Tag: Favourites

Alchemical Journeys #2: Seasonal Fears – Seanan McGuire

Cover image of Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire

Melanie and Harry are the couple I didn’t know I needed and that’s saying something because my usual response to anything even approaching lovey dovey is “Bleurgh!” Because Melanie and Harry love one another in a world Seanan created, their love isn’t bleurgh. At all. It is everything!

She’s his fairy tale. The only one he’s ever wanted.

In this, the second book of the Alchemical Journeys series, Seanan expands the world of Roger and Dodger, Hunger Games style.

Melanie, the “overmedicated cheerleader”, and Harry, the quarterback, are the love of each other’s lives but they’ve always known Melanie’s heart condition came with a deadly countdown. But what if there was a way they could be together beyond high school? At a cost, of course.

Some of my favourite characters from Middlegame make an appearance here and I love them more than ever. You really should read Middlegame first for much needed background and because it’s one of my favourite reads of all time.

This book also gave me some new favourites. There’s Diana, who doesn’t get a lot of page time but she truly leaves her mark. There’s Aven, who … wants. There’s Jack, who hasn’t had enough training for this but is going to do her best to make up for lost time.

“All right, this is where things get weird.”

Seanan always introduces me to characters that stay with me long after the last page. I finished this book six weeks ago and I’ve spent more time than I should probably admit thinking about Melanie and Harry. I’ve also spent a lot of time trying (and failing) to come up with the perfect words to describe my love for their story.

Seanan always gives me so many sentences to highlight. Sometimes they’re about the characters or their circumstances but, more often than not, what I’m highlighting are things that make all the sense in the world but make me pause and wonder why I never thought of it like that before. Seanan just gets people, in all of our beauty, struggles and depravity.

People who think a pretty girl is prettier when she doesn’t know it are people looking to take advantage of a pretty girl who doesn’t understand the danger she’s in

Sentences like that just stop me in my tracks.

I didn’t think I’d ever find a series to rival Wayward Children but here we are. I’m sure that Seanan isn’t capable of writing a bad book.

Favourite no context quote:

“It’s all about the symbolism from here on out, buddy,” she says. “Symbolism and murder.”

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The king of winter and the queen of summer are dead. The fight for their crowns begins!

Melanie has a destiny, though it isn’t the one everyone assumes it to be. She’s delicate; she’s fragile; she’s dying. Now, truly, is the winter of her soul.

Harry doesn’t want to believe in destiny, because that means accepting the loss of the one person who gives his life meaning, who brings summer to his world.

So, when a new road is laid out in front of them — a road that will lead through untold dangers toward a possible lifetime together — walking down it seems to be the only option.

But others are following behind, with violence in their hearts.

It looks like Destiny has a plan for them, after all…. 

“One must maintain a little bit of summer even in the middle of winter.” — Thoreau

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The Wanderlands #1: The Failures – Benjamin Liar

I can’t do this book justice, no matter what I say, but I’m going to try. It’s epic: in scope, in scale and, yes, the slang works, too.

It’s a story of monsters, made by people and circumstance. It’s also about those that life tried to make into monsters but who, against all odds, kept their heart intact.

You’ll meet so many characters: complicated, multifaceted characters. Those who are overwhelmingly good will do bad things; sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not. The characters you will love to hate may surprise you with their capacity for good. No one is what they first appear.

You’ll meet Sophie, who saved the world when she just was a kid. She followed this feat with a couple of decades of debauchery with her friends, the Killers. Each Killer is carrying a secret from their past that could change everything.

There are Giants and Behemoths and made things that belong in your nightmares.

It’s dark and there’s the Dark. There are doors and Doors. You’ll encounter magic that creates and magic that destroys. This is a world where you follow your dreams.

You will need to pay attention. The details matter. If the door is red, remember there’s a red door because you may see it again and the fact that you remember it will tell you something the next time you encounter it.

With some characters living for lifetimes, there are plenty of backstories to catch up on. Alliances are formed and broken. Motives change over time. Names no longer fit as well as they once did.

