I’ve read this book so many times that I’ve lost count but each time I’ve tried to write my review I haven’t known what I wanted to say about it.
Thuy has been bullied at school again. She is angry and upset, but on her way home she notices her “jagged footprints”.
When she sees a lone bird, she imagines what it would be like to be able to fly away from danger and recreates its footprints in the snow. She continues to imagine other animals and makes their footprints her own as she arrives home.
“I want to be the biggest and strongest and scariest monster,” Thuy says, “so that if kids at school make fun of me for having two moms, or tell me to go back to where I come from, or call me names, or bother me because I’m a girl, I can make them stop!”
Together Momma Arti, Momma Ngoc and Thuy talk about which animals are strong and which are their favourites. Then Thuy imagines the best animal of all.
I loved Basia Tran’s illustrations, particularly Thuy’s Arti-Thuy-Ngoc-osaurus.
This imagined creature has footprints shaped like hearts, which I absolutely adored.
While I don’t think I would have appreciated this book as a child, adult me loves its messages. Thuy’s story tackles the impacts of bullying but also highlights the importance of having a supportive family. She is learning about courage and perseverance, and the power of her imagination, and I love her and her family more with each reread.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Every child feels different in some way, but Thuy feels “double different.” She is Vietnamese American and she has two mums. Thuy walks home one winter afternoon, angry and lonely after a bully’s taunts. Then a bird catches her attention and sets Thuy on an imaginary exploration. What if she could fly away like a bird? What if she could sprint like a deer, or roar like a bear? Mimicking the footprints of each creature in the snow, she makes her way home to the arms of her moms. Together, the three of them imagine beautiful and powerful creatures who always have courage – just like Thuy.
I don’t really know where to begin with this review. There was so much about Kingdom of Souls that I loved. I adored the world building, the rich mythology and learning how magic works in Arrah’s world, yet at the same time I was introduced to so many characters, tribes and gods that I found it difficult to keep track of them.
Enter my cheat guide. I had no idea who or what was going to be important later on and I was so overwhelmed in the beginning (up to about 20%) that I found myself frantically making notes about practically everyone. I’ve included these notes in this review mostly for my benefit in case I need a refresher course prior to embarking upon the second book but if they help you in any way, you’re welcome.
I’ve marked them as spoilers because I mention some characters that don’t even appear in this story until near the end. I’ve tried to avoid spoilery type info dumps here but please still be aware that you may read something in there you don’t want to know yet.
Arrah’s Family
Arti – mother, from the Mulani tribe, “Ka-Priestess of the Kingdom”
Oshe – father, from the Aatiri tribe, has a store in the West Market
Efia – sister
Arrah’s Family’s Staff
Nezi – porter, has burnt hands and a limp
Ty – matron, does the cooking, doesn’t speak to anyone, has “episodes”
Terra – has only been on staff for 2 years, does the rest of the chores, Arrah’s age, gossips
Arrah’s Friends
Hassana – female, beautiful, Aatiri
Rudjek – male, smells of lilac and woodsmoke
Sukar – male, tattoos on his forearms and shaved head glow when the magic is there or he’s near someone with the gift, Zu
Rudjek’s Family
Serre – mother, daughter of the North, her country is Delene
Suran Omari – father, Vizier
Uran – older brother, whose mind was broken during the Rite of Passage
Jemi – older brother, whose mind was broken during the Rite of Passage, killed a merchant
Crown Prince Kelechi – brother, two years older than Rudjek
Second Son Narmer – brother, Arrah’s age (16)
Rudjek’s Attendants
Majka – best friend, gendar, parents are commanders under the Master of Arms, 17
Kira – 17, father is the Master of Scribes
Kingdom Hierarchy
Almighty One – the most powerful position, held by Dereje, who was best friends with Suran before he rose to the throne
Vizier – second most powerful position, held by Suran Omari, “governs the Kingdom”
Ka-Priestess – the third most powerful position, held by Arti, “the voice of the orishas”
The Vizier’s Guildmasters
Master of Arms – Rudjek’s aunt and the Vizier’s twin sister, General Solar, “leads the military forces of the Kingdom: the gendars, the guardsmen, and the shotani.”
