One For All: A Review

Tania de Batz is most comfortable with a sword in her hand. When she practices with her father, a former Musketeer, Tania knows she is more than the “sick girl” with the sudden and debilitating dizziness that no one can explain.

But no number of drills or practice positions can prepare Tania when her father is violently killed with the murdered escaping into the night. Without Papa to champion her, Tania isn’t as confident that she can follow in his footsteps as a Musketeer–an uncertainty that grows when she finds out his last wish is for her to attend finishing school.

Upon arriving at L’Académie des Mariées, Tania soon realizes that it is no ordinary finishing school. Instead of preparing girls like Tania for marriage, the Academie is secret training a new type of Musketeer: one that most men are all to quick to take for granted.

With the other young women, Tania refines her swordwork alongside skills like disguise and seduction to protect France from outside threats. Instead of feeling stifled or othered at the school Tania feels like she’s found her purpose with girls who feel like sisters and new ways to navigate her chronic illness.

When the students are tasked with stopping an assassination plot, Tania’s loyalties will be tested as she tries to gather information from a dangerously attractive target. Training as a Musketeer is everything Tania has ever wanted, but even she isn’t sure if she should trust her newly honed instincts or her heart in One For All (2022) by Lillie Lainoff.

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One For All is Lainoff’s debut novel. Tania’s first person narration immediately draws readers into her richly detailed world while making the frustrations and limitations of her chronic illness immediately understandable. As the author’s note explains, Tania’s experiences are informed by Lainoff’s own life as a competitive fencer who has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. Tania and most main characters are white. There’s some variety of skintones among secondary characters as well as characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

This gender-flipped retelling of The Three Musketeers imagines a world where girls like Tania are able to find sisterhood and purpose operating in the shadows. With the Musketeers limited in their reach compared to the peak of their power, the stakes have never felt higher as Tania works to earn her place at the Academie. High action and cinematic swordfights move the story along while tender moments between Tania and her fellow Academie students show the importance of community and friendship. Tania’s illness is integral to her character and explored with nuance as she not only has to learn the limitations of her own body but also explain them to her new friends so that they can all work together.

Hints of romance permeate the story but at its core One For All is a story of empowerment and sisterhood where one girl learns that coming into her own can change everything.

Possible Pairings: Valiant Ladies by Melissa Gray, The Game of Hope by Sarah Gulland, The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath, Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers, Of Better Blood by Susan Moger, Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

The Lost Dreamer: A Review

“Stories don’t end, they just change shape.”

Indir is a Dreamer. Growing up in Alcanzeh surrounded by her sisters in the Temple of Night, Indir has always been protected. Her gift to Dream truth earns her respect both within the temple and the city beyond.

But change is coming and this cycle will end in chaos before another can begin.

With the king’s death Indir’s gift is a threat to Alcan–the king’s heir intent on dismantling the kingdom’s traditions and rituals–especially those surrounding the Dreamers.

Saya is a seer. She walks the Dreaming but she is not one of the revered Dreamers. Instead she travels from village to village with her calculating mother only staying long enough for Saya’s mother to explore her gift and get everything they can before moving on. Saya knows her mother is hiding things from her, but this unmoored life is also the only one she has ever known.

As Indir and Saya search for answers, both young women creep ever closer to the chaos and danger that threatens from all sides. When everything they know is threatened, both Indir and Saya will have to choose between staying to fight and running to survive in The Lost Dreamer (2022) by Lizz Huerta.

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The Lost Dreamer is Huerta’s debut novel and the start of a duology inspired by ancient Mesoamerican mythology. The story alternates between Indir and Saya’s first person narrations offering different perspectives on both the kingdom and Dreaming.

With readers dropped into the middle of the action, The Lost Dreamer is a fast-paced fantasy filled with surprising twists and high stakes. The less you know about how the pieces fit together, the more satisfying all of Huerta’s reveals will be. Themes of female solidarity and friendship play well against the matrilineal history underpinning this richly developed world. Recommended.

Possible Pairings: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee, The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco, Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu, The Bone Charmer by Breeana Shields

The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie: A Review

This piece originally appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books:

Marya Salomea Sklodowska is better known to the world as Marie Curie–a double Nobel winning scientist whose discoveries influenced the scientific field forever. “Although much has been written about Marya, this younger period of her life is vaguely known” leaving the contributors to this anthology to take “liberties for the sake of entertainment” in stories and poems that blend fact and speculative fiction.

