The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson
Best for: Those who enjoyed the first book in the series, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. In a nutshell: Taking place immediately after the end of the first book, we find a witch who has taken over her sister’s body and a lot of men who want to cause a lot of harm to women. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: I enjoyed the first in the series. Review: Without spoiling the book, I appreciate that the first one had a theme that was related […]
A Witch’s Guide To Burning by Aminder Dhaliwal
This graphic novel is the story of a journey in which magical outcasts, thrown together by fate, must learn to trust and rely on one another in order to heal, grow and find the strength to battle demons. Aminder Dhaliwal has created a magical world with its own unique set of rules. Witches are valued and esteemed so long as they do their job for their towns. Once their magic weakens, they are “cleansed” by fire and a new witch takes over. It’s an old […]
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
I’ve been wanting to read the Six of Crows duology and decided to start with the Shadow and Bone trilogy so I’d be more familiar with the Grisha and could enjoy references to past events. I was a little hesitant because a lot of people don’t seem to like the trilogy, but I enjoyed it. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was fun. I thought the pacing was pretty good throughout, and I appreciated the mix of plot-focused and character-driven story. In Shadow and Bone, we […]
Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book by Angela Carter
I picked up this fairy tale collection in Tim’s Books, a tiny off-the-path used bookstore in Provincetown, because it had Angela Carter’s name on it, and I’ve been dedicating my book-buying to hoarding collections by the best fairy tale scholars, especially the feminist ones. It has, as you can see, a delightfully dated cover, but its ideas are very radical and timeless. The book is a selection of fairy tales and folktales chosen by Carter (author of the brilliant The Bloody Chamber), highlighting some of the […]
Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis
One of the worst things I think a book can do to you is totally ruin things with a two page change of tone. Dreadful seemed like a pretty inoffensive light-ish almost parody of D&D-type fantasy/isekai. Dread Dark Lord Gavrax suddenly wakes up in his lab with no idea where he is or who he is. He’s got no idea why he’s got Princess Eliasha captive, what scary Dread Lord Zarcon has him doing, why the villagers a re terrified of him, and why he […]
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. Maas
SJM is just bad at endings, is what I’ve decided. I feel the same way about this as I did about Kingdom of Ash. And even though I think it’s the best of her three endings, I also had similar issues with A Court of Wings and Ruin. It’s a pattern, is what I’m saying. I don’t regret reading this book; the first half in particular was a major improvement over the meandering, uninteresting second book. And then she started wrapping things up. Sigh. I’m finding it […]
