BOOK REVIEW: RUINSONG BY JULIA EMBER

Ruinsong by Julia Ember Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2020 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374313357 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com)    In this YA dark fantasy, Cadence is a corporeal mage whose magic comes through singing. While she comes from poverty, she is now the principal singer for the queen. Queen Elene, also originally a commoner, overthrew […]

BOOK REVIEW: BLOOD SCION BY DEBORAH FALAYE

**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk**     Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye    ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com ) HarperTeen, 2022 ISBN-13: ‏ :978-0062954046 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook Blood Scion  is horrific but I don’t know if I would call it horror– it is African fantasy. Sloane Shade is a Scion– a blood descendant of an Orisha, a child […]

Comic Review: Potions Inc #1 by Erik Burnham & Stelladia

ISBN 1952303214 Potions Inc is a reverse portal fantasy with a number of other rips on fantasy tropes. Randelgast Jones aches for adventure. His family owns a potions shop. His siblings are brilliant mages. But he dreams of something more…he’s just not sure what. His parents encourage him to start simply (with actually working toward […]

TV Review: Doctor Who Season One (2005)

There’s no question that Doctor Who is a long time essential speculative fiction world. The 2005 reboot propelled the title into the lives of a new generation of people, building a wonderful world of a unique mesh of science fiction, fantasy, and, yes, horror. My first exposure to the Doctor came from horror, namely the […]

Book Review: The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux

**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk. ** Quill Tree Press, 2022 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062941428 Available:  Preorder (available March 8) hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )   So many readers wish they could enter the worlds of their favorite books. The Book of Living Secrets will make them think twice.   Adelle and Connie have been best friends for […]

Book Review: Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani, illustrated by Julia Iredale

**Cross posted from the Circulation Desk.** HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2021 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062652638 Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com ) In Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales, Soman Chainani brings us tales so sharp they cut, with teen protagonists who seize their agency, and subversive, unexpected re-visionings of 12 familiar stories. The standout story in this collection […]

Book Review: The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux

**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk** Quill Tree Press, 2022 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062941428 Available:  Preorder (available March 8) hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )   So many readers wish they could enter the worlds of their favorite books. The Book of Living Secrets will make them think twice.   Adelle and Connie have been best friends for years, […]

Book Review: Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes with a foreword by Jane Yolen

**Cross posted from the Circulation Desk.** Tor.com, 2021 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250781505 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com ) In Burning Girls and Other Stories, Veronica Schanoes brings the present day into a literary and folkloric past that brings fairytales, history, and Jewish tradition together to form something new and unique.  I don’t think I have ever  […]