Editors Schmidt and Herz gather an impressive assortment of contributors including award winners, bestselling authors, and newer voices in The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie (2023)–a collection of stories and poems imagining Marya’s youth and adolescence. An introduction and historical overview help to contextualize the stories alongside significant life events that will come up in multiple stories notably including the death of Marya’s mother and her older sister Zosia.

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With stories ranging from horror (like Jonathan Maberry’s “The Night Flyers” where Russian double-headed eagles guarding the obelisk in Saxon Square terrorize those who might act against Russia’s occupation of Poland) to lighter-hearted fantasy like Alethea Kontis’ “Marya’s Monster” where a monster helps Marya acknowledge the grief she still carries after her mother’s death.

It’s no surprise in stories centering one of the greatest scientific minds of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also include a lot of real science as seen in stories including Seanan McGuire’s “Uncrowned Kings” where a sinister illness gripping Warsaw is grounded in real science with the actual phenomenon of a Rat King and Marya’s own scientific investigation of the outbreak. As Marya tells her sister: “When a thing makes no sense, look to the data people have left behind. If it still makes no sense, the fault is either yours, or the world’s.” Many other stories in the collection are followed by Science Notes that help clarify real science versus speculative elements as in Stacia Deutsch’s “The Beast” where radium is used for time travel.

The stories presented are at their best where Marya is able to use her burgeoning knowledge of science and the scientific method to investigate and face obstacles as seen especially in “The Magic of Science” by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and G. P. Charles where Marya has to prove that there is a logical explanation when a classmate at the current site for the Polish Flying University turns blue and in “Experiments with Fire” by Sarah Beth Durst where Marya faces the mythical and extremely dangerous Wawel dragon with help from scientific experimentation.

With most stories focusing on or narrated by Marya herself, Steve Pantazis’ “The Prize” notably centers one of Marya’s classmates Adela instead with the two girls vying for “The Arcanum Prize, the most coveted prize in metallurgic arts” at their Warsaw high school.

With a shared protagonist and common themes, the element that comes through most in this anthology is the thirst for understanding and an abiding respect of knowledge. As Durst’s Marya says at the close of “Experiments with Fire:” “Some things are unknowable. But all the rest … I will know.”

Note: Readers should be aware that slurs are used when referring to Romani people in “The Cold White Ones” by Susanne L. Lamdin

Hotel Magnifique: A Review

Janine “Jani” Lafayette always dreamed of a life beyond the small, idyllic village where she was born. But now, after four years of struggling to take care of herself and her younger sister Zosa in the port town of Durc, Jani dreams of quitting her job at the tannery and going back home.

When the Hotel Magnifique arrives in Durc, it feels like the answer to everything. Visiting a new destination every day, the hotel promises once-in-a-lifetime adventure and magic at every turn–with the price tag to match. Surely even working in such a place would have its own enchantments along with the chance, however slim, of one day stopping at the village Jani so foolishly left behind.

It’s a gamble Jani is willing to take. Until Zosa is hired on as a hotel singer. And Jani is not hired at all.

Following her sister is the only option but inside the hotel is nothing like Jani imagined. Instead of dazzling luxury, Jani is thrust into a world where every bit of glamour hides a dark secret. Including the horrifying unbreakable employee contracts.

Jani is determined to uncover the truth behind the hotel to free her sister and the other hotel staff. With nowhere to hide and no one to trust but Bel, a mysterious doorman with secrets–and loyalties–of his own, Jani will have to risk everything to break the hotel’s spells once and for all in Hotel Magnifique (2022) by Emily J. Taylor.

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Hotel Magnifique is Taylor’s debut novel. This standalone fantasy is set in a French-influenced world with characters of varying skin tones, body types, and sexual orientation. Jani and Zosa read as white. Bel is described as having brown skin and is bisexual.

Vibrant and richly described settings lend a sumptuous feel to this story as Jani is drawn in by the wonders of the magical hotel. The dark underside and pervasive menace of the hotel and the strange maître d’hôtel is slowly revealed with perfect pacing that amps up the tension and urgency of the story. Magical wonders contrast sharply with the grim violence of the hotel where magicians on staff are kept in line–and possibly slowly driven insane–with the removal of an eye or finger while continuing to deliver lavish illusions to hotel guests.

In a story where the backdrop and stakes gradually increase, Hotel Magnifique develops an intricate and engrossing magic system. Multifaceted characters and ample suspense further elevate this fantasy adventure.