Master of Scribes – Ny (Kira’s father)
Master of Scholars
Master of Laborers
Artisan’s guild – Guildmaster Ohakim
Shotani – elite assassins, have some magic, live in the Kingdom
Crests – show rank or position
Omari – lion’s head
Sukkara (the royal family) – ram, “symbol of their blood connection to the sun orisha, Re’Mec”
Some of the Locations
Tamar – where Arrah, Rudjek and their families live
East Market – in Tamar, Kofi (Arrah’s friend) works there, charlatans are also there
West Market – in Tamar, Oshe’s store is there
Kefu – time works differently there
Tribes of Heka – Heka gives magic to the tribes
Aatiri – “do not walk or leap, for clouds of magic carry them. Grandmother’s silver locs coil on top of her head like a crown, and she wears a half dozen necklaces of teeth. The Aatiri are tall and lean with prominent cheekbones and wiry hair braided like mine.” Arrah’s grandmother, Malikah, is the Aatiri chieftain. Malikah’s grandmother was Yaaba. Other ancestors are Machie and Ara.
Kes – the smallest tribe. Their lands “border the valley to the northwest. Their diaphanous skin and near-colorless eyes remind me of the Northern people.” “lightning cuts across the sky and sparks dance on their skin”
Litho – “lies southwest of the Temple of Heka in the woodlands. White dust covers their bodies and vests of rawhide.” “The ground shifts beneath their feet, moving as gentle as ocean waves”
Mulani – “live the closest to the Temple of Heka.” “It was a Mulani woman Heka revealed his presence to when he first descended from the stars a thousand years ago. Now the Mulani chieftain serves as his voice. The position would belong to my mother had she not left and never looked back.” – their witchdoctors are all women. “They have broad shoulders, curvy bodies, and skin ranging from deep brown to alabaster.” The Mulani Chieftain is Arti’s first cousin
Zu – “from the mountains south of the Temple” “leap above our heads, their feet supported by air. Tattoos cover their bodies and they wear crowns of antlers”, the Zu seer is Barasa
Orishas – worshipped in the Kingdom, they have human and animal aspects
Esi – the sky god
Fayouma – the mother of beast and fowl
Fram – the balancer of life and death
Kekiyé – orisha of gratitude
Kiva – protector of children and innocence
Koré – moon orisha – female, twin god
Mouran – master of the sea
Nana – god that shaped the earth
Oma – orisha of dreams
Re’Mec – sun orisha – male, twin god
Sisi – guardian of fire
Ugeniou – the harvester
Unnamed – cobras around each of her arms
Yookulu – weaver of seasons
Cravens
Fadi – the group’s leader, male, excels at shifting
Juhanah – female – group’s best tracker
Lumo – Mensah’s twin, group’s best healer
Mensah – Lumo’s twin, group’s best fighter
Riham – female, shortest of the group, “can bend space and manipulate her environment”
Demons
Dayo – Demon King
Merka – possesses a cat before they possess a fisherman
Familiars – shadowy, shapeless and ever changing. They can only be seen by people with tribal blood. They’re believed to be relics of people destroyed by demons. “Wherever the Familiars go, death soon follows.”
I think it was because I was so bogged down in my note taking that I managed to entirely bypass the whole ‘connecting with any of the characters’ experience. One character that I thought I would form a connection with early on died soon thereafter and the villain I was hoping to cheer on didn’t make much of an impact on me.
Had I found the guide on the book’s website before I read this book instead of after, my reading experience may have been vastly different. I learned things from this guide that I missed entirely when I read the book. However, considering a couple of the characters illustrated on the cast page don’t exist in the first book, perhaps some of the guide also relates to later books in the series.
Impacts of trauma play out in various ways with multiple characters, which I found very interesting. Although it’s not mentioned by name it’s almost certain a few characters could be diagnosed with PTSD. The violation involved in the mind manipulation wasn’t that dissimilar to survivors’ experiences of sexual assault.
Some of Arrah’s thought patterns were quite repetitive. Hearing about how much of a disappointment she was to her mother and how she had longed to have magic her entire life provided me with sufficient underdog fuel to want her to succeed initially, but the amount of times she lamented both began to annoy me as the story progressed.
Although I witnessed plenty of action, with fight scenes, destruction and all round mayhem, it also felt like I spent a good portion of this book waiting around with Arrah for the next sequence of events to begin to unfold.
The ending was quite abrupt and left a ton of unanswered questions, which will hopefully be addressed in the next two books (yep, I found out after I started reading that this is the first book of a trilogy). However, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll still be as eager to know some of the answers, like what two of the characters were whispering about, by the time the second book is released.
