Book #223 of 2019: Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron (Kingdom of Souls #1) The fantasy worldbuilding in this YA debut gets a bit off the rails in the end, but as a cliffhanger setup for the next book in the trilogy, it just about works. And the whole novel beforehand is definitely strong enough …
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Book #219 of 2019: House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig I was initially on board for this Poe-inflected retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but the middle is a bit of a generic YA slog and the ending really goes off the rails with unearned revelations about the setting’s mythology. (It’s fine …
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Book #218 of 2019: The Deep by Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes There’s a lot going on with this novella, and although I think its ambition surpasses its short length, it contains a worthwhile consideration of generational trauma as a source of both suffering and strength. Author Rivers Solomon has …
Book #217 of 2019: A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth I love the magic in this standalone regency fantasy novel, which concerns a temperamental living house that grows flowering vines to caress its caretaker, yet floods her veins with deadly mortar when she channels its power to protect the local countryside. It’s simultaneously …
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Book #216 of 2019: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (Tristan Strong #1) Middle-grade fiction is very hit-or-miss for me, but I loved this series debut right from the start. #OwnVoices stories rooted in the perspective of their authors’ cultural heritage have become increasingly popular, and this latest novel from …
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Book #213 of 2019: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King Given a recent string of underwhelming titles, I decided to revisit this old favorite of mine. It was the first Stephen King book that I ever read, and it got me hooked on the author at a stage when I didn’t feel brave …
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Book #211 of 2019: Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wild Chronicles #4) This final volume in The Rain Wild Chronicles embodies all of the problems of that fantasy quartet. It’s long and uneventful and curiously detached from its characters, none of whom seem to have much of an arc or any particular …
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Book #207 of 2019: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) This Percy Jackson sequel is a decent follow-up, but with a lot of issues that bother me, especially in a book aimed at younger readers. (As with early Harry Potter, the series sort of straddles the line between …
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Book #204 of 2019: Nightbooks by J. A. White In this delightfully spooky middle-grade adventure, a young horror fan keeps his witch kidnapper at bay by telling her a series of scary stories. It’s a smart modern blend of Hansel and Gretel with The Thousand and One Nights, and both the smaller nested narratives and …
Book #202 of 2019: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Another entry in the burgeoning genre of #ownvoices fantasy books that draw upon the traditional folklore of their authors’ cultural heritage. In this case, that’s Mayan mythology, which I knew little about beforehand. I’d call the result a win for representation, but somewhat …
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