Possible Pairings: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles, Wings of Ebony by J. Elle, Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston, Caraval by Stephanie Garber, Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalo, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson, The Splendor by Breeana Shields

Harley Quinn: Reckoning: A Review

Landing an internship in a psych lab at Gotham University is Harleen Quinzel’s first step to getting a full scholarship to college and getting the hell away from her abusive father once and for all.

But it turns out the path to Big Scientific Discovery and girlbossing her way through college is also paved with sexism, mysognyny . . . and murder?

Harleen isn’t entirely surprised to see the way women (both professors and students) are treated in Gotham U’s STEM departments. But she also knows someone has to speak up and, well, no one has ever accused Harleen of being too quiet.

Joining up with a vigilante girl gang called the Reckoning seems like a great way to lean into her own chaotic nature while also fighting back against harassment, assault, and injustice on campus. Until what starts as a series of conscientious pranks leaves one member of the Reckoning dead and Harleen as both a potential suspect and target.

Working with the remaining members of the gang, Harleen will have to act fast to find the culprit before anyone else gets hurt. But with so much at stake, Harleen isn’t sure justice is enough. She might have to risk her future at Gotham U to try and get revenge in Harley Quinn: Reckoning (2022) by Rachael Allen.

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Harley Quinn: Reckoning is the first book in Allen’s trilogy that explores the origin story of everyone’s favorite unhinged villain (no, not the Joker). It is also the latest installment in the DC Icons series which reimagines classic DC comic characters as teens in YA novels. Harleen’s first person narration is as chaotic as fans of her character would expect filled with frenetic tangents, righteous anger, and an abiding love of science. Allen expertly teases out Harleen’s quirks and personality to create a complex and nuanced character whose penchant for mayhem makes it hard to know how far to go when fighting for what she believes in. Harleen and her female love interest in the story are white, there’s a lot of diversity among the supporting cast and thoughtful discussions about the income barriers Harleen and other characters face while contemplating college options.

Harleen’s story is steeped in Allen’s own experiences as a woman in STEM and real instances of sexism and discrimination faced by female scientists (all detailed in an author’s note at the end of the novel). The story plays out on dual timelines with the present where Harleen is at the center of a murder investigation and flashbacks to the genesis of the girl gang. Harleen’s snappy narration and short chapters with suspenseful endings move this story along and make what could be a long read (464 pages in the hardcover) feel like a breeze.

While Harleen manages to stay on the right side of the law for most of this story, readers familiar with her character will catch numerous nods to her future villainous self including references to her costume preferences and more.

Harley Quinn: Reckoning is a fun introduction to the girl who will become Harley Quinn that delivers a satisfying mystery with plenty of feminist themes; a great introduction for readers unfamiliar with Harley and the Batman universe but also a welcome return for the fans.

Possible Pairings: The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas, Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo, Don’t Cosplay With My Heart by Cecil Castellucci, Super Adjacent by Crystal Cestari, The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune, Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, Renegades by Marissa Meyer, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente and Annie Wu, Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti

Dauntless: A Review

Valors explore the unknown world and keep the wild beasts at bay so the forest will remain safe for new and existing villages.

Everyone admires the valors for their strength and heroics in pursuit of their mission. Few follow the path themselves because become a valor means fighting and killing beasts yourself to make your armor.

Seri never thought she’d become a valor herself but working as an assistant to Eshai Unbroken–a valor whose heroics are known far and wide–sets her on a different path.

Everything Seri thought she knew about the beasts and valors is thrown into doubt when she she meets Tsana, a stranger from the unknown world. Tsana can communicate with the beasts and warns of the dangers of fighting them as if they are mindless monsters. But Tsana also has secrets of her own that could have dangerous consequences for all of the known world.

Questioning everything she’s been taught about the world and her place in it, will change Seri’s path again as she tries to find a path to peace that will not end in bloody war in Dauntless (2022) by Elisa A. Bonnin.

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Dauntless is a Filipino-inspired standalone although the sprawling world leaves plenty of room for more stories to tell.

Readers are quickly drawn into the forest world of the People and the unknown world beyond as Seri pursues her dreams of adventure. A tentative romance between Seri and Tsana threads their stories together and raises the stakes as conflict between their people looms.

Seri’s status as a young would-be valor trying to understand her place in a complicated world contrasts well with Eshai’s struggles to reconcile her everyday reality with the near mythical reputation she has earned for her heroics as a valor. Both girls have a lot to figure out when Tsana’s arrival changes the fundamental order of their world–a conflict that is as gripping as this novel’s numerous action sequences.

Dauntless is a fast-paced, high action story steeped in battle heroics that also urges its characters (and readers) to consider peaceful solutions above all.