This story is nonlinear. This is also where your attention to detail will be rewarded. Your reactions to reveals will likely run the gamut of “I knew it!’ to ‘Huh?’ to ‘OMG!’ Knowing what you now know, though, you’ll be eager for a reread to pick up clues you missed the first time around.

You will curse the fact that the next book hasn’t been published yet because you need it right now! In fact, you need the whole series, dammit!

But you’ll wait, because you don’t have any other option. There’s no other option, right?

While you wait, you’ll take the time to feel the warmth of the sun on your face. You’ll appreciate trees in a way you didn’t before. When you see a butterfly, a delight may bubble up in you that you haven’t felt in a long time.

You will wait and you will think about these characters who are neither all good or all bad, and you will look forward to the day you get to see them again.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and DAW Books, an imprint of Astra Publishing House, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Welcome to the Wanderlands.

A vast machine made for reasons unknown, the Wanderlands was broken long ago. First went the sky, splintering and cracking, and then very slowly, the whole machine — the whole world — began to go dark. 

Meet the Failures.

Following the summons of a strange dream, a scattering of adventurers, degenerates, and children find themselves drawn toward the same place: the vast underground Keep. They will discover there that they have been called for a purpose — and that purpose could be the destruction of everything they love. 

The end is nigh.

For below the Keep, imprisoned in the greatest cage ever built by magicians and gods, lies the buried Giant. It is the most powerful of its kind, and its purpose is the annihilation of all civilisation. But any kind of power, no matter how terrible, is precious in the dimming Wanderlands, and those that crave it are making their moves. 

All machines can be broken, and the final cracks are spreading. It will take only the careless actions of two cheerful monsters to tip the Wanderlands towards an endless dark … or help it find its way back to the light.

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Alchemical Journeys #1: Middlegame – Seanan McGuire

The moral of this review? Trust Seanan.

This has been one of my most anticipated reads for five years. I preordered it in hardcover and Kindle. I was practically foaming at the mouth waiting for it to be published. And then I didn’t read it. For five years.

Why? First, I was intimidated by the names. How was I ever going to tell Roger and Dodger apart? Duh, easily.

I almost got over that when the first reviews started coming in and they were all so eloquent and thoughtful. I got tripped up by them, wondering if I was even smart enough to fully grasp the layers of this book.

Then Seasonal Fears arrived and I couldn’t read that without having already read this one. Then the publication date of Tidal Creatures drew near and I couldn’t stand the thought of another Seanan book being out in the wild without me.

So, trust Seanan. It will result in much less angst and much more OMG, this book is amazing!

It starts at the end, and there’s just so much blood.

I wasn’t looking for perfection because that doesn’t exist. Outside of this book. Perfection doesn’t exist outside of this book. If a 5 star read is something I’m going to get to the end of and immediately want to reread while simultaneously bashing you over the head with it until you inevitably fall in love with it too, this was that and more. The stars are so full that there’s blood gushing out of them and they’re still getting filled as they overflow.

I can’t even begin to describe this book to you. It’s just perfect!

I loved Roger and Dodger. Individually. Together. I kept wavering between yearning for a connection with someone who understands me to my very core like they have and the thought of that kind of intimacy making me want to run in the opposite direction.

Erin is one of the best characters I’ve ever met and I need an entire book dedicated to her.

This is one of my all time favourite reads. I’m convinced I could read it ten times and get something new from it each read. I cannot wait to revisit it! This time, without the unnecessary angst.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. 

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

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The Redemption of Morgan Bright – Chris Panatier

This is a nightmare onion of a book, where every layer you peel away reveals something even more disturbing.

The DSM is now in its eleventh edition and the medical model’s pathologisation of mental health is alive and well. Flavour of the edition is domestic psychosis, proving once again that, no matter how far in the past the 1950’s are, there will be groups of people intent on replicating the worst parts of it.

Morgan Bright has recently been diagnosed with domestic psychosis so she’s the newest inmate patient at Hollyhock. Charlotte Andrew Turner arrives that day too. Their relationship is … complicated.

But I’m telling you, there’s something off with her.