If I reread this book I would spend less time focusing on the minutiae and try instead to form meaningful connections with the main characters. It felt like Arrah’s world was real and this is why I’ve given this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ instead of ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Had I been emotionally invested in Arrah’s journey this could have been a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book for me.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperVoyager, an imprint of HarperCollins UK, for granting my wish to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Magic has a price – if you’re willing to pay.
Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.
There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.
She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees … unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him.
Perhaps one cannot walk through a door and back out again without changing the world.
This was a book within a book, worlds within a world, dream come true. I was enchanted and mesmerised from the very beginning. My heart is full of hope and possibilities, and my imagination is so happy and fulfilled, yet because you can never have enough magical portals in your life, I’m left yearning for more.
I want to tell you everything about this book but don’t want to ruin it for you so I’ll only tell you this:
January Scaller finds a Door when she’s seven but, because she’s so eager to please, she focuses her attention on becoming the “good girl” she’s expected to be.
I spent the years after the blue Door doing what most willful, temerarious girls must do: becoming less so.
Years later, the memory of that Door resurfaces when she finds a life changing book.
It smelled like adventure itself had been harvested in the wild, distilled to a fine wine, and splashed across each page.
I believed in the worlds behind these Doors without hesitation. Perhaps some of my belief can be explained away by the fact that I’ve casually sought my own door since first reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and more fervently since Every Heart a Doorway but it’s really because this book was just that good!
Whenever I read a book that mentions another book I always investigate further. Does that book exist in my world? Do I need to add it to my ever expanding to be read list? If it doesn’t exist in my world, will the author ever write it? I was thrilled that the primary book January reads in this book actually exists and its chapters are included within this book! This is one of my dreams come true! Of course, the book within the book had references to other books, which don’t exist (yet – I checked), but I was so excited to be reading an actual book within a book and it was perfect!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January explores the power of words, the nature of power and the price of freedom. January experiences abandonment and loss, and I ached for her as she longed for acceptance and belonging. I empathised with the feeling of being pressured to conform to others’ expectations of you even when they diminish you and the courage it takes to live beyond your labels, learning to follow your own truth.
January’s Doors take her to places, physically and internally, that compelled me to want to follow in her footsteps. This book took a lot longer than I had planned to read due to illness, but each time I picked it up I was immersed in January’s story again within a paragraph.
I learned of Alix E. Harrow’s brilliance when I read A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies during my (ongoing) 2019 Hugo Awards readathon. I reviewed it here. My love of this short story resulted in my unceremoniously moving The Ten Thousand Doors of January to the top of my reading queue.
I highlighted so many passages as I read this book; there were so many beautiful sentences I know I’ll need to revisit. January is a bookworm, so a kindred spirit of mine, and often spoke of books and reading in ways that felt like she was reaching into my own soul:
There’s only one way to run away from your own story, and that’s to sneak into someone else’s.
Some of the sentences I highlighted tell you nothing of the story but said plenty to me about the talent of its author. This is someone who can transform the ordinary into something memorable.
His hair clung to his skull in a white scimitar, as if the heat of his working mind had burned it away from the top of his head.
She shrugged again; I began to see them as practical gestures, designed to shed the weight of resentment threatening to settle on her shoulders.
While I greedily want a sequel I mostly hope there isn’t one. This book ends so perfectly that I want the exquisite agony of needing more to linger. I knew there was something special about this author when I read and reread A Witch’s Guide to Escape but after going through the Doors with January I’m certain of it. I don’t care what Alix writes about next; I’ll be reading it no matter what.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group (UK), for the opportunity to fall in love with this book early. I want everyone to read it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
In the early 1900’s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
If my rambling review after my reread of Volume 1 didn’t convince you that I finally understand what’s so amazing about Monstress, then this may. The first thing I did after I finished reading Volume 2 was to buy the signed B&N exclusive edition of Monstress Book One!
A Note About Spoilers: I can’t write this review without including some information about what happens in this Volume. I’ve tried to stay away from spoilery bits but our definitions of what constitutes spoilers may differ, so please read on with caution if you haven’t read this Volume yet.
Maika, Kippa and Ren begin this part of their story in Thyria, where Maika’s mother’s obsession with the Shaman-Empress is evident all over the home Maika barely remembers from her life before the desert. It is here that Kippa and Maika find a bone key, which they soon learn is from the Isle of Bones. They also still have the photograph and piece of an ancient mask Maika took when she escaped the Cumaean stronghold.
