Reading Level: Young Adult

White Smoke

Last year, Marigold almost died of an overdose. To get a fresh start, her family—mother Raquel, stepdad Alec, brother Sam, and stepsister Piper—is moving to the Midwest town of Cedarville. They move into a newly renovated house, but the rest of Maple Street is full of burnt, abandoned houses. As if that wasn’t unsettling enough, weird things begin to happen inside their home. Doors opening and closing, lights flickering, items moving around, and going missing. Weird smells and creepy noises. Marigold starts to suspect that they aren’t welcome in Cedarville, or in this house.

Marigold is the first-person narrator, and her honest, confessional tone sets the mood for this haunting tale. She reveals her past slowly, her narration mimicking her reluctance to get close to anyone after her ex-boyfriend’s betrayal led to her overdose. She struggles with past addiction, adjusting to a new place, making friends, and dealing with lasting anxiety and paranoia caused by a bedbug infestation. As she navigates these challenges, Marigold is also trying to reinvent herself. Though she can be selfish at times, she is ultimately a deeply relatable teenage girl, and through her narration, readers will feel her anxiety as if it were their own.

Marigold works with her brother Sam to uncover who is haunting their house. She cares deeply for him, and their relationship is at the heart of the story. Sam is the only one in the family who truly understands her, and Marigold learns to apply the care that he gives her to the people around her. The difficult process of Marigold connecting with her stepdad and stepsister creates a story about a flawed family that must rediscover how to care for one another.

Marigold also forms connections with Yusef and Erika. Yusef, her neighbor and reluctant crush, tells her of the town’s history, revealing that white families came in and drove out the Black community, sending fathers and brothers to prison on made-up drug charges. His optimism in the face of terrible circumstances forces Marigold to realize how lucky she is to have her family, even if she doesn’t like them all the time. Marigold receives a cold shoulder as the new girl, but Erika helps her settle into high school. Erika also has a painful past, but her humor and lighthearted perspective balance out Marigold’s pessimism. Marigold remains reluctant to create deep connections with anyone but is won over by Yusef and Erika’s friendship.

Trying to balance normal teenage problems with her increasingly unsettling house, Marigold discovers that this haunting might be a sign of deep-seated corruption within Cedarville’s leadership, one that threatens to eradicate what is left of the Black community. While eerie and suspenseful, White Smoke is not a typical ghost story. The connections made between the threats to the Black community and the haunting of Marigold’s home reveal the harm of prejudices, especially when intolerant people are in power. Marigold learns the importance of family and community, as well as the strength that people can achieve when they work together, whether for harm or for good.

White Smoke is a thrilling page-turner, but at times it moves too fast, leaving these connections feeling surface-level and resulting in a conclusion that feels rushed. Despite this, Jackson’s use of language to create a horror story, which vividly conjures images of a haunted house, is impressive and engaging.  Readers interested in racism and its impact on individuals should also consider reading Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi.

 Sexual Content

  • When Marigold meets Yusef, she notices how attractive he is. “He’s a rich mocha brown. The hot chocolate with coconut milk on a chilly day by the beach type of brown. God, I hope these stupid flowery words dancing around in my head aren’t leaking out my mouth.”
  • Tamara, Marigold’s best friend, teases Marigold about Yusef’s flirting. “Dude, he was totally hitting on you, literally. I mean, he talked gardening, that’s practically foreplay.”
  • Marigold jokes with Erika about the town speculating that they are in a relationship. “Well, you ain’t bad looking. I’d smash.”
  • Marigold and Yusef talk about the girls who are attracted to Yusef. He reveals that he hasn’t had sex. Marigold says, “Well, anything is possible, especially when you’re having sex. . . Wait, are you seriously telling me you’re a virgin?”

Violence

  • When Marigold and Yusef first meet, he accidentally punches her in the face. As she’s leaving her house, Marigold “throw[s] the door open, running right into a fist.” She ices her head, but she isn’t injured, just bruised.
  • Marigold has a nightmare where her stepsister Piper attacks her. “[Piper’s] little hands tighten around my throat, thumbs pressing against my voice box. . . I strain, unable to feel my legs, my arms, or anything.” She wakes up right after this.
  • Another mother accuses Marigold’s mother of allowing Piper to hang out in abandoned houses. “Do y’all know how dangerous them houses are? Besides them falling apart, you know what kind of people be in there squatting, smoking, and shooting up drugs? These girls could get raped and we’d be none the wiser!” There’s not actually anyone squatting in the houses, but Piper stops going there after this.
  • Yusef tells Marigold the story of the first Devil’s Night (or Halloween) fire when Seth Reed, a white boy, went missing. “Then, after Devil’s Night, after they found Seth Reed. . . some folks from the Wood . . . they cornered Jon Jon and set his house on fire. [Jon Jon’s mother,] Ms. Suga, living next door, ran inside to save him. They never came out. Burned alive in the house.” Jon Jon and his mother are black, highlighting the race-based history of the town.
  • Jon Jon and Ms. Suga, who are alive and have been living in Marigold’s basement, attack Marigold. Jon Jon chokes her. “Something ropes around my throat, yoking me, and I catch air before landing on my back.” He also punches her in the stomach before Yusef tackles him.
  • Suga hits Marigold with a broom. “The broom whacks me in the face, and I fly backward down the stairs with a scream. My head bangs against the hardwood floor, tailbone hitting the bottom step.” She is seriously concussed and passes out.
  • During the fight, Ms. Suga attacks Marigold and bites her. “The old woman burst out of the closet, screeching, her arms flailing. Stunned by the sight, I’m frozen in place until she leaps, sinking two sharp teeth into my shoulder.” Marigold’s injuries are treated by EMTs.
  • Suga kidnaps Piper and ties her up in one of the abandoned houses. “Wrists and ankles bound, mouth gagged. Her eyes bulge as she screams through the dirty rag.” Marigold and Jon Jon rescue her; Piper is uninjured.
  • The town, incited into a mob, sets the house that Marigold, Piper, and Jon Jon are in on fire. Marigold’s ankle is injured while trying to get out. “I kick furiously. . . my ankle covered in blood where the wood sliced into me.” Jon Jon bandages it. Then, Piper and Marigold escape to Yusef’s house, where they clean her wounds.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Before the story, Marigold was struggling with addiction to Percocet and overdosed on fentanyl-laced weed. “Last thing I really remember was walking into my room. [My brother] found me foaming at the mouth. Turns out the weed was laced with fentanyl . . . OD’ing is the type of mistake you never shake.”
  • Marigold struggles with her cravings for weed. “I need a blunt, a brownie, a gummy. . . hell, I’d take a contact high right about now, I’m so desperate for numbness.”
  • Marigold mentions her addiction to Percocet throughout the book. For example, when she starts hearing strange noises and smelling strange scents, she thinks: “If I were still on the Percs, I could’ve blamed it on a crazy trip.”
  • At a party, Yusef and Marigold drink. They are both underage. “Yusef pours [them] two vodkas and orange juices. . . [Marigold’s] not used to being at parties sober.”
  • At the same party, Marigold smokes weed that Erika gives her. “I grab the spliff, inhale hard, letting the smoke take up every corner of my lungs before exhaling with an ‘ahhh.’” She gets high.
  • Marigold’s mother forces her to take a drug test. “With a sigh, I grab the cup and head for the bathroom. The test is going to be negative, but just the thought that Mom felt she had to give it to me cuts deeper than a knife.”
  • Marigold is growing weed for herself in the backyard of one of the abandoned houses. She gets Tamara to send her the seeds. “I’m not asking you to send me a pack of blunts. Just some seeds! . . . Tamara, I need this.” Eventually, Yusef finds the garden and forces Marigold to remove it.

Language

  • Profanity is used regularly. Profanity includes hella, damn, shit, bitch, tit, ass, fuck, and dick.

Supernatural

  • There is a town legend that Ms. Suga haunts the house where Marigold’s family lives. Yusef says, “It’s just that everyone is surprised you’re still alive, with your house being haunted and everything. . . It’s this creature, a demon woman, who comes in the middle of the night while you’re sleeping, cast some type of spell on you.”
  • Marigold wakes up to a shadowy figure in her room. She calls Yusef, thinking it’s a demon. Marigold says, “Maybe a demon. It’s in the corner, holding my blanket.” The shadow turns out to be Jon Jon sleepwalking, but Marigold doesn’t find this out until the end of the book.
  • Marigold lists out the proof that her house is haunted. “Well, except for the whole basement door incident. And the wrinkled hand reaching into the shower. And the lights going out . . . That funky stench is not just coming from the basement. . . Doors opening and slamming on their own, the cabinets in the kitchen.” Marigold and Sam both believe that their house is haunted. At one point, they hear what they believe is a ghost, mimicking Sam’s voice.
  • Marigold and Sam believe that Piper is possessed because she has been acting strangely and getting angry often. Sam says, “We’ll need proof Piper’s possessed or the church won’t perform an exorcism on her.”

Spiritual Content

  • There is a pastor, Scott Clark, who preaches on television, and passages from his sermons are regularly interspersed throughout the novel. “And so I say to you, cast the wickedness out of your heart for the good of thy neighbor, cleanse thy soul with fire!”
  • At times, the passages are connected with the story but are more often used to represent the corruption of the town leaders that seeps into the church as well. For example, one of the longer passages reads, “. . . And children of God, I’m to provide the seeds that you will plant, and you will do the watering. Do not forsake his words. For the devil is among you! He has poisoned your minds, makes you feel you can’t trust the very people he put to care for you. . . ” This refers to the scam seeds Scott Clark sells that never grow.
  • Marigold’s family are “spiritualists” who “just believe in a higher power.”

