East of the Mississippi and as far west as they eye can see, right up until you hit the mountains themselves, is the Devil’s territory. And he protects his own.
Pride and Prejudice and Practical Magic
When I first discovered historical fantasy (or mannerpunk, or whatever you want to call it), I felt the way I imagine a person does when stumbling upon a hitherto unknown sexual kink. Oh wow, I did not know this was a thing, but I LIKE it! Marissa Doyle’s debut novel, Bewitching Season, is a light and frothy confection that (if I’m being honest) wasn’t quite as good as I remember it. This book and its sequel, both published in 2009, follow the stories of the […]
Tudor royals, books, shapeshifters and all manner of complications
According to history, when King Edward VI, Henry VIII’s son died young and childless, certain noblemen who wanted to make sure a ruler of the Protestant faith ruled the country put his young cousin Lady Jane Gray on the throne. She ruled for nine days, before Mary Tudor arrived with her armies, removed the poor girl and had her beheaded. This book bears a vague resemblance to that story. In the England of this story, the conflict in England isn’t between Catholics and Protestants, it’s […]
This is what it means to be a woman in the world. Every step is a bargain with pain.
From the blurb: From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one of the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title’s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves. A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the story of her parents – a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful […]
The girl with the red cloak and the boy with the silver hands – double Cannonball!
3.5 stars From Goodreads, because I’m lazy and it’s mostly a pretty good summary (I will point out the ways in which is it not afterwards): When Rachelle was fifteen, she was good – apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless – straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to […]
I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love
4.5 stars Catalia “Cat” lives with a travelling circus, disguising herself as a soothsayer. She’s been on the run for years, hiding for a number of reasons, primarily that she can tell instantly when someone is lying (she gets a shot of visceral pain throughout her body) and she can frequently divulge the truth an individual is hiding when they lie, as well. Additionally, she has the ability to siphon magic from someone else, and in turn, use that magic against the individual or others. […]