The unlikely trio soon board a pirate ship destined for the Isle of Bones, although Maika doesn’t know who she can trust. Before they leave, Kippa learns to drown swim and her instructor is perfect!
The Monstrum within Maika awakens during their voyage, hungry as usual. The pirate ship can only take them so far though and eventually it’s up to Maika, Kippa and Ren to try to make it through the mists surrounding the island. This is not creepy at all.
Nope, not one little bit. Eventually they make it to the Isle of Bones,
whose name is quite appropriate, I think. But because life wasn’t mean to be easy, they find out that they’re not alone.
It is here that some of the big questions I’ve had since the beginning are answered. We learn some more about Maika, her mother and her Monstrum, and of course the Volume ends on the edge of some cliffs, but the joke’s on you, cliffhangers! I have Volume 3 in my hands so I’m going to glide/fall off these cliffs quicker than you can say, “it’s time to hug Kippa because she’s just so darn adorable!”
I loved Seizi, Maika’s Goddess-Father, and I’ve decided I need someone to make a range of Monstress clothing because I desperately need some of Maika’s outfits in my wardrobe.
While I’m much more confident I know what’s happening in this Volume than I was after first reading Volume 1, I’m certain that an eventual reread will make me aware of further details in the story and illustrations.
I’m really enjoying figuring out who’s who and whether they’re going to help or hinder Maika as the story continues. While I was overwhelmed by the influx of characters I needed to get my head around in the first Volume I’m now looking forward to meeting some more. I’m loving the mythology and think this too will be clearer after a reread.
I only started reading graphic novels fairly recently and so far I’ve loved the intricacies of the storylines and the jaw dropping illustrations. It makes me wonder what other awesomeness I’ve been missing out on!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Maika Halfwolf is on the run from a coalition of forces determined to control or destroy the powerful Monstrum that lives beneath her skin. But Maika still has a mission of her own: to discover the secrets of her late mother, Moriko.
In this second volume of Monstress, collecting issues 7-12, Maika’s quest takes her to the pirate-controlled city of Thyria and across the sea to the mysterious Isle of Bones. It is a journey that will force Maika to reevaluate her past, present, and future, and contemplate whether there’s anyone, or anything, she can truly trust – including her own body.
“Everyone has scars. Some are just easier to see.”
All the stars!!! That was gorgeous! It’s been almost three weeks since I finished reading this book and I’m still struggling to form meaningful sentences about it. There isn’t anything I can say that would do justice to the ways Ava and Piper made me feel so please just trust me when I say I want everyone to read this book.
Also, you may want to make sure you have plenty of tissues on hand before you begin. I was close to tears when I read the author’s note about eight year old Marius, whose own story helped to inspire Ava’s, and that was before the first chapter. Couple that with the comparisons between Scars Like Wings and Wonder, and you’ve essentially already got a foolproof recipe for a good ol’ ugly cry. And ugly cry I did, as well as some more minor dehydration inducing episodes, but they were of the ‘this is so beautiful!’ variety.
When a wound’s that deep, it’s the healing that hurts.
Ava survived the fire that claimed the lives of her parents and her best friend, but she doesn’t feel like the lucky one. After a year of excruciating treatments on her scarred body, 60% of which was burned, Ava is leaving hospital to live with her Aunt Cora, the “self appointed CEO” of the “Committee on Ava’s Life”, and Uncle Glenn.
The scars are all I see.
Ava doesn’t want any part of finding a ‘new normal’ but reluctantly agrees to attend school for two weeks to appease the Committee. If she can just make it through ten school days and show her Aunt she’s attempted ‘reintegration’, she will be able to resume hiding from the world indefinitely because she’ll have concrete evidence of its failure. She’s certain of it.
Those girls have no idea that I used to be a normal girl with friends
Except Ava doesn’t expect to meet people like Piper and Asad. Piper was my favourite character, partially because of her fluency in sarcasm and eccentricity, and also because I understand what it’s like to have a car accident turn your life into a Before and After. I appreciated her use of humour to deflect and deny the pain she was feeling.
“It’s like the universe dealt us this horrible hand in life and it’s our duty to scream back: ‘Well played, craptastic cosmos, but you haven’t met me yet.’”
Asad is a theatre geek, whose passion and personality stole my heart. Their empathy and compassion made me consistently want to give them bear hugs but they also snagged some great lines. About Wicked:
“It is nothing like The Wizard of Oz. It is like taking the yellow brick road and twisting it until it snaps in half and then you look inside and there’s a whole other world in that road that’s dark and deep and soul-exposing.”
I would tell you that Ava’s story is inspirational but she hates that word so instead I’ll tell you that it’s a reminder that the love, support and acceptance of others can make all the difference when you’re in pain, for whatever reason.
“She conquered her demons and wore her scars like wings.”
I loved the complexities of the characters. I can’t think of a single person who remained inside of the box that was initially labelled with them in mind. Perception or circumstances may have cast them in a specific role and while sometimes that may have been accurate to a degree, that’s not all they were; oftentimes they were also the opposite and I find that so encouraging.
At one point I nearly convinced myself to refuse to turn the page because I didn’t think I could handle it if what I feared was going to happen actually did. Thankfully I was mostly wrong about that part of the story. Had I been right, I’d probably still be ugly crying!
I figured out who was sending the messages to Piper early on, quite possibly accidentally, but this didn’t affect the way I felt about this book. By the time the truth was revealed it actually made even more sense to me why it had to be this person.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Everyone has scars. Some are just easier to see …
16-year-old Ava Gardener is heading back to school one year after a house fire left her severely disfigured. She’s used to the names, the stares, the discomfort, but there’s one name she hates most of all: Survivor. What do you call someone who didn’t mean to survive? Who sometimes wishes she hadn’t?
When she meets a fellow survivor named Piper at therapy, Ava begins to feel like she’s not facing the nightmare alone. Piper helps Ava reclaim the pieces of Ava Before the Fire, a normal girl who kissed boys and sang on stage. But Piper is fighting her own battle for survival, and when Ava almost loses her best friend, she must decide if the new normal she’s chasing has more to do with the girl in the glass – or the people by her side.
The first thing I did after I finished Sanctuary was preorder a signed, limited edition copy from Goldsboro Books and that, in itself, tells you everything you need to know about how much fun I had reading this book. My review could end here but, because I love chatting about books so much, it won’t.
The cover image caught my eye when I first saw it in a Goldsboro newsletter (bookish emails are so dangerous for me!) and after being enticed by the blurb I investigated further. NetGalley had review copies available and I managed to snag one! Woohoo! Now I’ve come full circle, back to Goldsboro, but wanting this book has now morphed into needing it.
Daniel died at a party a few weeks before the senior class graduates. He was a quarterback for the Sanctuary Spartans and had a football scholarship lined up. Harper, Daniel’s ex-girlfriend and the daughter of Sanctuary’s only witch, is suspected of having killed Sanctuary’s golden boy. A police investigation begins to determine the cause of Daniel’s death. Friendships are tested and loyalties are divided as the facade of this picture perfect small town cracks, spiralling into a witch hunt as long held secrets and lies are revealed.
#JusticeforDaniel
This story is told by Sarah, Abigail, Harper and Maggie, and also includes various transcripts, newspaper articles, emails and police documentation. I enjoyed the different perspectives and although I didn’t feel the four voices were distinct, I didn’t really mind as I was so occupied watching the chaos unfold.
“Our moms were drinking champagne when Daniel died. Sipping on bubbles as Beatriz screamed outside the burning party house and I was loaded into an ambulance.”
Harper, daughter of Sarah
“I always felt proud to be the mom of a boy – they’re so much more straightforward and honest. Girls can be sly, slinking things.”
Abigail, mother of Daniel
“To those who don’t need me, I’m an irrelevance. To those who do, I’m a help, a friend, a guide.”
Sarah, witch
“I don’t want to let down another girl by not being a good enough cop.”
Maggie, out-of-town state investigator
I always get a tad anxious when a book begins with a list of characters. Are there so many people that I won’t be able to tell them apart? Do I need to make copious notes to remember who everyone is in relation to everyone else? I’ll admit that as soon as I saw that list I put this book down and picked up another, delaying my read for several days. I needn’t have worried though. After the first couple of chapters I didn’t need to look at it again.
The four of us were friends, despite our obvious differences. And we became a true coven. Bridget grounds me, Abigail fires me up, and Julia reminds me of the beauty of my craft.