Possible Pairings: Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco, Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean, Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar

Spice Road: A Review

Imani always dreamed of becoming a Shield like her older brother Atheer. Shields are elite warriors who, after drinking misra tea, can wield magic to protect the kingdom of Qalia from all outside threats including manipulative djinni, horrific ghouls, and other monsters. Known for her metal affinity and skill with a dagger, Imani is one of the youngest Shields from the long-revered Beya clan. A clan that is shadowed by disgrace and grief in the wake of Atheer’s disappearance.

Caught stealing the coveted and carefully guarded misra spice, most people are ready to believe Atheer developed a magical obsession and, addicted to the misra, died shamefully in the Forbidden Wastes that surround Qalia. Imani has no reason to believe otherwise. Until a djinni named Qayn reveals that Atheer may be alive. And sharing the carefully guarded secret of the misra with outsiders–an offense that is punishable by death.

Desperate to find her brother before worse can befall him, Imani binds herself to Qayn in exchange for his promise to lead her across the Forbidden Wastes to Atheer. Traveling with Qayn and an expedition of other Shields including Taha–a beastseer and her longtime rival–will lead Imani to a world filled with secrets and betrayals that were previously beyond her comprehension in Spice Road (2023) by Maiya Ibrahim.

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Spice Road is the first book in a trilogy and Ibrahim’s debut novel. With a world inspired by Arab cultures, all characters are cued as Arab with a variety of names, skin tones, and body types. At nearly five hundred pages, Spice Road is a sprawling series starter that takes its time to introduce readers to narrator Imani and her world.

Vivid descriptions and intense action sequences add drama to the story although the novel’s slow pace belies the urgency Imani feels to reach her brother. Slowly, as she sees beyond Qalia’s borders, Imani’s insular understanding of Qalia and its place in the world begins to expand leaving her to the often unpleasant work of unpacking her privilege both in Qalia and beyond. While this plot thread doesn’t always show Imani in the best light with her starting the novel ignorant of her privilege and unwilling to help outsiders, her development is well-drawn and her growth (mostly) earned as she learns more about the larger world and the way she wants to move through it.

With so much focus on Imani’s introspection, other characters are underutilized throughout the novel–especially Qayn who is a dynamic foil to Imani and Amira who pushes Imani to question her assumptions about Qalia even as she supports her older sister. As a rival with a vastly different ideaology, Taha plays opposite Imani in a will-they-or-won’t-they push and pull that is ultimately unsatisfying and further underscores Imani’s numerous bad choices. Imani is unwilling to trust Qayn because he is a djinni despite his staying true to his word at every turn. Instead, Imani assumes best intentions for Taha during almost the entirety of the novel despite his never reciprocating that trust or doing anything to meaningfully support Imani. It’s unclear if these three characters are meant to be positioned in a love triangle, but if they are Imani chose poorly in this volume.

Spice Road is the exciting start to a trilogy that tackles privilege and colonialism alongside sweeping adventure.

Possible Pairings: The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad, Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena, Mirage by Somaiya Daud, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal, Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier, The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

This Vicious Grace: A Review

As the latest in a long line of Finestras, Alessa Paladino’s gift from the gods should magnify her Fonte partner’s magical abilities making it possible for the pair to combat the demons that threaten the island of Saverio. Every Finestra and her suitor face the Divorando and its hoard of attacking demons during their time–usually working together to end the cycle before retiring and waiting to train the next Finestra.

Instead, Alessa has had three ceremonial weddings and three funerals for each Fonte–all killed by her touch. Reviled by the city, under threat from her own soldiers, Alessa’s situation is dire even without the looming threat of the next Divorando.

Desperate to stay alive, Alessa hires Dante–an outsider marked as a killer–who is willing to keep Alessa alive for enough coin.

Working with Dante, Alessa begins to understand more about her powers and how she might be able to use them without killing her suitor. But with Divorando approaching and demons at the gates, it is Dante’s secrets that might tear Saverio apart in This Vicious Grace (2022) by Emily Thiede.

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This Vicious Grace is the first book in a duology set in a world reminiscent of Renaissance Italy imbued with magic. Alessa is cued as white although there are varied skintones among the citizens of Saverio. In a society where marriages serve to enhance magic, the relationships Alessa forms are more reminiscent of political alliances than traditional marriages although it is worth noting that same sex marriages are welcome and seen as commonplace both for magic and romantic reasons.

