Novik again depicts a fairytale Russian setting in this alternate take on Rumpelstiltskin. Miryem’s father is a tender-hearted moneylender who cannot bring himself to collect from his neighbors, even when his family is cold, hungry, and ill. Miryem takes up the task and discovers she has a colder heart than her father as well as… Read More Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Picking up where A Gathering of Shadows left off, Lila Bard takes off after Kell who was lured to White London by Holland whose body is now controlled by Osaron, the shadow king. Kell is imprisoned and losing strength and power, causing Prince Rhy to struggle for his life back in Red London, effectively cutting short… Read More A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
An accomplished London botanist, Lucy Pickett, takes time off from research when she’s beckoned to Blackwell Manor by Kate, her beloved cousin. Recently married into the Blackwell family, Kate fears that the house is haunted but can’t convince her husband’s older brother, Lord Blackwell. Furthermore, Kate has been inexplicably ill and hopes that Lucy can… Read More Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen
Shades of Magic #2 Four months after the end of A Darker Shade of Magic, Lila has become part of the crew on what she thinks is a pirate ship, captained by Alucard Emery, a man with just as many secrets as Lila. In Red London, Kell and Rhy struggle with the aftermath of the… Read More A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
In Schwab’s world, there are four parallel Londons. The lands used to be connected by doors through which some people, and magic, could travel. After Black London’s greediness for magic became its destruction, the doors between lands were sealed. Kell, raised by the ruling family of Red London, does not know how he became one… Read More A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
While this novel reads like literary fiction, the writing contains technical jargon and fantastical, largely-unexplained magic that readers who do not regularly enjoy science fiction or fantasy may find difficult to appreciate. If you can enjoy a story in which you don’t fully understand the fine points, All the Birds in the Sky is a… Read More All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Shadow, released from prison, faces the death of his wife, the frequent appearance of her ghost, and a mysterious man named Wednesday who becomes his employer but turns out to be one of many ancient gods still roaming America, where they are largely no longer wanted.