I read 35 books between my first and second reads of this book; the reread was even better. I agonised over this review for months, trying to figure out the best way of shoving this book in your face and hollering ‘Read this!’ without including all of the things I need to talk about but can’t because spoilers. I have turned myself inside out over this, so much so that I’m convinced I can never visit Nebraska, just in case someone from Hollyhock finds me.

I loved trying to figure out Charlotte. This is probably the only time in my life that my thought process will be ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder? Nah, too easy. Tulpa?’ The fact that DID could ever be the easy option should give you a hint of the horrors that await you at Hollyhock.

This isn’t the type of thing you just dump on someone. I wouldn’t want your brain to collapse.

It’s all the more horrifying because the majority of the evils perpetrated against women in this book are committed by other women. This somehow makes it worse. If you see Enid in your travels, please be sure to take a cleansing breath and punch her for me.

This book is guilt, grief and paper dolls. The body horror is sublime and oh so squishy.

“It’s beautiful in that way.”

If you’ve read even a couple of my reviews, it’s likely you’ve heard about how I sent an email to the address listed in the book and it bounced back. Or that I visited the website only to discover it doesn’t exist. You may have witnessed me mumbling to myself about missed marketing opportunities. And if I ever write a book… And maybe one day…

Well, I’m here to tell you that one of my longest standing bookish dreams has come true! There’s a website mentioned in this book and it actually exists, and it’s glorious! Every time I think about it my smile becomes as wide as the women photographed on its pages. And I’m fine. Really. This is not an indication that you need to refer me to Hollyhock. Please don’t send me to Hollyhock!

So, is there a happily ever after? Why, yes, the book does have an ending. Thank you for asking.

Welcome to Hollyhock. Come for the food.* Stay for the twirling. We hope you survive enjoy your stay.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read this book.

* BYO coffee.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A woman checks herself into an insane asylum to solve the mystery of her sister’s murder, only to lose her memory and maybe her mind.

From the subversive voice behind The Phlebotomist comes a story that combines the uncanny atmosphere of Don’t Worry Darling with the narrative twists of The Last House on Needless Street.

What would guilt make you do? 

Hadleigh Keene died on the road leading away from Hollyhock Asylum. The reasons are unknown. Her sister Morgan blames herself. A year later with the case still unsolved, Morgan creates a false identity, that of a troubled housewife named Charlotte Turner, and goes inside. 

Morgan quickly discovers that Hollyhock is… not right. She is shaken by the hospital’s peculiar routines and is soon beset by strange episodes. All the while, the persona of Charlotte takes on a life of its own, becoming stronger with each passing day. As her identity begins unraveling, Morgan finds herself tracing Hadleigh’s footsteps and peering into the places they lead.   

The terrifying reality of The Redemption of Morgan Bright unfolds over the course of chapters told from the points of view of both Charlotte and Morgan, police interviews, and text messages. 

File Under: Horror [ Twirl With Them | Sisterly Bond | It’s a Doozy | Be Careful What You Wish For ]

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Emily Wilde #2: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands – Heather Fawcett

“We are about to involve ourselves in a great deal of danger, much of it strange and unsettling.”

It’s time for Emily and Wendell to search for Wendell’s door and I, for one, am thrilled to have been invited to tag along for this quest. My enthusiasm may not be as contagious as that of Ariadne, Emily’s niece, but I have more field experience than her, having already accompanied Emily and Wendell to Ljosland, so my excitement is tempered by a tad of caution.

I also have some insider knowledge; Wendell’s stepmother is sending assassins to dispatch of him but my clothing is inside out so I’m confident I will be successful in evading any of the Folk’s attempts to enchant me.

“Oh, what a quest this is!”

The grumpy romance of the first book blindsided me in the best way possible. I wasn’t expecting it, thank goodness, or I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book in the first place. I actively avoid books that contain romance, which brings me to the second part of the blindsiding. I learned that I love grumpy romances, or at the very least, I love Emily and Wendell’s grumpy romance.

Their romance wasn’t quite as grumpy in this book, although they did have their moments. Their relationship has grown more comfortable since we first met them. That doesn’t mean we’re grumpless, though. Rose, who I absolutely adored, despite trying my hardest not to care a jot about him, does his very best to bring the grumpy with him wherever he goes.

I’m usually quite wary of sequels of my favourite books. They come with an almost impossibly high expectation of brilliance, having to compete with the joy of discovery you felt with the first book. This sequel didn’t disappoint.

In fact, I’m having trouble figuring out which book I loved more. There was the comfort in already knowing the main characters alongside the introduction of new characters, who managed to hold their own.

I love Emily. She’s lousy at small talk but is getting better at insults, her aim needs improvement and her journals contain footnotes. I adore the footnotes and need more of them!

Meanwhile, Wendell is a man after my own heart.

“There is nothing trivial about good coffee.”

If anything ever happens to Shadow, I will be bereft. I’d also like to put it out there that Poe can bake for me anytime.

I’d appreciate someone sharing Knight College’s postal address with me so I can submit my application to study dryadology.

If you have not already met Emily and Wendell, please make their acquaintance in preparation for this quest as there is prerequisite knowledge that will make this one more fulfilling.

Ensure you pack some carrots and maybe don’t look too closely at the faerie art. Be sure to bring enough pencils.

“Give me another pencil.”

“I only had the one on me!”

“One? Who are you?”

Handy hint: Do not allow Professor Eustacia Walters access to any of your books. If you ask me, she’s the true villain of this book.

If it is at all convenient, I would very much like to read the third book immediately.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book, for the opportunity to be delighted by this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side.

But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm. 

By lucky happenstance, Emily’s new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans. 

But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

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Edenville – Sam Rebelein

🎵 What’s New Pussycat? 🎵 Spider people! Do you need to know more than that? I didn’t. For the sake of argument, though, let’s assume that you do. 🎵 It’s Not Unusual 🎵

University staff actively seek Cam out to be their next writer in residence. They travel to him to offer him the position and there’s not even an interview. Which, you know, has red flag written all over it.

Cam and Quinn (🎵 She’s a Lady 🎵) know horror movies so they should know better. They do know better.

“Look, I’m just sayin. If it smells creepy, it is creepy.”

They go to Edenville anyway. 🎵 I’m Coming Home 🎵

On the way, they pass a burnt garage, which you don’t need to know. I just wanted an excuse to say 🎵 Burning Down the House. 🎵

Do they get what they deserve? Does anyone deserve what they get? That’s for you to decide.

I only know that there’s no way I would get out of Edenville alive because I would’ve been sucked in by the nice old lady offering me free ice cream samples. In my defence, there’s chocolate marshmallow, caramel coffee and birthday cake on offer, which all sound to die for.

We’re all rotting ribbons in the end.

I cherish having the opportunity to read advanced copies, especially when they’re debut novels. It’s like I’m in on this wonderful secret that’s about to be shared with the world. I’m so excited to have been able to love and laugh and be grossed out by this book early and I can’t wait to watch others discover this amazing new author. I need both a reread and Sam Rebelein’s next book ASAP. 🎵 Do What You Gotta Do 🎵

“How was it?”

“Strange. You?”

“Fucking bizarre.”

This read was so much more fun than I expected, and I expected a lot. It’s culty, it’s body horror, it’s people messing with stuff they have no business messing with and expecting different outcomes. There are sunflowers, berries and a character that loves 🎵 Tom Jones 🎵. And did I mention the spider people?!

“Don’t say nobody warned you.”

Ichabod!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When young horror writer Cam Marion is offered a teaching opportunity at a prestigious liberal arts college upstate, his long-time girlfriend Quinn is skeptical. She knows the college is located in Edenville, in infamous Renfield County. The county where people seem to go missing. The county where Quinn’s high school best friend was mysteriously killed. Quinn figures the job opportunity is a trap somehow, so she follows Cam upstate to investigate some of the county’s mysteries (including her own). 

She quickly discovers that there’s an entire society dedicated to solving Renfield’s many riddles. A society that puts on plays about Renfield’s macabre, blood-soaked history. A society that meets in the library basement once a week. A society made up of people who might not be people at all… Meanwhile, Cam discovers that his newest story idea isn’t an idea so much as it is a vision of another world. A world that the faculty at Edenville College need his help to access before it accesses them.

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The Little Kid with the Big Green Hand – Matthew Gray Gubler

I loved wonderfully weird Rumple Buttercup when I met him four years ago and have been patiently (sometimes) waiting for Matthew Gray Gubler to introduce me to a new friend whose life began in his imagination.

Meet Lenore. She was born with a BIG green hand. She doesn’t know why she has a BIG green hand.

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She just knows she needs to hide it from the world. So that’s what she does.

One day Lenore meets Chuck. He doesn’t have a BIG green hand but he does have a story to tell.

If I tell you this book is adorable, will that make you want to read it?

Yes? It’s so adorable. Your heart will be warmed. You’ll feel hope. You’ll want to be kinder and to look for the good in others. You may even start looking for smiley clouds.

No? This is a book about looking at the world through someone else’s eyes. It’s about connection. It encourages empathy and kindness. It’s about accepting yourself and others. It makes you curious about what you could do if you didn’t hold yourself back. It’s about embracing your uniqueness. It gives you a perspective reset.

Not convinced yet? You may need this book the most.

The only sadness I have about this book is that I haven’t managed to find a signed copy yet. I missed out on the Rumple Buttercup signed copies so started looking early for Big Green Hand ones. If I could have made it to America in time, I would have found my way to the book tour. To try and claim a signed copy of the book, of course. But also to see one of the best cars ever!

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Sadness aside, this book has brought me joy each time I’ve read it so far. My mother’s just met Lenore and is currently being introduced to Rumple. It’s looking like her love for them both is as BIG as mine.

I never realized how bright the world could be … when you remember we are all connected

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Matthew Gray Gubler comes a heartwarming story of colours, creatures, and connection.

Join two unlikely friends, Chuck and Lenore, as they embark on a dreamlike adventure and uncover the magic of seeing the world through each other’s eyes. Lovingly hand-drawn, and featuring a cloth cover and ribbon bookmark, it’s a book to treasure, read, and re-read.

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Thornhedge – T. Kingfisher

“Remember us, and if you can, find your way back to us in time.”

You know those special reads that cause you to immediately search out a signed copy as soon as you reach The End, if not sooner, because it’s now one of your forever books? Welcome to Thornhedge and check out my pretty Broken Binding preorder.

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You probably think you know this story … a princess trapped in a tower in an enchanted sleep … the whole Sleeping Beauty thing. You’ve seen the Disney movie. You’ve read the retellings. You may have even read the original. You’ve absolutely questioned the lack of consent of that kiss.

But you don’t know this story. See, this isn’t the princess’ story. It’s Toadling’s. I unequivocally adore Toadling, with her blue-black tears and her determination to complete the task she was given so long ago.

“But we are not always given the choices that we want.”

Toadling is an absolute sweetheart whose loyalty is strong enough to endure for centuries and who wants nothing more than to be with her family. Not the family of her birth; the one who adopted her after she was stolen.

Toadling’s got a job to do, though, and it involves the princess in the tower that this story is not about. Unbeknownst to dear Toadling, although soon to be knownst, a knight has commenced a quest and it’s quite possible he’s going to make a right mess of the status quo.

“This is my place,” she said finally. “You are in it.”

This is a story of aching loneliness and not entirely fitting in anywhere. It’s found family and deep connections. It has magic and it is magical. It’s dark and it’s delightful and, I have to agree with the author here, it is sweet.

T. Kingfisher has quickly become one of my favourite authors and this novella has confirmed why. Toadling lives in my heart now and she’s not leaving anytime soon.

Favourite no context quote:

“This would be easier if you could turn into a toad”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

If only.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

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Emily Wilde #1: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries – Heather Fawcett

“One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories”

This book made a liar out of me. I’ve been proudly declaring my romantiphobia for years. I’ve gleefully avoided books that even hint at a romance in the blurb. When I find undisclosed mushy bits, I feel cheated.

