teeth.

As Persons investigates the horrible McKinsey, he realizes that he carries something far darker. He’s infected with an alien presence, and he’s spreading that monstrosity far and wide. Luckily Persons is no stranger to the occult, being an ancient and magical intelligence himself. The question is whether the private dick can take down the abusive stepdad without releasing the holds on his own horrifying potential.

My Review

You learn things in this line of work. Like how to read heartbeats. Any gumshoe can tell when a darb’s lying, but it takes a special class of sharper to differentiate between two truths.

Well, I guess it was an inevitable eventuality, though I hoped it wouldn’t have come this early in the year. My first two star rating. Or, two and a quarter star, technically.

I had hope for Hammers on Bone. It was Lovecraftian horror inspired and it was pretty short, being a novella and all. But I didn’t like it.

Part of this was, unfortunately, probably because this was a novella. Even though I’ve enjoyed most of the shorter novels that I’ve read – specifically the Murderbot Diaries. But I have noticed a problem with smaller stories like this, and with this book being a mystery, it was a particular problem here.

The author said that they actually lengthened the novella compared to its initial drafts because they thought that it needed more room to breathe. Well, sorry but there still wasn’t enough room for the book to breathe. The MC jumps to conclusions that end up being correct kind of out of nowhere, though I guess I should have figured it out sooner, considering there are a limited number of characters and places. But this is a mystery book, you should still figure out a way to find time and set your mystery and conclusions up!! It made it very irritating to read.

I also didn’t like any of the characters, not even the protagonist. Yeah, I know it’s a novella, but you can still create compelling characters <150 pages – if you’re a good writer. And yeah, even though I didn’t care for any of the cast, I found the side characters more interesting than the MC. Which shouldn’t have happened given that the protagonist was some sort of eldritch horror. Like, how do you fail to make that your most interesting character?!?

The way that the dialogue was written annoyed me. As was the way the narrative – I didn’t like the way the first person perspective was written. Some of the language the author used came across as either awkward or mismatched. I know that I’m not British and the book and author were, but I’ve read other books by British authors where the dialogue came across as natural and the narrative wasn’t… weird, I guess. I just didn’t like it, okay?

Anyway, I don’t have anything else to say about Hammers on Bone. I guess if you like and know a lot about Lovecraftian horror than you might like it; you’ll probably enjoy it more than me – I’m not particularly knowledgeable about Lovecraft stuff (but I’ve also enjoyed other Lovecraft stuff that isn’t this, so who knows).

So yeah, as always, thank you to everyone so much for reading and I hope that you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Some of the Writing That I Kind of Liked

“How do you know the sky’s blue? It’s like that. Like the knowledge that comes with breathing, with knowing when you’re hungry, when you’re cold. Exactly like that.”

You know how they say you never forget how to ride a bike? Magic’s like that. Deeper, even. The knowledge of it inks itself on the inside of your bones, as does the practice, the methodology of execution. You can’t unlearn it any more than you can unlearn the symbiosis of ventricle and aorta.

Night comes. Real night. Not just the chronological byproduct of Earth pirouetting around the sun, but a blackness that shoves the lizard brain nose first into the dirt and hisses for caution.

The noise becomes a whisper, a hiss, a celebration, a roar, a black surf breaking on the glaciers of an old, decaying world. It sutures itself into syllables, strings of sounds that could almost be called words if you’re feeling generous.

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Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens | Book Review

In the middle of a collection of cornfields, in the middle of the country, in the middle of nowhere, a weathered wooden post marked the intersection of two roads:

BEWARE OF BARGAINS MADE HERE.

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

LENGTH: 320 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Margaret K. Elderberry Books

RELEASE DATE: 2 April 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A skeptic and a supernatural being make a crossroads deal to achieve their own ends only to get more than they bargained for in this lively young adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This Is Ever After.

Seventeen-year-old Ellery is a non-believer in a region where people swear the supernatural is real. Sure, they’ve been stuck in a five-year winter, but there’s got to be a scientific explanation. If goddesses were real, they wouldn’t abandon their charges like this, leaving farmers like Ellery’s family to scrape by.

Knox is a familiar from the Other World, a magical assistant sent to help humans who have made crossroads bargains. But it’s been years since he heard from his queen, and Knox is getting nervous about what he might find once he returns home. When the crossroads demons come to collect Knox, he panics and runs. A chance encounter down an alley finds Ellery coming to Knox’s rescue, successfully fending off his would-be abductors.

Ellery can’t quite believe what they’ve seen. And they definitely don’t believe the nonsense this unnervingly attractive guy spews about his paranormal origins. But Knox needs to make a deal with a human who can tether him to this realm, and Ellery needs to figure out how to stop this winter to help their family. Once their bargain is struck, there’s no backing out, and the growing connection between the two might just change everything.

My Review

“Have you fallen asleep?” Knox whispered.