Thin world building and ab abrupt start do little to situate the reader in the story although Alessa’s peril and her desperation are immediately palpable as she struggles to control her powers. This character-driven story focuses heavily on Alessa and Dante with banter, flirting and what could be seen as a slow-burn romance if only the main characters had more convincing chemistry. In other words, This Vicious Grace has a lot of pieces that make an entertaining fantasy for patient readers.

Unfortunately, Thiede also makes some strange creative choices including the use of antisemitic stereotypes that continue to give me pause.

Spoilers to follow:

The Hunger Between Us: A Review

A version of this review originally appeared in Horn Book:

Summer, 1942. Leningrad is entering its second year under siege with all supply routes in and out of the city blocked by Nazi forces. Glue mixed with dirt from a burnt down sugar factory is being sold on the black market as candy. Bread rations from the Soviet government have been reduced again and come from loaves that are more sawdust than flour.

Liza has learned from her mother to do whatever it takes to survive. She’s even hidden her mother’s death from authorities–burying the body herself–so that Liza can keep using her precious ration cards. With rumors of cannibals haunting the streets after curfew and the secret police enforcing order with strict brutality everyone in the city is desperate.

When Liza’s best friend Aka suggests trading “entertainment” for food from the secret police, Liza knows it’s a mistake. Her mother always said there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed. But after Aka disappears Liza will do anything to find her even if she has to confront the ugly truths of the siege and the cost of survival firsthand in The Hunger Between Us (2022) by Marina Scott.

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The Hunger Between Us is Scott’s debut novel. All characters are cued as white (and Russian, of course).

Short, fast-paced chapters drive this novel as Liza scrambles to survive and searches for Aka. In a city rife with desperation, questions of morality exist alongside survival as Liza must decide what she is willing to trade both for information about Aka and for food.

With a body already ravaged by symptoms of starvation, Liza becomes an unreliable narrator as she tries to cut through the fog of hunger and fatigue. With no easy paths forward, much of this suspenseful story is mired in the daily brutality of the siege as Liza tries to find her own moral compass and cling to hope where she can.

The Hunger Between Us operates in moral grey areas as Liza and everyone she meets along the way confront the fact that the line between “good” and “bad” becomes increasingly malleable as desperation climbs; an excellent (fictional) counterpoint to MT Anderson’s thoroughly researched Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad.

Murder For the Modern Girl: A Review

Chicago, 1927 is a positutely marvelous place to find parties if you’re a flapper like Ruby. It’s also a city rampant with crime, corruption, and murder.

But Ruby can explain every single one of her murders. Honest.

In a time and place where women are always vulnerable, Ruby has found an unlikely niche for herself doling out vigilante justice between parties with a variety of poisons that have left a trail of unsolved crimes in her wake. She isn’t particularly worried about being caught. Not when her father, the state’s attorney, is the only one with a good head on his shoulders in Chicago’s law enforcement.

Which is why it’s not entirely surprising when someone targets Ruby and her father.

Luckily, Ruby isn’t just a pretty face or a vigilante. She’s her father’s protege as much as anything with her own keen eye for the law. One she’s ready to use to find whoever hurt her father. Unluckily, Ruby realizes that her brand of justice isn’t quite as anonymous as she thought after an encounter with a bland morgue technician in an alley.

Guy hasn’t used his real name–or his real face–for a long time. How can he when he’s working so hard to hide from his shameful past? Working in the morgue might be the break Guy needs to understand his strange shapeshifting ability. Until an exuberant flapper upends his careful plans.

Together this unlikely duo will have their hands full trying to fight corruption, find the would-be assassin, and keep themselves out of prison in Murder for the Modern Girl (2022) by Kendall Kulper.

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Murder for the Modern Girl alternates between Ruby and Guy’s first person narrations. All characters are assumed white.

Kulper delivers jazz age vibes and surprising fantasy elements in this story where Ruby uses her ability as a mind reader to deliver justice while Guy struggles to understand his own strange power–elements that are never fully explained or integrated into the story although they are key to the plot. Readers dive right into the fast-paced story with minimal backstory for either protagonist as the action keeps coming. Readers questioning Ruby’s motives may have a hard time getting on board with her status as a vigilante and, essentially, a serial killer but it is an arc that’s fully explored throughout the novel and does end with Ruby turning her back on her life of crime to fight for justice through more conventional means.

Filled with slang, speakeasies, and fabulous dresses, Murder for the Modern Girl is an inventive mystery filled feminist justice and more adventure than you can shake a stick at.

Possible Pairings: Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty, Born of Illusions by Teri A, Brown, A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson, Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz, Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok