The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: A review
Linus Baker is a quiet, somewhat cowardly social worker, who takes his job with the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY) very seriously. He investigates the orphanages where those troublesome...
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Two Middle School Girl Heroes
When I saw these two books side-by-side on the shelves in the middle-grade section, I just couldn’t resist! Two fantasies based in Asian legend and featuring fierce girls wielding sticks, is either a...
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The Arrest by Jonathan Letham
Jonathan Letham is the author of Motherless Brooklyn and other quirky novels, which blend science fiction and realism in a style that has been called (by the author) “genre bending.” He has won a...
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Wicked Fox by Kat Cho: A Review
Gu Miyoung is a young Korean woman who is half human and half gumiho (nine-tailed fox), called “wicked fox” because the legendary gumiho are immortal fox demon spirits who must consume life in order...
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A New Translation of Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en
As a casual student of Chinese mythology (learned mostly from Japanese anime, perhaps not the most reliable source) I was very excited to see this book land on our shelves. It is the newest...
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A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson
This is one of the strangest, and strongest, young adult novels I’ve encountered for a while. The first-person narrator, a young man from Seattle named Noa, is delightful, and manages to be hilarious...
View ArticleWill Eisner Week!
This week is Will Eisner Week, devoted to the reading of Graphic Novels. Eisner, creator of The Spirit, was one of the greatest champions of storytelling through comics graphics. He used the graphics...
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The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
This is a first novel by a very promising new writer. It feels a bit like Ursula K. LeGuin and NK Jemison, in that it tells a sweeping galactic tale by focusing on the intensely personal consequences...
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The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
This is a dense fantasy by an accomplished New Zealand writer who seems to be informed by a degree in literature and a historian’s interest in myth, rather than a voracious consumption of (or...
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Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
This decidedly weird novel is narrated by a smart domesticated crow named S.T. (short for Shit Turd) who has been lovingly raised alongside a not-so-smart bloodhound named Dennis. Their master, a guy...
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A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
In the acknowledgments, the author reports that this story of fourteen-year-old apprentice baker and wizard, Mona, was repeatedly rejected for being too dark for a children’s book. So, it eventually...
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Wings of Ebony by J. Elle
This is a first novel from J. Elle, and one of the first fantasy novels from Simon and Schuster’s Denene Millner Books line, described on her web site as “a love letter to children of color who...
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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
This book came highly recommended by a customer, who said it was so good she read it in less than two days. It took me a bit longer than that because I wanted time to savor the elegant prose, and...
View ArticleIndependent Bookstore Day…Week!
It’s that time of year again! It’s time for Independent Bookstore Day, but this year because of the pandemic, it’s going to be a little different. April the 24th is still Independent Bookstore Day,...
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A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
There has been a rash of young adult fantasy novels featuring strong teenage girls coming into some sort of magical power. A Deadly Education, billed as “Lesson One of the Scholomance” is one of my...
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Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama
Witch Hat Atelier has become my new favorite manga. It is a great place to start if you are interested in manga but confused by the enormous number of titles and volumes available. It is well-written,...
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Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
This is a raw, chaotic, difficult novella, bursting with righteous anger and inconsolable grief. It is a graphic documentation that violence against people of color has not ended; it is the only thing...
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Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
This is a much-acclaimed first novel, including being a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award. Legendborn is now also nominated for a Lodestar Award for...
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Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
CatNet is a social media platform managed by a sentient AI known, at least to our adolescent protagonists, as CheshireCat because of their interest in cat pictures. (CheshireCat uses the singular...
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Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris, Illustrated by Charles Vess
This book is a collaboration between author Joanne M. Harris, known best for her mainstream books (most famously, Chocolat, which was made into a movie), and fantasy/comics illustrator Charles Vess...
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