I enjoyed getting to know the various kids, coven members and their partners, and the police investigating Daniel’s death. I appreciated that Maggie’s perspective was coloured by a previous investigation, giving her character more depth. I wanted to give Sergeant Chester Greenstreet, A.K.A., Helpful Cop, a bear hug for some reason, and I really wanted to get to know Rowan Andrews, independent magical investigator (them/they/their), more. Rowan’s character intrigued me but they weren’t as involved in the story as I’d hoped.
I loved learning about this world’s magic system, with its rules, restrictions and fascinating powers. I enjoyed learning the rituals and watching Sarah’s preparations. Having consent as its foundational principle and it working by exchanging one thing for another made sense to me both generally and in the context of the storyline.
Something given for something gotten.
Witchcraft aside, I could see this story playing out in reality. The issues it raises about consent, xenophobia, discrimination and mob mentality could have been pulled from any number of new stories. The exploration of how our past influences our decisions in similar situations interested me and seeing how grief affects different people played out in believable ways. The escalation I saw in this book typifies how the fear of what we don’t understand can explode into witch hunts, literally and figuratively.
Magic is the art of choosing the best path to where you wish to be. And, as with life, where you end up is the result of the choices you’ve made.
I predicted some of the reveals from fairly early on but didn’t mind as they were what I wanted to happen anyway. If you don’t want the answers to be too obvious please try to avoid comparisons between this book and certain others.
Having said that (and this is not spoilery), as I read I kept thinking that this is exactly how I’d imagine a story unfolding for the residents of Wisteria Lane if witchcraft was a part of their world. They both involve a group of female friends and their children whose lives look picture perfect, but beneath the surface there are secrets that have the power to change the dynamics of their friendship if they were to come to light.
Was this a perfect book? No. I had unanswered questions, like if Tad and Mary-Anne truly believed their youngest son was in intensive care, then why weren’t they with him at the hospital?, and I would have liked more information about what happened to some of the characters after I finished the last page. But did I have so much fun reading it that ultimately I didn’t care about any of my quibbles? Absolutely!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Gollancz, an imprint of Orion Publishing Group, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The small Connecticut town of Sanctuary is rocked by the death of its star quarterback.
Daniel’s death looked like an accident, but everyone knows his ex-girlfriend Harper is the daughter of a witch – and she was there when he died.
Then the rumours start. When Harper insists Dan was guilty of a terrible act, the town turns on her. So was his death an accident, revenge – or something even darker?
As accusations fly and secrets are revealed, paranoia grips the town, culminating in a trial that the whole world is watching …
“The imagination is the most powerful force in the world.”
Charlie loves spending time with his Grandpa, who not only used to be a magician but also lets him eat sugary treats. They have the most fun, though, when they explore the contents of the Magic Story Chest, an old wooden trunk in the attic.
Grandpa can weave the most marvellous tales from the seemingly ordinary objects in that trunk, adventures that come alive in Charlie’s imagination. An hourglass from Tut’s tomb.
The Red Baron’s scarf.
Grandpa even has an exciting story to tell about a coconut shell.
When Charlie’s father tells him that Grandpa’s stories aren’t true, Charlie isn’t sure what to believe so he asks Grandpa about it.
This is such a lovely story about the magical bond between grandparents and grandkids, and the importance of imagination. I adored Charlie’s Grandpa and wanted to keep investigating the contents of the Magic Story Chest with him. I bet he still had lots of wonderful stories left to tell. I would happily read this story over and over again.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
This action-adventure picture book featuring a grandfather and grandson duo celebrates the power of imagination and the magic of make believe.
Charlie loves when Grandpa comes to babysit because he always brings his magical imagination. Grandpa was a magician who knows the most amazing tricks; he can pull a rabbit from a hat and make a coin disappear. But what Charlie loves most are his wonderful adventure stories, and they all begin with something his grandfather has saved in his Magic Story Chest.
An hourglass is a reminder of how he defended the treasure in King Tut’s tomb from raiders. A long white scarf inspires the story about Grandpa’s dogfight with the notorious Red Baron, the great First World War fighter pilot. A coconut shell heralds the story about his encounter with a nasty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Charlie’s parents, though, aren’t too sure they like Grandpa’s stories and warn Charlie that they’re just “tall tales.” What is Charlie to believe? How can his grandpa convince him that all you need to do is believe and a dream can be turned into something real?
Paper Girls Volume 4 is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Graphic Story category.
A note about spoilers: major spoilers are included in this review about what’s happened previously in the series and what happens in this Volume. I’m not sure how long it will be before I make it to Volume 5 and don’t want to forget anything important so this is my summary. I’ve hidden pretty much everything I’ve got to say about this Volume. Regardless, if you’re not up to this Volume, please be really careful about opening anything spoilery.