Ellery smothered an unhinged laugh. “No. I’m thinking.” “About?”

“You need a tether.”

“I do.”

“A bargain.”

“Yes.”

“To keep the shades from dragging you back.”

“That would be ideal, yes.”

“And I need information. I need this winter to end.” Knox sat up straight. “What are you suggesting?”

Ellery licked their dry lips. “I suggest we make a deal.”

So far, this is the best F.T. Lukens novel I’ve read yet. It brings all the best parts of their previous three novels together – the snappy dialogue, the found family, the creative fantasy elements – yeah pretty much all the best parts!

Otherworldly is another duel POV book, similar to last year’s Spell Bound, but this time it’s in third person. It follows Ellery Evans, a snarky human teenager, and Knox, a supernatural being from the Other World. And I think their Lukens’ best written POVs yet – I was more invested in the resolution of these two’s story than any of the other three books.

I also really liked the side characters here, just like in So This is Ever After. Ellery’s cousin Charley was my favorite character in the novel – she was just so ridiculous and completely unhinged! And her girlfriend Zada was simultaneously an excellent foil for her, but also Charley’s biggest enabler and I loved it. And them as a couple. (Which is something I’m starting to notice with these F.T. Lukens novels – I’m waaayy more interested in the side romances the whatever reason.)

The magic and mythology and worldbuilding was also one of my favorite things about this novel. I love how incredibly intertwined the magic system and the world were with one another. And I called it all being Greek mythology inspired super early on (as the goddess that Knox serves is basically a combination of Hades and Demeter, and the other two “major gods” are of the sea and sky, so I think that speaks for itself). It was really satisfying to see that I was definitely right by the end of the book with a certain character’s “special journey.” (*cough*Orpheus&Eurydice*cough*)

I will say that there were a few things that I thought were a bit lacking. Ellery jumps into danger far too often here, and I never felt like we got a satisfying explanation as to why. Sure, characters are constantly harping on about how Ellery works too hard in trying to make their family and friends happy, but there is a difference between that and putting themself in deadly danger to save a complete stranger. And this is something the novel doesn’t seem to understand.

I also thought that Knox and Arabelle didn’t get enough moments together before Arabelle (who it was clear was going to get fridged from the get-go) kicked the bucket. Knox is extremely emotional about her passing, but I had trouble believing it because they have two scenes together. The first is when they meet at the very beginning of the book, and the second is when they finish making the McGuffin together and she gets offed. It would have been nice to have at least one scene where we are shown Knox and Arabelle’s relationship in between this, instead of reading Knox’s internal monologue after the fact.

But those are pretty much my only major gripes with Otherworldly. Like I said, it’s F.T. Lukens’ best novel yet.

I definitely recommend this to fans of Lukens’ previous works, as well as fans of YA fantasy in general. It’s a fun story, and a quick read, so I encourage anyone interested to at least give it a try.

As always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you all have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Some of My Favorite Quotes Out of Context

“Have you asked them yet?” Zada said, tapping her fingernails on the laminate.

Charley shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Whatever it is,” Ellery said, removing Charley’s grip from their wrist, “the answer is no.”

“The dishwasher.”

“Hot weird guy?”

“What?”

“What–“

“I love the way you think, my darling dearest. Your brain is as sexy as your body.”

“Babe,” Zada said, drawing out the vowel, “not in front of the kid.” Ellery frowned. “I’m seventeen.”

“You’re right. Their poor innocent ears cannot handle the depth of our love and longing for each other.”

“I’m literally only four years younger than Zada.”

“Four significant years, El.”

“I’m not human,” he said. “Well, I may be more human now than normal because of the missing magic.” He waved his hand lazily. “But in my limited experience, I think you can feel unhappy about your situation and still acknowledge the challenges others have. It’s not one or the other.”

“I hope this isn’t too frightening,” Knox said with a grin. “I don’t know if I can handle it.”

“We’ve seen worse. I think we’ll be fine.”

“Maybe,” he said, catching Ellery’s hand in his. “As long as you’re brain. here, I’m sure I’ll be okay.”

“Didn’t you have enough rowdy adventures at the ice hockey game? There was blood.”

Knox blinked. “Is there blood at frat parties?”

“Only the good ones,” Charley said, wistfully.

“You need help.” Ellery said, deadpan.

He wanted to remember.

But he was not created to do so.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Charley said, twirling A pencil through the red strands of the ponytail she’d gathered to keep it out of her flushed and freckled face. “Because it’s great that the spring or summer or whatever we’re in has returned. But it’s so hot in this kitchen, I could die.”

She fanned herself with her hand.

“You’re literally complaining.”

“This must be it,” Charley said, leaning over both Lorelei and Hale to look out of the window.

“Did the warning sign give it away?” Hale snapped. “Or was it the literal magic radiating from that spot?”

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