When I was younger, I had to develop a system with my family in order to take a bath. I had to let them know when I was going in, and I had to respond to knocks on the door by shouting “still alive!” at various intervals because I stayed in until my finger prunes …

September 3-10 is the Week of Doom, the days when all the presses and houses put on their very finest, select their champions, and then show up to watch a bookish battle royale. Let the gothic fantasies scrap! Let the newbies do battle with the established authors! Let all the murderbabe characters duke it out! …

What a ride it’s been! We went from Murder Hogwarts to Magic Spartacus to this, a dark, Tolkienian triumph I’m going to dub Return of the Goth. Surprised? Me too. But we shouldn’t be. Jay Kristoff may write with some pop turns of phrase (and filthy cussing), but his ambitions have always been Epic with …