When we last saw Tiffany she had arrived in Stony Stream in 2000, in a reality where Y2K actually happened, and it’s worse than anyone even imagined. While the rest of the Paper Girls are initially nowhere in sight, Tiffany is not alone.
The old-timers are also here, but quite a bit younger than they were in Volume 2 when we saw them last. Grand Father and Prioress are considering going nuclear.
Tiffany is trying to convince the police officer who wants to arrest her for looting (which she wasn’t doing. I swear!) that she’s actually from 1988 when she finally notices that they’re not alone.
Except it seems that for now Tiffany and I are the only ones who see the gigantic Transformers fighting in the background because the friendly neighbourhood police officer only sees smoke. Huh. Go figure.
Meanwhile, Erin, Mac and KJ are at the mall. A couple of looters fill them in about the millennium bug.
Pretty big, apparently. At least our girls are all in the same time right now, even if they’re not all together.
Doc from Volume 3 mentioned that the black device the girls have been carrying around was registered to Frankie Tomatah, which was clearly a pseudonym. At the time Erin thought that name seemed familiar but before she could think about it any further all hell broke loose in 11,706 BCE. Now she has a moment to check the comics page, which Naldo and Heck from Volume 1 also did, and figures out there’s a clue there. Great work, Erin!
It turns out that Frankie Tomatah is a comic strip written by C. Spachefski and thanks to the good ol’ White Pages, Erin, Mac and KJ pay her a house call. It seems she’s been expecting them.
Charlotte explains about the Battle of the Ages. The old-timers are enemy fighters, part of a group of the first generation born after time travel was invented, who think it’s immoral to interfere with the timeline, even if you’re trying to fix it. Naldo, Heck and others like them are defying their ancestors to try to fix the timeline regardless. Okay, that’s making more sense now. Oh, and in case you forgot, the old-timers have amnesia rays. Of course they do. Although I’m not sure if I trust Charlotte or anyone other than our four Paper Girls.
Things outside remain pretty chaotic.
Tiffany wanders off to find her parents and instead finds Chris, her future husband.
I love all of the twists in this series! I got one massive surprise in this Volume when I learned Grand Father is actually Jahpo. This is incredible!
Also, future Tiffany is all kinds of awesome!
In the last Volume the bag of newspapers made a great pillow. In this Volume they prove their usefulness in another way.
I love all of this time travel and not knowing who to trust. Although a group of girls from 1988 somehow have the fate of the entire world in their hands, they’re about as clueless as I am and I adore their reactions as they attempt to navigate all the weirdness. I can’t wait to read Volume 5 so I can check out the future!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The mind-bending, time-warping adventure from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang continues, as intrepid newspaper deliverer Tiffany is launched from the prehistoric past into the year 2000! In this harrowing version of our past, Y2K was even more of a cataclysm than experts feared, and the only person who can save the future is a 12-year-old girl from 1988.
The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Short Story category.
“By Cash pd Negroes for 9 Teeth on Acct of Dr. Lemoire”
– Lund Washington, Mount Vernon plantation, Account Book dated 1784.
George Washington, slavery and magic collide in this alternate history. While I will never understand the mentality that makes people think slavery is ever an option I enjoyed reading about the strength and character of the nine slaves included in this story. I particularly loved anticipating the impact each particular tooth would have on George.
For the blacksmith understood what masters had chosen to forget: when you make a man or woman a slave you enslave yourself in turn.
You can read this short story online here. I’ll definitely be rereading this story.
The Court Magician is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Short Story category.
“The Guild is for magicians who feel the need to compete with each other. The Palace trains magicians who feel compelled to compete against themselves.”
This story haunted me when I first read it a few months ago and I’m not sure why I only gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ at the time. All day I’ve been bingeing on the finalists in this Hugo Award category and I purposely left this story to last, remembering how much I enjoyed it the first time I read it.
I adore underdogs who set out to achieve whatever they dream of through sheer determination and persistence. I smile with glee when an author writes a story that lulls me into a sense of safety before pulling the rug from under me with a twist that is at once brutal and brilliant. I‘m surprised when an unnamed character finds their way into my heart in only a few short pages. I will always want to read about magic. I love that I enjoyed this story even more the second time I read it.
Schizanthus Nerd 