And all of this time it turns out that I absolutely adore grumpy romances. Or maybe it’s just Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby’s snarky banter that I’ve waiting for my entire life.

Eight years ago, Emily, then 22, was Cambridge’s youngest adjunct professor. She’s still hoping to receive tenure. Bambleby is her friend, her only friend. You can’t exactly accuse them of being warm and fuzzy.

The problem with Bambleby, I’ve always found, is that he manages to inspire a strong inclination towards dislike without the satisfaction of empirical evidence to buttress the sentiment.

Bambleby, for his part, gives as good as he gets.

‘We cannot all be made of stone and pencil shavings’

Grumpy banter is my new favourite thing. I love these two!

For the past nine years, Emily, who has a “heart filled with the dust of a thousand library stacks”, has been hard at work, researching and writing her book. She’s only got one chapter to go, which is why she finds herself in the “delightful winter wasteland” that is Hrafnsvik, Ljosland.

Emily is loveable in all of her social awkwardness. Practically as soon as she meets some villagers, she finds a way to accidentally alienate herself.

How was it that in trying to remove my foot from my mouth, I invariably managed to shove it in even deeper?

There are faeries (obviously) and other magical beings, there’s danger and adventure and just so much snark. And there’s Shadow, who I adored.

I wasn’t entirely sure if this would be the book for me when I started reading but it utterly enchanted me. I can’t wait to spend more time with these grumps!

“How does one manage to affix toast to the ceiling?”

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party – or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones – the most elusive of all faeries – lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all – her own heart.

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The Magician’s Daughter – H.G. Parry

“We need to bring magic back into the world.”

If ever there was a book that could make you believe in magic, this is it.

Me? Well, I already believed. But now I believe even more.

Biddy has grown up on the island of Hy-Brasil with Rowan, who is sometimes a raven, and Hutch, who is sometimes not a rabbit. Unlike Rowan and Hutch, Biddy doesn’t have magic.

At almost seventeen, Biddy has never left the island.

She was a liminal person, trapped between a world she’d grown out of and another that wouldn’t let her in.

Throughout her life, Rowan has flown to the mainland. He always returns before dawn … until the day that he doesn’t.

This world invited me in and made me feel at home. I accompanied Biddy as she transformed from a sheltered, bookish girl to a young woman who‘s beginning to discover what she’s capable of.

“In every fairy tale ever told, it’s a bad idea to tangle with a magician’s daughter.”

As I walked alongside her, I not only saw through her eyes but felt what she was experiencing.

My favourite vicarious experience was Biddy’s relationship with Rowan and Hutch. I’m always a sucker for stories that introduce me to found families. This one, though, made me care so deeply about the individuals and their bond that even thinking about the connection between Rowan and Hutch being severed was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

This was a stressful read, in the best way possible. When the characters were in danger I not only feared for their safety but the effect it would have on the others if anything bad happened to them.

Although this is a story of magic and adventure, it is also bookish in so many wonderful ways. Most of what Biddy knows of the outside world, she learned from books and she prepares for new experiences by reading. Their castle (yes, they live in a castle!) has a library with thousands of books. There’s also a library inside a tree!

I’m not sure how this magic works but this read gave me the comfort I feel rereading a childhood favourite while delivering the anticipation of a new book that you can’t put down.

This is going to be one of my favourite reads of the year. I need to read everything this author ever writes.

“It’s all complicated and messy and wild and glorious.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea-salt air and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the only home Biddy has ever known. Washed up on its shore as a baby, Biddy lives a quiet life with her guardian, the mercurial magician Rowan. A life she finds increasingly stifling.

One night, Rowan fails to return from his mysterious travels. To find him, Biddy must venture into the outside world for the first time. But Rowan has powerful enemies – forces who have hoarded the world’s magic and have set their sights on the magician’s many secrets.

Biddy may be the key to stopping them. Yet the closer she gets to answers, the more she questions everything she’s ever believed about Rowan, her past, and the nature of magic itself.

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