Tag: Fantasy
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The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula: Complex Relationships
Mary Anning wants to be a geomagician—a paleontologist who uses fossils to wield magic—but since the Geomagical Society of London refuses to admit women, she’s stuck selling her discoveries to tourists instead. Then an ancient egg hatches in her hands, revealing a lovable baby pterodactyl that Mary names Ajax, and she knows that this is…
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The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigendale by C. M. Waggoner: Hilarious and Cozy
Once upon a time, a somewhat wicked witch named Gretsella lived in a cozy little cottage in the Dark Forest of Brigandale. She dispensed herbs and tinctures at reasonable prices, met with her slightly oddball coven on a regular basis, and had absolutely no need of any further company whatsoever, thank you very much. But…
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Green and Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons: Compelling Magic
Centuries ago, necromancy almost destroyed the world. That’s how history remembers it. History remembers it wrong. Mathaiik has trained all his life to join the sacred order of the Idallik Knights, charged with defending their world from the forces of necromancy. Only vestiges of that cursed magic remain, nothing like the fabled days of the…
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The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan: Absorbing and Compelling
In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a…
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Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett: Charming and Magical
Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats. Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a…
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Secondhand Luck by Kim Harrison: Surprising Twists
It’s been months since Petra Grady bonded with the shadow Pluck. With the help of researcher Benedict Strom, she has made a place for herself at St. Unoc University as the first weaver to use shadow magic in a thousand years. But some are not happy to acknowledge the new shadow/weaver pair, and Petra and…
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Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett: Cozy Fantasy
Manager of the Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub, Pax Nomen has one of the easiest jobs in all the known universes, unless you count the occasional plumbing disaster. When Number Five Wayside gets stranded on a non-magical world, even Pax’s trusty Wayside Handbook can’t help him. How is he going to “reboot”…
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Scarlet: Reimagined Hamlet
To be fair, I was already sympathetic to this film. I love animation and I love the concept of diving into the concepts in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. There is such depth to the ideas but after watching the movie, I fell in love with the reimagined Hamlet with a gender swap and lush, gorgeous animation. Even…
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Sibylline by Melissa de la Cruz: Dramatic Relationships
Raven, Atticus, and Dorian have dreamed of attending Sibylline for as long as they can remember. But when the magical ivy league rejects them, the friends’ plans of a future together studying the arcane begin crashing down. Until they decide to steal an education. Getting jobs on campus, they sneak into lectures and swipe forbidden…
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Quiet Spells by Isa Agajanian: Compelling Drama
Ghosts passed through the cottage sitting on the peak of Townsend Hill like passengers in a train station. Some, Teddy Ingram knew, stayed longer than others. More than half a year has passed since the disappearance of Gemma Eakley, and Teddy Ingram still has no clue as to whether she is alive, dead or something…
