Confession time: I resisted and disdained this book at first because the first chapter and a smattering of other sections are in the second person. And I hate that. There’s nothing more irritating than wanting a narrative and getting an experiment–it’s as if the author is dangling a story just out of reach and is instead …
At this point, everyone is probably sick of “Let It Go,” resultant jokes about letting “let it go” go, and anything to do with animated Norse princesses or their sentient snow sidekicks. Which is fine, because even though this is based on the same myth, “The Snow Queen,” it’s nothing like Frozen. Well, aside from …
Untwine is the kind of book that must be read in installments. Not because it has Dickensian chapters; it actually flows so naturally from page to page, story to story, that it really should be read in one long afternoon. But at least for me, that was impossible. It was too heartbreaking. Giselle and Isabelle are …
I’m pretty sure that somewhere in all fantasy author contracts is the Arthurian Clause: a section stipulating that at least once in their careers, each author must take on some aspect of the King Arthur legends. I’m not sure what the penalty for them is if they don’t, but the penalty for me is that …
I don’t like short story compilations. Even if each story is a perfect, precious jewel–well, that’s actually the problem. A good story is complete. It says what it must, and it’s done. And yes, sometimes that takes 3 pages, or 30, rather than 300. The nature of a single short story is lovely and doesn’t bother …
No, there aren’t atomic Trichechidae in this story. It’s not that they would be out of place–this is a series about people with superhuman but often deeply strange abilities–but they exist only in the mind of the metaphor-destroyer and Steelslayer, David Charleston. Yes, David is back for this final installment of the Reckoners, and it’s …
This begins–no, it doesn’t even begin, it’s epigraphed–with a hymn to the divine twins, Artemis and Apollo. There are three ways to my heart. One is pizza. One is being my husband. The third is mythology. Especially well-researched mythology, so I may have done a little happy dance before I even got to page one. …
You know, I think YA has been trying to one-up itself of late. Ever since Twilight and Harry Potter bowed out of the spotlight, we’ve had more sick, unstable, unfortunate teenagers than you could previously Go Ask Alice about in all the preceding years. But now I think I’ve found the absolute pinnacle, the bloodred …
And so the adventures of Mr Utterson:Boy Detective comes to an end. Join us as we discuss the last chapters of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Also, Ash and Brad’s dogs were being really uppity, so sorry about that. Your hosts are Ashleigh Shadowbrook (@ShadowbrookAsh), Brad Brockway (@bsquared_yo), and Steph Kingston …
No, this isn’t any kind of Oz story, but a black-hearted girl with magic powers, a magic ruby, and the meaning of home do feature prominently, so the title is still apt. Ava, our anti-heroine, is looking to get back to her home after being swept up in–no, not a tornado, but certainly in her father’s endless …