 

by Abigail Clark

Reckless

Reckless follows the shocking events of the previous book, Powerless. In an act of self-defense and revenge, rebel traitor Paedyn Gray kills the King. To escape punishment, Paedyn flees Ilya, leaving the kingdom — and its princes — reeling in her wake. Crown Prince Kitt, shaken by his friend’s betrayal, becomes increasingly paranoid and withdrawn, refusing to leave his room. Prince Kai, Ilya’s Enforcer, swears to hunt Paedyn down, even if he once loved her.   

Kai tracks Paedyn to the nearby kingdom, Dor, where she has become an underground fighter. With his men, Kai captures Paedyn and forces her to hike through barren desert land to return to Ilya. However, a group of rebels captures them, hoping to trade Kai’s release for Paedyn’s pardon. Their plans are subverted when Rafael, Paedyn’s old boss at the fighting ring, captures her and Kai. To escape, Paedyn and Kai must set aside their differences and work together. In the process, forbidden feelings threaten to return, forcing the ultimate choice between old duty and new love.  

Paedyn is an underdog, relying on her wits to stay one step ahead of an entire government that is calling for her arrest, dead or alive. She often prioritizes survival over morality, though not without guilt. For example, she hesitates to steal from the hardworking people of Dor, yet ultimately does, lacking any other means to support herself. While Paedyn is dedicated to the rebel cause of seeking to uplift Ordinaries from Elite oppression, her lack of resolve may frustrate some readers. Despite swearing multiple times that she will kill Prince Kai, Paedyn does not do so. On an emotional level, readers will sympathize with Paedyn’s inability to harm someone she once cared deeply for. However, considering the greater good, Paedyn’s choices unintentionally come off as selfish, prioritizing her personal feelings over the survival of her people.   

Likewise, Kai’s charming and witty nature often clashes with the grim reality of his mission, which he rarely takes seriously. For example, Kai often flirts with Paedyn, which diminishes both the severity of his objective and his relationship with his late father. Readers looking for a fun enemies-to-lovers story, in which characters claim murderous intent but instead reignite their romance with a passionate kiss, will find much to appreciate in Kai’s character and his romance with Paedyn. While Kai often falls on the wrong side of the conflict, siding with the Elite, readers will understand that he is not an inherently bad person, but rather forced into a morally compromising position by his family. Readers will root for him to break free of his late father’s corrosive influence. However, a more cynical eye will question whether Kai can truly love the same person who killed his father, traumatized his brother, and threw his kingdom into chaos.  

Reckless focuses on the progression of Kai and Paedyn’s relationship as they fluctuate between enemies and lovers, against the backdrop of a country on the brink of revolution and ruin. In the kingdom of Dor, where the people do not have supernatural abilities, Ordinary Paedyn and Elite Kai are finally on even footing. In captivity, faced with a more pressing threat than their mutual animosity, Paedyn and Kai become reluctant allies with the potential for romance. While the conflict between the rebels and the established hierarchy provides thrilling action sequences, it contributes more to the development of Kai and Paedyn’s relationship than to the advancement of the plot. Large portions of the plot are repetitive and do not further the story, instead falling into a cycle of capture, escape, capture, escape, capture, escape – thereby negating any significance of the capture or the escape.  

This story is told from the dual points of view of Paedyn and Kai. Both rehash the major conflict of the previous book — the struggle between duty and love. They are forced to ask themselves if pursuing a romance is worth jeopardizing their worldviews, morals, familial obligations, and the future of their kingdom. Readers who instantly answer no will not enjoy this book. Due to the lack of stakes and consequences – unlike the major character deaths and world-shaking revelations featured in the previous book – Reckless ultimately feels like a placeholder for the conclusion of the series, Fearless.  

Sexual Content   

  • After agreeing to a temporary alliance, Kai and Paedyn share an angsty, yet steamy kiss. Kai describes, “Our mouths crash together. I can taste the loathing on her lips, the anger in each swipe of her tongue. She kisses me hard, biting my lip to draw blood… Her fingers are buried in my hair while mine dig into her hips. This kiss is deep and anything but tender.”  On the brink of death, Kai and Paedyn share another passionate kiss. Kai describes, “I kiss her frantically, memorizing the feel of her lips against mine. . . Her arms slide from my wrists to wrap around my neck. She’s clinging to me as though I’m an anchor she’s willing to sink with.”  
  • The kiss is then described from Paedyn’s perspective. “I sigh against his mouth when his tongue meets mine… His teeth pull at my bottom lip… The action sets my body ablaze, spreading fire through every vein. My mouth moves in time with his, matching every swipe of his tongue, every move of his lips.” The scene lasts two pages. 
  • Kai’s inner monologue frequently emphasizes his attraction to Paedyn; however, he is often tormented by it. For example, he thinks, “She’s unbearable, really. But not in the way that makes it any easier to look away. No, everything about her is a bold sort of beauty, like a rose proudly displaying its thorns. She’s alluring in the way that most deadly things are. It’s captivating.” Paedyn is more reluctant to admit her feelings, though her heart often “beats hard” in Kai’s presence.     

Violence   

  • Kai and Paedyn falsely promise to kill each other. Upon gaining an opportunity to kill Kai, Paedyn thinks, “I could kill him… I’m hesitating… he makes his way out of the alley… I won’t hesitate again.”  
  • When pressed on whether he will complete his mission, which will presumably result in Paedyn’s execution, considering the severity of her crime, Kai sincerely replies, “Of course. It’s my duty.”  
  • To prevent Paedyn from running away, Kai throws a dagger at her. He describes, “with the flick of my wrist, I send the knife flying toward her… it meets its mark, slicing through her thigh as she leaps. Her cry of pain makes me flinch… she staggers to her feet, blood streaming down her leg.” The wound is superficial, leading to no serious long-term injury. 
  • In self-defense, Paedyn kills a guard attempting to collect her bounty. During a brief, yet bloody fight, “the back of his skull collides with my [Paedyn’s] nose. I cry out, already feeling blood… The guard throws me onto my back, his weight pressing down on me nearly as hard as his hands crushing my windpipe… I can barely see what it is I do next. The blade slides easily into his heart.”  
  • Kai and Paedyn attempt to escape Rafael, Paedyn’s ex-boss. After getting trapped in a tunnel filling with water, Kai and Paedyn believe they will drown. However, at the last moment, they escape into an alley.  
  • While working as an underground fighter, Paedyn fights. For example, during a match against a fan favorite, Slick, Paedyn describes, “Slick is persistent, raining down… He blocks my jab before barreling into me, pushing me hard against the cage… my foot finds the inside of his knee, kicking hard… Slick bites down a scream… [he is] clutching what is likely a dislocated kneecap… His elbow strains as I pull his arm down unnaturally, hyperextending the joint.” Paedyn wins the fight, which lasts around three pages. The gory action is interwoven with descriptions and brief flashbacks of her friendship with Adena, a character who died in the previous book.  
  • Ambushed by bandits while traveling through the desert, Paedyn witnesses an arrow strike Kai’s arm. He “slowly sinks to his knees, displaying the deep gash stretching across the length of his shoulder. I saw the flash of an arrow before it tore through his skin, splitting flesh in an instant.” Kai makes a full recovery, although he is left with a scar. 

Drugs and Alcohol   

  • After Kai and Paedyn are unable to remember important details of their capture, Kai speculates that “they may have drugged us.”  

Language  

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes damn, hell, ass, shit, and bitch. For example, before Paedyn kills a guard, he calls her a “crazy bitch.”   
  • As a result of getting back together, Kai tells Paedyn he now “believe[s] in a God” because she is “paradise.”  

Supernatural  

  • The Elites have superhuman abilities. For example, a “brawny” is an Elite with superhuman strength, depicted as smashing through a door.  

Spiritual Content   

  • None  

by Kerry Lum  

The Hammer of Thor

A couple of months ago, Magnus Chase’s life changed forever. . . because he died. But Magnus didn’t go down without a fight, and he earned himself a place in Valhalla, the Norse afterlife for heroes. It’s not easy getting accustomed to life in Valhalla, where Magnus’s days are filled with fighting and feasting amongst the honorable dead. But just when Magnus is finally settling in, his afterlife is disrupted by the news that Thor, the formidable god of thunder, has lost his hammer. A hammer-less Thor means a defenseless Earth, and armies of giants are lining up to invade while the god is weak.  

With his friends by his side, Magnus embarks on a perilous quest to find Thor’s hammer. With Loki, the cruel trickster god, pulling strings from his prison, will Magnus be able to complete his mission, or will he play right into his enemies’ hands? 

The Hammer of Thor is a witty and entertaining dive into the world of Norse mythology. Narrated by Magnus, readers will be guided through the story by his sarcastic sense of humor. Throughout the novel, Magnus often acts out of empathy and compassion for others. This, combined with his self-aware commentary, makes him a lovable and relatable character. Readers will find themselves invested in Magnus’s story. 

One of this book’s greatest strengths is its diverse cast of characters. On his quest, Magnus is joined by Sam, a devout Muslim whose faith is as strong as her work ethic and skills with an ax. Her knowledge and determination drive the plot and save Magnus on many occasions.  

Fan-favorite dynamic duo Hearth and Blitz also accompany Magnus. Hearth, a deaf elf with a skill for sorcery, and Blitz, a dwarf with a passion for fashion design, are fiercely protective of one another. The pair’s unique skills and personalities steal every scene they share.   

Finally, Magnus finds himself drawn to Alex, the shapeshifting child of Loki, who adds a bit of chaos to the story. Alex is a fierce fighter who is proud of her identity as both a shapeshifter and a transgender and genderfluid person. In addition to driving the plot and making this novel unforgettable, these characters offer readers an opportunity to consider new perspectives and learn about those who are different from them.  

The Hammer of Thor balances tension with moments of levity and handles serious topics in a way that is respectful and impactful. This novel addresses issues such as homelessness, ableism, transphobia, and child abuse in ways that are easy for younger audiences to understand. It also explores themes of trauma and grief, depicting the various ways characters mourn their losses. These subjects are explored in an age-appropriate manner that feels safe and inviting to children, as the story maintains its optimistic and entertaining voice. 

Readers do not have to be familiar with Rick Riordan’s previous works to enjoy the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series. This trilogy is a strong standalone series with unique new characters and settings. Fans of Riordan will enjoy references to his other series, as well as his entertaining conversational writing style. Fans and new readers will be interested in reading the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series because it opens a new world of magic and mayhem.  

This novel contains themes of friendship, perseverance, and strength. Throughout the story, Magnus and his friends often support each other through difficult situations. The bond the characters share empowers them as they work together to overcome every obstacle that comes their way. Despite facing setbacks, the heroes continue to work towards their goals, refusing to abandon their quest. Magnus and his friends are resilient, and readers can find strength through their actions. 

The Hammer of Thor is a must-read for middle-grade audiences that will entertain readers while encouraging empathy and introspection. This novel will help audiences find the joy of reading while taking them on an adventure that explores mythology and friendship. This fast-paced story will hook readers from the start and will be remembered long after they turn the last page.     

Sexual Content  

  • Magnus’s friend Halfborn implies that his girlfriend Mallory likes seeing him shirtless when they are preparing for a practice battle. Mallory comments that Halfborn “always goes into battle bare-chested.” Halfborn replies, “Are you complaining about that?” This causes Mallory to blush.  
  • Loki arranges a marriage between Sam and a giant against Sam’s will. Sam says, “We have to find Thor’s hammer before the first of spring or. . . I will have to marry a giant.” Sam and her friends prevent the wedding from occurring.   

Violence  

  • A magical goat named Otis is struck in the chest with an ax. “Living in Valhalla, I was used to deadly weapons flying out of nowhere, but I was still surprised when an ax sprouted from Otis’s furry chest. . . the ax had pierced his heart.” Otis dies, but due to his magical nature, he comes back to life.   
  • Magnus chases after Otis’s killer and engages in combat with them. “An ax hurtled from above, slicing the buttons off my denim jacket. An inch closer and it would’ve opened up my chest.” The fight scene is described over five pages. The killer escapes and leaves Magnus behind on a rooftop. 
  • Magnus and his friends participate in a practice battle in Valhalla against the other dead heroes who live there, such as Charlie, T.J., and Big Lou. During this battle, “Halfborn and Mallory chopped us a path through a pack of berserkers. T.J. shot Charlie Flannigan in the head. . . We dodged a volley of fiery tar balls from the balcony catapults. We had a brief sword battle with Big Lou from floor 401.” Because they are in Valhalla, everyone who dies in this battle will come back to life. This fight scene is described over 15 pages. 
  • Alex decapitates a wolf using a garrote after the wolves attack an old man in an alley. Alex “lashed out with her wire, using it like a whip. With a single flick, one of the wolves lost its head.” 
  • Alex is bitten on the neck and killed by a wolf. “The last beast took her by the throat. She wrapped her fingers around its neck, but her eyes were losing focus.” After her death, Alex is reborn in Valhalla.  
  • Hearth breaks his ankle after falling into a tomb. Magnus “heard a wet snap followed by Hearth’s grunt, and [he] knew immediately what happened.” Magnus heals Hearth. 
  • Magnus and his friends fight zombies in a tomb. “Sam thrust her spear under [a zombie’s] jaw. The weapon’s light burned away his head like a flame going through toilet paper.” This fight is described over four pages.  
  • Magnus’s Uncle Randolph stabs Blitz in the stomach with a magical blade called the Skofnung Sword because he is following Loki’s orders. “With a cry of horror he buried the Skofnung Sword in Blitzen’s gut.” Blitz is badly injured, but he eventually recovers. 
  • After Uncle Randolph stabs Blitz, Magnus retaliates by slashing “upward, and the Skofnung Sword flew out of Randolph’s grip, along with. . . a couple of pink things that looked like fingers.” Randolph recovers from his injuries.  
  • The police shoot Hearth as he and his friends run away from a party that had become dangerous. “Behind us, a shot rang out. Everyone flinched except Hearth. . . Hearth stumbled, a red stain soaking his shirt.” Hearth recovers from this injury. 
  • Sam kills a giant named Little Billy with an ax. “In one fluid moment, Sam turned and threw her ax right at Billy. The giants gasped. Little Billy’s eyes went even more cross-eyed as he stared at the hatchet now sprouting from his forehead.” 
  • Sam hits a giant named Thrynga in the side with an ax. “Samirah’s ax hurtled across the room and embedded itself in Thrynga’s side.” Thrynga recovers from this injury. 
  • Magnus breaks his ribs when he collides with a stalagmite during a battle. Magnus “slammed into a stalagmite. Something in [his] chest went crack.” 
  • Loki kills a snake by breaking its spine. Loki “grabbed the snake that had been dripping venom on him, yanked it off its stalactite, and snapped it like a whip.” 
  • Uncle Randolph falls into a pit and dies. Uncle Randolph “slipped sideways into the darkness without a sound.” 
  • Thor smites Thrynga, killing her. “Thor pointed his hammer at Thrynga as casually as if he were channel surfing. Tendrils of lightning shot from the runes engraved in the metal. The giantess burst into a million bits of rubble.”      

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Sam goes into an alley that “heroin junkies liked to shoot up in. . . which made it a great place to get beaten, robbed, or killed.” No drug use is depicted in this scene. 

Language    

  • Halfborn calls someone a “meinfretr.” Magnus says that this is an Old Norse swear word that translates to “something like stinkfart.” 
  • Mallory makes a gesture with her hand that is equivalent to giving someone the middle finger. “Mallory made a V with her fingers and flicked them under her chin.”  
  • The word idiot is used many times. For example, Mallory tells Halfborn, “You’re an idiot.”

Supernatural  

  • Sam is a Valkyrie, a warrior who leads the souls of dead heroes to Valhalla, the Norse afterlife for heroes who died bravely in battle. Sam comments on her role, calling it her “part-time job reaping souls of the dead and running top secret missions for Odin.”  
  • Magnus comments on the various things he has done since his death and rebirth. Magnus “travelled the Nine Worlds meeting Norse gods, elves, dwarves, and a bunch of monsters with names I couldn’t pronounce. I’d scored a magical sword that presently hung around my neck in the form of a runestone pendant.” 
  • Magnus speaks with a magical anthropomorphic goat named Otis. “Otis climbed into the chair I’d reserved for Sam. He sat on his back haunches and put his front hooves on the table.” 
  • Magnus recalls fantastical things he did in the previous book. “I’d played catch-the-lava-ball with fire giants. I’d eagle-skied over the rooftops of Boston. I’d pulled the world serpent out of Massachusetts Bay and defeated Fenris Wolf with a ball of yarn.”  
  • Magnus learns that he will have to encounter a wight, which is “a powerful undead creature that likes to collect magical weapons.”  
  • Magnus has a magical talking sword named Jack. “As I bounded across Newbury Street, Jack sprang to full form in my hand. His blade—thirty inches of double-edged bone-forged steel— was emblazoned with runes that pulsed in different colors when Jack talked.” 
  • Alex can shapeshift because she is a child of Loki. “The animal grew into a regular teen, long and lanky, with a swirl of dyed green hair. . .”  
  • Sam and Magnus go for a ride on a flying horse. “Sam saddled a white stallion. She climbed on his back and pulled me up behind her, then we galloped out the gates of the stable, straight into the skies above Boston.”  
  • Hearth performs magic by casting runes. “From the inside pouch of his jacket, he produced a small collection of runestones.” 
  • Zombies come to life and attack Magnus and his friends. “To absolutely no one’s surprise, the twelve mummified warriors stepped out from their niches along the walls.” 
  • A pilot named Barry is briefly possessed by the mysterious person who killed Otis the Goat. “Barry’s new voice crackled with distortion and went up and down in pitch.” 
  • Magnus and his friends walk across the Bifrost, a rainbow bridge connecting Earth with Asgard, the home of the Norse gods. “Radiance surrounded us, fuzzy and hot. Rather than walking across a slick, solid surface, I felt like we were wading through the waist-high field of wheat.”  

Spiritual Content  

  • This novel is centered around Norse mythology and contains frequent depictions of and references to Norse gods. 
  • Sam is Muslim and comments on how she views the Norse gods. Sam says that she “doesn’t accept that Norse gods are gods. They’re just powerful beings. Some of them are my annoying relatives. But they are no more than creations of Allah, the only god, just like you and I are.”  
  • Magnus watches as Sam prays. “Sam took off her shoes. She stood very still at the foot of her rug, her hands clasped at her stomach, her eyes half-closed. She whispered something under her breath. . . Then she began her prayers, a soft, singsong chanting of Arabic that sounded like she was reciting a familiar poem or a love song. Sam bowed, straightened, and knelt with her feet tucked under her and pressed her forehead against the cloth.”    

 by Kelly Barker 

Our Crooked Hearts

When unusual events start to take place around Ivy, she begins to question what she knows to be true. First, Ivy has a mysterious interaction with a naked woman in the woods. Then she finds a mutilated rabbit in her driveway. And her mom goes MIA – what is going on? As Ivy searches for the truth, she discovers that magic exists and, in fact, has played a large role in her life. Along with this, Ivy unveils family secrets that force her to confront past relationships as well as form new ones.  

Each chapter alternates between Ivy’s present-day perspective and a flashback perspective of Dana, Ivy’s mother, teenage years. Both the present day and the past are equally covered throughout the book. Best friends Dana, Fee, and Marion began practicing magic in their teens and were enchanted by the wonders and possibilities of it. However, after a disagreement, a rift is formed, and Marion practices dark magic. Dana becomes unsettled by the dangerous magic that Marion wants to unleash and does what she feels is needed to protect herself.   

Determined, Ivy begins to unveil the dark witchcraft that her mother has kept from her and begins to put together the missing pieces of her life. However, she still can’t find her mom or Aunt Fee anywhere, but her curious and strong-willed nature won’t let her quit. Ivy soon realizes that they are in danger, and she must save both from enemies who are seeking revenge. Will she be able to save them from powerful witches seeking vengeance? 

As a teenager, Marion Peretz introduced Dana and Fee to magic. For her whole life, Marion has felt lonely and has lacked a real connection with those around her. Once she discovered magic, Marion was infused with confidence. Her thirst for magic reflects her desire to feel empowered, causing her to take magical risks. However, this comes at a cost, and Marion’s selfish tendencies lead her to put herself, Dana, and Fee in danger. Readers are likely to find Marion’s vindictive behavior and actions grating as she only grows worse throughout the book. 

This magic-filled book explores the possibilities that magic has to offer and how it can be abused. Many of the characters struggle with immense curiosity, guilt, and selfish tendencies. Because of this, the story takes unexpected turns and keeps the reader in suspense. Moreover, the events that take place display the author’s imagination as well as a peek into the world of witchcraft. For example, one imaginative element is the occultists book. “You couldn’t look for things in the occultists book, couldn’t read it cover to cover . . . it worked. . . like a tarot deck, delivering the pages you needed to see.”  

The changing perspectives throughout the book provide the necessary background information for the plot and help to connect the past with the present. These perspectives make the reader wonder about Ivy and Dana’s strange relationship. Dana is very distant from her family, especially from Ivy. So, reading about Dana’s teenage years allows for the reader to understand her behavior and the events that led up to this. The author transitions from each perspective seamlessly, and it does not get confusing for the reader switching back and forth. Overall, the changing perspective adds to the story. 

Our Crooked Hearts’ eerie events grab the reader’s attention from the start, and the tension escalates, making the book hard to put down. The book’s creative storyline will leave readers impressed and searching to read another book by the same author. In particular, the unique content regarding the supernatural world makes the story all the more appealing. The author explores the ideas of friendship and betrayal but focuses on the importance of trust. This is a must-read for those interested in the world of magic and witchcraft. Its creative storyline will leave readers impressed. 

Sexual Content     

  • Ivy and her neighbor Billy, who happens to be her romantic interest, find themselves in Billy’s backyard treehouse, the same one that they used to play in as kids. They are lying beside each other, and they begin to kiss. “We smiled at each other, and when he kissed me, we were still smiling. Until we weren’t. He was beside me, then above me, propped up on one arm. He ran a hand firmly down my body, rib cage to thigh, then held me there and pulled me up closer. We kissed and kissed.” 

Violence 

  • During their teenage years, Marion, Dana, and Fee performed a spell that involved the death of a rabbit. “[The rabbit] was wild this time, and skinny despite the season . . . It fought and fought, twisting in Marion’s grip, finally jerking its head into a broken angle to bite her. Even through the pain of its yellow teeth she was silent. The rest of us hissed in dismay as her blood hit the wax. With a decisive stab her knife went in . . . Dying, it twisted free; Marion wrestled it back. She held it more efficiently this time, sawing away so fiercely a spurt of arterial blood hit my knuckles.” 
  • During the same spell, the three girls slice their palms with a knife. “[Marion] signaled to us and we sliced our palms, dropping to our knees to press them to the floor.” 
  • When Marion’s spell does not go to plan, she blames Fee and begins to go after her physically. Dana steps in, protecting Fee. “I pulled Marion off my best friend by her hair… Fee socked her in the gut to make her let go. Marion went at her again and I caught her around the stomach, hauling her down and pressing an arm to her throat.” 

Drugs and Alcohol     

  • At a high school party, Ivy and her best friend, Amina, discussed Ivy’s ex-boyfriend, Nate. “‘Did you see what he was drinking last night? Absinthe.’ Amina had big tattletale energy. ‘To be fair it was probably vodka with green food coloring, but still.’”    
  • Ivy and Billy illegally buy alcohol one evening. Ivy is using her fake ID to prove to Billy that it works. Ivy “marched him over to the liquor aisle and considered what I could afford, settling on a bottle of strawberry wild vines.” 
  • Marion, still stuck in the mirror world she had been bound to, drinks liquor, although she cannot get drunk because of the magical world she is in. “She couldn’t get drunk, but she drank anyway . . . Marion drank from every one of those bottles . . . Their liquors were bitter or treacly or sharp as a lightning bolt.” 

Language   

  • Profanity is used often, including fuck, motherfuckers, fucking, fucked, shit, bitch, asshole, and bullshit. 
  • The naked woman who appeared in the woods attempts to lure Ivy and Nate out from behind the trees they are hiding behind. In this creepy scene, the woman says, “Come out, come out, whoever you are . . . I said show yourselves, motherfuckers.” 
  • In response to the naked woman in the woods, Ivy and Nate are increasingly scared. “I felt the terror in Nate as he saw how this was gonna go. ‘Fuck this,’ he muttered.” 
  • When Dana and Fee discover that Marion is a witch, they are fascinated and want her to show them what she knows. When Marion asks what specifically they would like to learn, they respond with, “just… all of it. Fucking all of it.”  
  • Dana and Fee meet another witch, Sharon, and begin to learn a little bit about her past. Sharon tells them briefly about her brother, “He saved me when nobody else could be fucked to try.” 
  • Marion, Dana, and Fee get into an argument, and Marion grows increasingly angry. “Marion’s flat blue eyes came alive with rage. ‘You bitch,’ she said to Fee and charged her.” 
  • In a flashback, Dana and her future husband, Rob, meet for the first time at a bachelorette party. During their flirty banter, Dana says, “Don’t be the asshole quoting Tennyson to girls at the party.” 

Supernatural     

  • Two older, creepy men bother Dana, Fee, and Marion at the restaurant where they worked as teenagers. Marion performs a spell. “Marion went still . . . When she spoke, the words came low. A cadenced murmur that played havoc with my heart. ‘Let all his thoughts be seen . . . Let their dark matter touch the air. Let them trouble him from without.’”  
  • As the two men began to leave the restaurant, weirded out by Marion and what she is saying, cicadas begin landing on the men, one by one. “He [went] down, he was screaming with his lips closed, he was mashing his face into the sand. I didn’t know whether the insects were stinging or biting or just crawling over his skin, but they kept coming.” 
  • Marion shares her occultist book with Dana and Fee. Marion explains, “You couldn’t look for things in the occultists book, couldn’t read it cover to cover . . . it worked. . . like a tarot deck, delivering the pages you needed to see.” 
  • Marion, Fee, and Dana do their first spell together. “It began with a purification ritual. For three days we stayed inside, playing sick so we could avoid mirrors, direct sunlight, and human touch. We drank herbs steeped in spring water, briny with rock salt, and performed ablutions once an hour between sundown and sunup. . .  At sundown on the fourth day we gathered the spell’s ingredients.” This was meant to prepare them and their space for future spells.  
  • As Dana and Fee discover the world of magic and the power that it gives them, they practice with the occultists book. “We learned the many uses of moonlight. Every piece of magic the book gave us worked like a gateway drug, until we couldn’t imagine our lives without that thrill, that bend, that shock of the world giving way beneath our hands.” 
  • Marion describes the dead owner of her occultists book: Astrid Washington. Astrid is referred to on numerous occasions. Marion said, “Astrid was amazing. She wasn’t just an occultist; she was a healer.” 
  • Fee, Dana, and Marion perform a love spell, but the spell does not go as planned due to Marion’s deception and alternate agenda; summoning Astrid Washington. “The occultists book showed us a love spell. Its ingredients were for a wedding bouquet: ribbons, roses, lavender . . . In the middle of the spell Fee screamed. She reached under her shirt for the necklace that always nestled just below her throat’s hollow. . . When she pulled up her shirt to look, there was a fine cross-shaped mark where the crucifix had lain.”  
  • Marion proposes that they do a spell to increase their magical force. “Marion pinned the page with her finger and read aloud. ‘A blessing of power for those bold enough to take it. That my gifts may not stagnate . . . A spell for eight hands . . . Increased magical force. That’s the spell.’” However, due to Marion’s deception, the spell that they perform does not increase their magical strength but instead puts them in danger. 
  • Marion tricks Fee and Dana into doing a summoning spell. Fee says, “We were dragging Astrid Washington out of, what, Hell? Mother of God, Marion!” At the last minute, Dana and Fee figure out how Marion was deceiving them, and they put a stop to it.  
  • As Dana, Fee, and Marion begin another spell, they could feel that “Astrid was with [them], a presence at [their] backs, ahead of [them], pressing in from the sides.” 
  • Marion once again tricks Dana and Fee into casting a binding spell. “Holding the drifting veil above the manhole of mirror, [Marion] began to speak. ‘I charge you Astrid Washington, to do my bidding. To serve me. I charge you to bind yourself to me. To be my helpmeet and my familiar.” During the spell, Astrid begins to rise out of the mirror world. “Astrid hefted herself through the glass, crouching on its edge with her toes still dipped into mirror world.”  
  • Once Fee and Dana realize what is going on and see how angry Astrid feels, they try to break the spell and save Marion from Astrid’s resentment. Fee said, “Draw tight the power of three, add blood to a loving cup, and if ever the three should part, let the river swallow them up.” The spell begins working, and “the chant, multiplied by three, fizzing with the unwieldy charge of Astrid’s borrowed magic.” They are then pulled into the magic circle/mirror world, where Astrid was trapped, and they are forced to face her.  
  • Astrid threatens Fee. To stop the binding spell, Dana has only one choice. Since Marion and Astrid are bonded together, Dana thinks that “maybe I could steal just enough time to kill Marion. If she died, Astrid died, too. The circle broke. We were free.” Dana heaves Marion’s body through the mirror. Marion and Astrid are trapped in the mirror world and cannot be released without a spell.  
  • Ivy has magical abilities. She has lucid dreams and pulls other people into her dreams.  
  • Dana explains magic to Ivy. Dana says, “Some kinds of magic are just for you – the magic that grows in your blood. Everyone is well fed by different springs, different traditions. Folk magic, myth magic, we’ve got lots of that in our tree. You have to be careful, you’ve gotta keep your eyes off of other people’s paper . . . [Fee and I] learned when we were young not to siphon off springs that don’t belong to us.” 
  • Dana travels to see Mr. Lazar, an old man who sells obscure magical objects. She buys a forgetting box, which is used to make Ivy forget that she is a witch and can use magic.  
  • Dana gets fired from her waitressing job and stumbles upon Linh, an old friend of hers who can talk to the dead. Linh explains, “It’s never a good thing when a spirit comes looking for me. It’s way, way better when I’m the one doing the courting.” 
  • Ivy performs a spell in her room. “Ivy propped a mirror against her footboard. She pressed a blend of clarity oils into seven crucial places. She looped a thread of dark hair around her right ring finger – spirited off of her best friend Billy’s shoulder – and incanted as she used that fingertip to trace a sigil over the mirror. Mist spilled into the glass, displacing her reflection.” She can now see what Billy is doing through the mirror.  
  • Ivy discovers a man not moving in the home that Marion had broken into. She panics and asks Marion what is wrong with him. Marion explains what she had done to the man. “They’re not dead. While they’re sleeping, they won’t die, or age, or thirst. They’re as safe as it’s possible to be in this world. Their house fulfills a need, and I’ll give it back when I’m through.” 
  • Marion gives Ivy the forgetting box that Dana used on her years ago, hoping Ivy will regain her memories. Ivy attempts to open it, “The box didn’t glow or hover or hum. It just warmed to my skin, loosening like a tablet of wax. I could see the seam now, and the catch, as easy as if they’d always been there.” 
  • Marion performs a scrying spell. “Steadily Marion poured water into a heavy silver bowl. She sprinkled its surface with Dana’s blood and spoke the words and waited to see what would come. There was a haze, pearlescent, then a figure came into view: Dana’s red hair.” This spell allows Marion to see the real world and escape her entrapment.  
  • Astrid Washington and Marion perform a spell together to release them from the world they have been trapped in. “Astrid began the incantation that would unwind their world. As she incanted Marion closed her eyes against a cast melancholy.” 
  • There is a scene that essentially tells the entire story of Ivy’s life, which was trapped in the forgetting box. It recounts all her experiences with magic, Billy, and the life she was forced to forget.  
  • When Ivy finds her mom and Fee under a spell, she tries to save them. “If they [are] sleeping, there [is] a chance I could reach them. I could fall asleep right here and pull them out of Marion’s nightmare, and into a dream of my own.”  
  • Ivy puts Marion’s soul into the forgetting box, ultimately saving both her mom and Aunt Fee from Astrid and Marion. “I . . . pulled out the golden box, and pressed it to the place I’d drawn [Marion’s] blood . . . the box opened its hungry mouth.” 

Spiritual Content     

  • None    

The Reappearance of Rachel Price

The disappearance of Rachel Price has haunted the small New Hampshire town she called home, and Bel Price, her daughter, has grown up in the shadow of an unsolved mystery. Now, Bel, along with her father Charlie, her aunt Sherry, her uncle Jeff, and her cousin Carter, are being asked to revisit Rachel’s disappearance for a documentary. While Bel wrestles with unanswered questions and painful memories triggered by Ramsey and his documentary crew, she finds herself drawn to the chemistry she shares with the crew’s goofy camera assistant, Ash. However, all of this falls by the wayside when Rachel reappears.  

What should be a happy moment for Bel’s family becomes something far more sinister. As Rachel tells her story of being held captive for sixteen years, Bel begins to catch her mother in lies. Further isolating Bel, Charlie is distancing himself from the family for reasons Bel cannot figure out. Ash and Bel team up to expose Rachel, but in the process, uncover secrets that will destroy the Price family. Meanwhile, Charlie disappears, and Bel must fight for him. She must decide whether to return everything to its previous state or move forward, leaving the past and Charlie behind.  

While the plot twists range from horrifying to outrageous, the thread holding the story together is family. “Family first” is the motto of the Price family, and Bel will have to choose who she trusts and whose secrets she is willing to keep. A witty and tenacious narrator, Bel is at times more investigator than daughter, allowing her to keep a tight hold on her emotions. However, when she allows herself to feel, she proves to be a good cousin and a loyal daughter. The rest of the Price family is often looked at with suspicion through Bel’s lens, but they are bonded by the loss of Rachel, even as her return shakes these bonds. Bel and her father Charlie’s relationship is especially tested as he sways between a dependable father and a coward, unwilling to face the new developments in his family. 

While Bel can be weighed down by her familial relationships, Ash is a lighter presence. Bel finds herself in a tentative romance with him, a relationship that is often overtaken by the reveal of further family secrets. Ash is committed to helping Bel solve the mystery of Rachel’s reappearance, despite Bel’s attempts to keep him on the outside. Even as Bel tries to avoid being vulnerable, Ash brings that side of her out, and the two still find space for a few romantic moments.  

The Reappearance of Rachel Price moves fast, and readers will find themselves unable to put the book down, propelled by twist after twist. Sometimes, the plot moves too fast, leaving less room for the characters and their relationships with each other. While the twists can feel sudden and, at times, random, they mostly just add to the suspense. The making of a documentary brackets the thrilling mystery, and Holly Jackson uses this frame to ask a deeper question: can you choose your family?  

Sexual Content  

  • Ash attaches a microphone to Bel. He has to put the wire down her shirt and attach the mic pack to her back pocket. Bel teases him about it, “Don’t we need to do more conversation if you’re about to touch my ass?” Later in the book, she makes another joke about the situation: “Like when you felt up my top the second time we met… played with my ass too.” 
  • Charlie makes a joke about a story that Sherry, Bel’s aunt, tells during filming. Sherry describes Carter, Bel’s cousin, being named after Carter Dome – where she and Jeff got engaged. Charlie jokes, “I thought you were going to say it was where Carter was, y’know, conceived.” 
  • Bel makes a sex joke in her head about Dave Winter, the police captain. He tells her that the man who held Rachel captive will come to justice. Bel thinks, “Was that Dave’s motto—come to justice? Did he use it in bed with his wife?” 
  • Bel and Ash kiss while they’re investigating Bel’s grandfather’s apartment. “Their eyes met. Then their lips. Ash’s warm hand cupped the back of her neck, a different kind of shiver, one that moved down instead. Bel’s bottom lip slid between his, parting, like this was the easiest thing in the world.” Bel pulls away, slightly regretting the kiss because she was too vulnerable at the time. 
  • Bel and Ash kiss again outside Bel’s home. “Her eyes found his, his lips found hers. Hand through his scruffy hair, pulling him in deeper, making it count. His fingers brushed her neck, moving up, but the glow moved down.” Bel pulls away, knowing that Ash is going to leave soon.  

Violence  

  • Ramsey asks Bel what she thinks happened to her mother. Bel speculates, “She left. Then maybe she was killed by an opportunistic killer—that’s the term the media uses. Or maybe she got lost in the White Mountains and died in the snow, and an animal got to her remains.” 
  • Bel tells Ramsey about an experience that happened when she was eight. Phillip Alves, a crazed fan, kidnapped her to ask her about Rachel’s disappearance. “He didn’t really take me anywhere, and I didn’t disappear for long… he was kind of screaming from the start. Sweating, angry. Tell me what you saw that day.” The police found her quickly, and she wasn’t harmed. 
  • Rachel describes the man who took her sixteen years ago, but she doesn’t identify him. “He dragged me through the snow to his car. Slammed my head against the truck before he pushed me inside. I couldn’t get out. He drove away. No one could hear me screaming.”  
  • Rachel has a scar from being chained up while she was being held captive. “Bel followed her gaze: red blistered skin in a band of raw flesh.” 
  • Phillip Alves breaks into Bel’s house and attacks her when she tries to run from him. “She pulled the door as he grabbed her ponytail, jerking her head back, exposing her neck.” Bel fights back. “Bel’s arm shot up, elbow first. She slammed it into his face, right between those eyes. Heard a crunch.” Phillip pulls her hair again and pins her to the ground. Rachel attacks Phillip with a rake, defending Bel. “Rachel swung but Phillip scrabbled back, the rake catching one of his ankles.” Phillip runs, and Bel is unharmed.  
  • Rachel abducts Charlie, chaining him up in the same container where she was kept. “And Dad was sitting against the far wall… There was a metal cuff around his ankle.” 
  • Rachel reveals that Charlie had planned to get his father to kill Rachel. She tells Bel, “He thought I was dead, because that’s what he told [his father] to do… But your grandpa wasn’t supposed to just take me at two o’clock that day. He was supposed to kill me.” 
  • Rachel had a baby when she was held captive. “I delivered her myself. Thought I was going to die, but there she was, screaming up at me.” Charlie’s father stole the baby from Rachel after two weeks. “I only let him close for one second, and he took her, where I couldn’t reach her.” Charlie was the father, and the baby was taken to Charlie’s brother Jeff, and his family. The baby was Carter, and she was raised as Bel’s cousin.  
  • Charlie and Jeff chase Bel and Rachel. Charlie catches Rachel and restrains her. “Charlie had one arm around Rachel’s neck, forcing her to the ground. She fought back, ankle buckling, scrabbling at his face.” Jeff holds Bel back. “Jeff held on to her, pinning her arms down.” 
  • Charlie tries to kill Rachel with an axe. Carter shoves him off the cliff to save Rachel. “[Charlie] glanced over, just as Carter bounded into him, a double-handed push, shoving him away from Rachel. He stumbled, tripping over Rachel’s arm. Dropped the axe, and tripped on that too, staggering back.”  
  • Charlie grabs Jeff and pulls him over the edge with him. “Charlie disappeared over the edge. He didn’t let go, dragging Jeff with him. One of them screamed, all the way down.” Rachel hides the bodies, and they all lie and say Charlie and Jeff ran away to Canada.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Ash offers Rachel’s mother a beer. Ramsey declines on her behalf, telling him to get her water instead. 
  • Bel catches Carter smoking. “‘You smoking?’ Bel asked… ‘What gave you that idea?’ Carter raised the cigarette to her lips.” Bel takes the cigarette away. “Bel pushed the end between her lips for one deep drag. Then she stubbed it out on the wall.” Bel is eighteen, and Carter is fifteen. Carter states that Bel smokes regularly, but this was Carter’s first time.  
  • Bel asks to drink at a family dinner. “‘Can I drink?’ Bel said, throwing out a bomb herself.” Her dad says no.  

Language  

  • Profanity is used regularly. Profanity includes damn, ass/asshole, shit, fuck, and variations of fuck.  
  • Bel uses inventive curses like “horsefucker” and “masshole.”  

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Abigail Clark 

Heartless Hunter

Two years ago, the Republic was founded when rebels killed the witch queens. Thus ended the tyranny of the Reign of Witches and began the dawn of a “better” world. However, not much has changed since the cruelty of the witches has been replaced by the ruthlessness of the Blood Guard. Now, all witches are condemned and executed. Those who sympathize with or harbor witches also suffer a grim fate.  

Rune Winters is the perfect aristocrat: shallow, fashionable, and arrogant. After turning in her witch grandmother, Rune Winters is the darling of the Republic. But what the Republic doesn’t realize is that this image is an act, put on to protect Rune’s secret identity as a witch vigilante, the Crimson Moth. 

Rune, as the Crimson Moth, is focused on protecting and saving girls from being purged. She was on her way to save her grandmother’s friend, Seraphine, but got there too late. Now to save Seraphine, Rune will need insider intel, and her target is the captain of the Blood Guard and witch hunter, Gideon Sharpe. Gideon has been locked in a deadly game with the Crimson Moth, as every witch he captures is magically spirited away by her. New intel has led him to suspect Rune Winters, and so his current objective is to get close to Rune and figure out her secrets. As the two of them flirt, scheme, and manipulate to reach their goals, they find themselves betrayed by the thing they least expected, their own hearts.  

Rune has never forgotten the day she had to turn in her Nan and channels her pain into saving others. She couldn’t save her grandmother, but she can save the next innocent girl taken by the Blood Guard. Readers will be absolutely captivated by Rune’s strength of will and heart, as she continues to risk herself in order to save just one more girl. As an aristocrat and beloved by the Republic, Rune doesn’t need to endanger herself, but she does. She uses her privilege to help witches and witch sympathizers who are looked down upon by society. Rune’s stubbornness and determination make her likeable and admirable because she refuses to compromise or give up when things become difficult. Rune is a role model for audiences because even as she struggles with conflicting emotions and harrowing circumstances, she always tries to do the right thing. 

Rune is not alone in her quest. She can rely on her friends Alex Sharpe and Verity de Wilde. Alex is the genuine heart of this book with his steadfast loyalty and caring nature. While everyone is consumed by hatred, he alone sees a future where witches and non-witches can live together in peace. When he discovers that Rune is a witch, Alex accepts Rune as she is and continues to love her. While Alex helps Rune because she is his friend, Verity assists Rune because she is just as committed to saving witches. Verity is smart and dedicated to Rune’s cause because of her love for her dead sisters, who were witches.  

Rune even captivates Gideon Sharpe, Alex’s brother, with whom she falls in love. Gideon is a tortured soul and absolutely committed to the cause of hunting witches. He thinks that witches are all ultimately evil, but this belief comes from a place of hurt and trauma. His beliefs are ultimately tested when he starts to fall for Rune. Like his brother, Gideon is loyal to a fault and compassionate. He cares about everyone so much that he will do whatever it takes to protect them from the suffering he endured. Readers will find Rune and Gideon’s romance hopeful, but heartbreaking, as they find acceptance in each other for their scars, but must separate because of their competing allegiances. 

Ciccarelli creates an incredibly suspenseful story where one wrong move will cause Rune’s doom. The pace is perfectly timed as the buildup of Rune and Gideon’s romance is believable and heart-wrenching. Ciccarelli plays with her audience as Rune and Gideon’s burgeoning feelings give readers hope, only for it to be ripped away by lies, secrets, and brutal circumstances. This is a great first half of Ciccarelli’s duology where emotions are heightened to a fever pitch and the stakes seem insurmountable. Heartless Hunter’s characters are flawed and therefore relatable, just like their rich and deeply divided world.  

The characters’ differences lead to conflict, which also sets up unity that will be explored further in the next book, Rebel Witch. 

The novel reaches its climactic peak through a series of devastating revelations and sacrifices that fundamentally alter the story’s trajectory. The witch queen Cressida’s unexpected survival delivers a shocking twist, while Alex’s ultimate sacrifice to save Gideon casts a shadow of despair over the conclusion and simultaneously lays crucial groundwork for future installments. The story’s most painful element emerges in the final schism between Rune and Gideon, whose relationship fractures under the weight of competing loyalties and unresolved emotions. Despite sharing the fundamental desire to protect others, their divergent approaches—shaped by personal trauma and mistrust—create an irreparable rift that leaves readers with a sense of tragic inevitability rather than resolution.  

Sexual Content  

  • While in Rune’s room, she flirts with Gideon. When things get heated and they are about to kiss, Rune suddenly spills her wine. “He’s going to kiss me, she realized. And the scariest thing was, Rune wanted him to… in this moment, she wanted to know how his mouth would feel against hers… if he’d give in to that ravenous hunger, taking his fill of her.” 
  • Gideon measures Rune for a dress he’s going to make her, so Rune undresses. “Rune was already undressing. His gaze dropped to her lace bralette and remained there for a beat, before quickly shooting back to her face, his cheeks burning with color.” 
  • Gideon says he’s going to start measuring at the top and move down, but he and Rune immediately think of a sexual innuendo. “She knew what he meant, but the way he said it made her imagine him working his way down her in a… less vertical way. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. Gideon froze, opened his mouth to clarify what he meant, and coughed instead.” 
  • Gideon is still measuring Rune, but gets distracted. “From here, he had a perfect view of the low scoop of her bralette, the delicate lace leaving little to the imagination. He had just measured her bust, so why it suddenly mattered, he wasn’t sure. He kept his gaze on the line of her throat instead.” 
  • When Gideon worked for the witch queen Cressida, he would “fulfill her [sexual] needs.” He would be “punished… for neglecting [his] duties.” 
  • Gideon thinks about when he and Cressida “traded kisses in empty palace rooms, hands wandering over each other.” 
  • Gideon tells Rune how Cressida blackmailed him into sleeping with her. “When I told Cressida we were done, that I wanted nothing more to do with her, she warned that if I refused her advances my little sister would suffer my mother’s fate.” 
  • Gideon discusses the abuse he suffered. “Sometimes, it felt like Cressida preferred Gideon unwilling. Like it brought her more pleasure to force him.” 
  • Rune and Gideon go skinny-dipping in the ocean. “She pulled in a sharp breath, her blood running a little hotter at the sight of his muscled shoulders and arms. She coiled her fingers into her palms, pressing the nails into the skin, trying to stop herself from tracing him with her eyes: the rigid lines of his collarbones, abdomen, hips.” 
  • Gideon gets fully undressed before going in the ocean, and “Rune wanted to drop her hands and look at him. Desperately…” But she does not. 
  • Rune and Gideon are swimming when she thinks, “What would it feel like to have his body flush against hers? It was perverse, the way she wanted to find out.” 
  • Rune follows her impulses and kisses Gideon, “dragging her fingers through his hair and pulling his mouth down to hers.” 
  • Gideon is not immune to her charms, as he also wants Rune. “When her teeth grazed his bottom lip, a wicked heat surged through him, and he reached for her waist. So soft. He wanted to sink into her softness. To bury himself in her.” 
  • Gideon and Rune continue to make out on land. “He moved lower, pressing his lips to a more sensitive place on her neck… Gideon moved lower still, to the base of her throat… When his teeth grazed her collarbone, Rune inhaled sharply, fisting her hands… She pushed her hands into his hair, cradling his head.” They eventually stop without going further. 
  • One of Rune’s rejected suitors insults her, saying, “If the rumors are true, she’s as loose as a whore.”  
  • After Gideon’s brush with death, Rune goes to see if he’s okay. They profess their love for each other and have sex. “He wanted her, and she clearly wanted him… The breath shuddered out of him. His hands tightened on her thighs, pulling her closer… It made the warm ache between her legs sharpen and grow… Gideon continued, moving against her. Deeper, harder, insistent.” This scene lasts for eight pages. 
  • After Gideon betrays Rune, she seeks out Alex. He asks her to marry him because he has always loved her. “When his kisses turned hungry, she leaned in, open to the possibility of him. He backed her toward the desk and lifted her onto it. When he stepped between her legs, pulling her flush against him…” They stop when Rune accepts his proposal.  

Violence  

  • The Red Peace was born after witches were massacred: “Two years had passed since these streets ran with the blood of witches and the Republic of the Red Peace was born.” This event began Rune’s quest to save persecuted witches.  
  • The government marks the foreheads of children who are “descendants of witch sympathizers.” 
  • A dangerous witch has been killing guards for months. “Three nights ago, another mutilated body had been found dragged under a bridge. Chest ripped open. Blood drained out.” 
  • Gideon is talking with his colleague about the young witches he captured and put in jail. “He could picture them huddled behind the bars of the cell he’d locked them in: wide-eyed and trembling as they clung to each other.” 
  • In order to save her life, Rune had to turn in her witch grandmother to be purged. “Blood Guard officer smashed his pistol into [her grandmother’s] face… they stripped the old woman down, found her scars, and dragged her off to be executed.” 
  • Gideon became a hero of the Republic and a highly respected officer because “[he] risked his life leading revolutionaries into the palace and single-handedly killing two witch queens.” 
  • Rune falls into a trap set by Gideon and fights to escape. She stabs Gideon. “With the weight of him gone, Rune was free to reach for the knife strapped to her thigh… Rune drew the knife from its sheath and stabbed hard, not caring where the blade went in, so long as it went in deep.” Gideon is slightly injured as he rushes to attend a ball after this fight. 
  • Rune eventually escapes but is shot at and receives a minor injury. “A third shot rang out. This time, Rune felt the sharp sting of a bullet as it sliced her forearm. Warm, sticky blood seeped out.” 
  • Gideon meets the leader of the new Republic in a boxing ring, where “Gideon was getting the shit kicked out of him nightly. Those matches always ended the same way: with Gideon hauling his bruised body from the floor of the ring, dragging himself to a table.” 
  • Gideon’s parents were designers employed by the three witch queens. The two eldest cast magic on Gideon’s mother and drove her mad. “His mother accused them of worse things, too: her husband, of being unfaithful to her; Tessa, of poisoning her; Gideon, of abusing Tessa… And always, he could smell it on her: the coppery scent of a witch’s spells.” 
  • While Gideon is telling Rune about his past, he remembers the worst of what the witch queens did. “He walked in on [Cressida] and her sisters standing over a body in a pool of blood.” It is implied that Cressida and the other queens killed this person and collected the blood for magic. 
  • Cressida cast a spell on Gideon’s little sister, Tessa, to infect her with a disease. Then she barred people from treating her. “Tessa wept and begged from the other side, delirious with fever, calling for their mother. He screamed at Cressida, who only smirked. So he lunged and pinned her down. He had his hands around her throat, prepared to stop squeezing only when she went limp beneath him, but the guards dragged him off and chained him to the floor of a cell.” 
  • Gideon explains that his parents committed suicide. “My mother drowned herself a day [after Tessa died]. My father hung himself a few days after that.” 
  • Cressida branded Gideon with her crest. “He recalled the night she branded him. She’d pinned him to the wall with a spell so he’d be helpless to stop her from searing his flesh. He remembered his body spasming beneath the glowing iron, every muscle tightening at the lightning-hot pain.” 
  • In retaliation, Gideon helped the new ruler of the Republic and “the other rebels take the palace, shooting [Cressida’s sister witch queens] in their beds.” Gideon killed those two witch queens, but he did not kill Cressida because Alex “had found and dealt with her so Gideon didn’t have to.” 
  • Rune remembers when her Nan was taken and executed. “The chains raised her grandmother skyward, by the ankles. There she dangled, upside down… One of the Blood Guard stepped forward with a knife and sliced her grandmother’s throat. The blood splattered and gushed. Nan choked, gasping for a breath she couldn’t take, her body writhing like a worm on a hook.” 
  • Verity tells Rune about her dead witch sisters, who their stepfather abused. “He would lock them up for days. Beat their bare backs with belts. Force them to kneel for hours on broken glass.” 
  • Gideon and his officers find bodies with their blood drained, and this time, it’s soldiers in his squad. “[Gideon’s] gaze descending to the Blood Guard’s neck, which was hacked open like a second gaping mouth. White bone shone in the mess of torn skin, tendons, and congealed blood. James’s spine appeared to be the only thing keeping his head attached to his body.” 
  • Alex found his brother getting beaten up every night in the boxing ring. Cressida was also abusing him. “That the young man getting beaten in the ring was Gideon. His face was so bruised and bloody, I didn’t recognize him.” 
  • Gideon asks Alex if Cressida is still alive, but Alex assures him, “I shot her three times. ” 
  • Alex tells Rune the truth about what happened when he confronted Cressida. “She woke to the barrel of my pistol pressed against her head.” Alex threatens Cressida, but ultimately spares her. 
  • Cressida sets a trap for Gideon and his guards. “But before he could grab her arm and pull her back into the room, a loud BOOM! shook the walls and floors. The red-hot force of an explosion threw him backward, slamming his body into solid brick.” Gideon is only slightly injured, and some others go to the hospital for injuries. 
  • Cressida sets a second blast at the guard headquarters. “Twenty-seven are confirmed dead and many more are injured.” 
  • Rune is captured and learns that Cressida “killed Verity and stole her identity.” 
  • In a bid to save Rune and the other witches from execution, Cressida finally reveals who she is.  She then kills a bystander to get blood for her magic. “As her victim screamed and fought, trying to get away, Cressida bared the girl’s pale throat to her knife’s crescent edge, and slit it.” 
  • Cressida shoots and kills the leader of the Republic. “Silence bled through the square as the Commander’s body tipped slowly forward, collapsing in a heap. His eyes were blank as they stared at Gideon.” Cressida then aims for Gideon, but Alex is killed instead. “When the gun went off, [Alex] stepped in front of it.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When Rune is flirting with Gideon and trying to get information, she orders some wine. “Lifting the decanter, she poured wine into both cups.” 
  • After his parents and sister died, Gideon started drinking heavily. “He’d started drinking after that. Every day. Sometimes, as soon as waking up.” Alcohol was the only thing that would numb his pain.   
  • While being abused, Gideon went to get beaten up at a boxing ring. “Like he came there every night, drunk or high, and let them beat him half to death. Like he thought he deserved it.” 
  • Alex helped Gideon as best he could. “After the revolution, it was Alex who stayed by Gideon for weeks, helping him fight off his laudanum addiction. Alex didn’t leave Gideon’s side until he no longer shook with the cravings.” 

Language  

  • Language is used rarely. Language includes fuck, shit, hell, and whore. 

Supernatural  

  • The world of Heartless Hunter involves witches who are able to cast magic spells by using their blood and the blood of others. The blood is used to write magic symbols and activate the magic. The scars made from drawing blood turn silver. “Mirage Spells are simple illusions held for short periods that require little blood. The fresher the blood, the stronger the magic, and the easier casting will be.” 
  • A witch can’t take blood without consent. “Blood must be taken with consent or given freely, as blood taken from an unwilling person will corrupt a witch and their magic… if a witch took someone’s blood against their will, the spell using that blood would corrupt the witch. She would crave the power it gave her, and resort to more coercive bloodletting, often killing her sources.” 
  • Rune casts her signature magic spell, Ghost Walker, to conceal herself. This magic is made possible through symbols written in blood. “Summoned into being by the magic in Rune’s blood and held together by the symbols drawn on her wrist, binding the spell to her.” 
  • Rune describes how she collects blood for her magic without cutting herself. “Rune had developed her blood storage system shortly after learning she was a witch… It was how Rune kept her body free of casting scars: by collecting her blood at every monthly cycle.” 
  • Witches are not magical at birth, but come into their power at a certain age. “It was the initial sign of a witch: at the onset of your first bleeding, you didn’t bleed red, but black.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • The people of this world believe in seven “Ancients.” These beings created the world and gifted magic to the people. “And each entry was named after one of the seven Ancients. Mercy, Liberty, Wisdom, Justice, Amity, Patience, Fortitude.” 

That’s Not My Name

A girl wakes up in a ditch on the side of the road, injured, with no memory of how she got there or of who she is. After being picked up by a police officer, she is eventually reunited with her dad, Wayne Boone, who tells her that her name is Mary Boone and that she was involved in a car accident. However, as Mary begins to experience flashes of memory, she begins to suspect that Wayne’s story might not be entirely truthful, which leads to another, more important question: If she is not Mary Boone, then who is she?  

At the same time, in a nearby small town in Washington, Andrew “Drew” Carter-Diaz is under suspicion for the murder of his girlfriend, Lola Scott, who went missing five weeks ago. He fights to clear his name and locate his missing girlfriend. At the same time, he faces an internal battle, consumed by guilt. He knows something happened on the night of the disappearance—something he’s keeping from the police.  

Mary struggles to adjust to her life after her accident. With no memory of who she is and only Wayne’s word to go off of, she fights to remember something, anything, about her life before her accident. As her memory begins to return in flashes, she realizes that Wayne isn’t being entirely truthful about her identity. As Wayne becomes progressively more controlling, Mary begins to doubt his story and wonder if he might be up to something nefarious. After catching him in multiple lies, she decides that she can’t trust him and must figure out a way to escape him.  

Drew is shut out by the entire town except for his dad and his cousin, Max. Everyone believes that he is responsible for the disappearance and presumed death of his girlfriend, Lola. Drew fights to prove his innocence, and he spends his time creating missing person flyers to post around town. With the sheriff constantly on his back, every one of Drew’s moves seems suspicious. Additionally, Drew is keeping a secret about that night: he had broken up with Lola, which prompted her to get out of his car and walk two miles into town, during which she disappeared. After receiving a tip of a possible Lola sighting, Drew, Max, and their friend Autumn decide to take the investigation into their own hands and prove Drew’s innocence once and for all.  

That’s Not My Name is a well-written thriller novel that alternates points of view between Mary and Drew, providing readers with both sides of the story and allowing them to piece together the details to solve the mystery. This alternating perspective adds to the overall suspense and keeps readers hooked as they are left on small cliffhangers between chapters. Mary’s chapters are exciting and riveting as readers discover things along with her. At the same time, both Drew’s and Mary’s sections are intense and emotional in a way that is realistic and believable, given their situations. 

The book builds an engaging, fast-paced mystery that will keep readers interested and invested in both characters’ stories, keeping them on the edge of their seats until the very end. The reveal includes a shocking twist that is emotional and action-packed, delivering a strong conclusion that readers will enjoy. 

That’s Not My Name revolves around trusting yourself and fighting for what you believe is right. Even though Drew faces animosity and accusations from everyone in town, he doesn’t let that stop his search for his girlfriend. Similarly, even though Mary is being fed details about her life from Wayne, she learns to trust herself and the small pieces of memory that have returned to her, giving her the courage to fight for her life and safety. While the characters often break the rules set by authority figures, they gain confidence in themselves and learn to fight for what is right. 

Sexual Content  

  • When a police officer finds Mary, he suggests that she should get “checked out by a doctor” and “get a rape kit.” 

Violence  

  • When searching for Lola, Drew, Autumn, and Max assume that a serial killer has kidnapped her. Max threatens to “punch Ted Bundy” multiple times during their discussions about her disappearance.  
  • While debating whether to run away, Mary spots a coyote holding part of a man’s corpse. She finds the remains of a body. “Bite marks from animal teeth on the side of a partially dirt-covered face. Blood. Ripped skin. Open milky eyes. Giant gaping wounds on a mutilated neck.” Mary realizes that Wayne has killed this man, as he was last seen speaking to him outside their cabin.  
  • Wayne chases Mary, who is attempting to run away. “Mary smashes a rock into his temple, driving his whole head to the side. He drops to his right knee, his eyes unfocused as a river of blood runs down his cheek.” Although this deters him for a few seconds, he is able to get up and grab her as his injuries are not grave. 
  • Before Mary can scream for help, Wayne catches up to her. “A hand wraps around [her] throat from behind. Dots pepper [her] vision until they wipe [her] out completely.” He chains her up in a basement, and when she wakes up, she notices bruising on her neck. 
  • After capturing Mary again, Wayne punishes her by “[backhanding her] so hard [she] falls off the cot and onto the floor.” 
  • Drew finds Mary chained in the basement of the cabin and attempts to save her. Wayne catches them, and a fight occurs. Wayne attacks Drew, and they “roll around and hit each other.” The two struggle and land a few more punches, during which Wayne punches Drew in the face. The fight scene spans five pages and results in serious injuries for both of them.
  • As Mary attempts to free herself from her restraints, she “[hears] a crack like two rocks slamming together, and Drew reels back, hand going to his nose as blood rushes from it.” As Wayne strangles Drew, Mary “[picks] up the cot and slams it into Wayne’s back… again and again.” She then picks up some clippers and “[slams] the clippers into the back of Wayne’s neck.”  
  • Wayne manages to get up and, once again, attacks Drew. Wayne “stomps on him with the heel of his boot.” As Drew lies on the ground, Wayne and Mary struggle. She “[grabs] the little metal shovel and [drives] it straight into his leg.” Then she grabs a fire poker, “[wielding] the fire poker like a bat… [powering] it down and catching him in the forearm… the face… then [she kicks] him down the stairs.” Wayne dies.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Wayne mentions Mary misbehaving, mentioning “the sneaking out. The drinking. The boys.”   

Language  

  • Profanity is used occasionally. Profanity includes fuck, shit, asshole, and whore.  

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Gabie Rivas 

Mirage

All eighteen-year-old Amani has ever dreamed of is her coming-of-age ceremony. She loves her community and her home, even though she lives on the planet Andala’s more impoverished moon, Cadiz. Growing up, Amani’s family’s finances never worried her. She always focused on the positives: her family’s two farms, plenty of room to run wild, and her distance from the Andalan capital, Walili. Living on Cadiz, she can fully immerse herself in her favorite forbidden hobby: poetry. Ever since the Vathek Empire appeared in Andalan skies twenty years prior, the Empire’s been trying to erase their culture. The Vathek Empire only cares about important nobles and revolutionary leaders. No one worries about her family living on the edge of the world. Or at least, that’s what Amani believes. Then, Imperial soldiers appear at her coming-of-age ceremony and kidnap her.  

Trying to be brave despite her fear, Amani proves herself to be a strong and fierce protagonist with relatable flaws. She is taken to the Ziyaana, the Vathek palace in Walili, and left at the feet of the princess, whom she bears a strong resemblance to. The half-Vathek, half-Andalan princess, Maram, is on the cusp of receiving her inheritance, the Vathek Empire. However, the entire Andalan population despises Maram due to her cruelty. Therefore, Maram requires a body-double—and that is Amani.  

Imprisoned by the Empire, Amani is forced to contend with manipulative courtiers, Maram’s handsome though mysterious fiancé, Idris, and a stubborn underground rebellion that waits for her allegiance. Amani isn’t sure where to turn or whom she can trust. She doesn’t even know if she can trust Idris, for whom she is developing feelings. She only wants one thing: to go home. The longer she stays, the more danger she is in, as any wrong step would condemn her to death. However, she also realizes how much power this position gives her and that no empire can last forever, especially one as spread thin as the Vatheks.    

Amani is an independent and clever character who grows when challenged, leading by example and standing firm in her moral principles. The light romance between her and Idris doesn’t distract her from her goals. She exhibits a capacity for kindness and acceptance in both her budding love for Idris and for the family and friends she cultivates and learns to trust along the way. Overall, by following Amani’s example, the other characters grow and learn from their mistakes.  

Daud crafts powerful characters with unique personalities. Unfortunately, their development sometimes feels too rushed and is not as thoroughly explored as it could be. The Emperor, Mathis, is flat, and his daughter, Maram, goes from overly cruel and abusive to kind and sincere too quickly. While this doesn’t happen with Amani, it does detract from the overall story, which is very creative and complex in a fun way.  

The story is easy to follow, though there are occasionally words in Arabic that aren’t explained, but they’re simple to deduce from context clues. On the whole, Mirage boasts plenty of interesting political intrigue, inspiring female characters, and a wonderful science fiction atmosphere, all while incorporating elements of Middle Eastern and North African culture.  

Readers who enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone, Cinder, and Iron Widow will love the flair of the court drama, the otherworldly technology, and the fierce rebellion of a teenage girl who finds her voice in Mirage. The book is filled with people trying to find their place in the world, even when their culture, traditions, and religion are being stolen from them. Mirage tells a beautiful story with an uplifting message: true leadership potential exists in everyone, regardless of their economic background, family lineage, or personal doubts—they simply need to find the courage to advocate for themselves first. 

Sexual Content  

  • Amani and Maram’s fiancé, Idris, fall in love. Then, he discovers she is not Maram. Soon after he tricks Amani into revealing herself, they have a deep, emotional conversation and go swimming together. While in the water, “[Idris’s] hands tangled in the wet mass of [Amani’s] hair. [She] felt as though [her] whole body was waiting for his kiss. [Her] fingers tightened in his and [she] rose up on her toes to meet him. . . He drew [Amani] closer until the lines of [their] bodies were pressed against one another.” It ends after the kiss.  
  • After an argument with Maram, Idris finds Amani, and they play a game together. At the end of it, “[Idris] leaned forward and kissed [Amani].” They kiss, but they break away quickly, going to sleep individually.  
  • While visiting his family, Idris gifts Amani his parents’ old poetry book. It contains a lot of romantic poetry, including the lines, “I urge you to come on feet faster than the wind, /Come and rise over my breast and take root in me and plough me. /And no matter what befalls you while we’re entwined, / Don’t let me go until you’ve flushed me thrice.” Amani blushes from reading it and sets it down. They talk a little more, and Idris kisses her goodnight. 
  • After an assassination attempt on Amani, Idris finds her, worried about her. “[Amani’s] heart gave a painful thud as he leaned down and kissed [her]” to calm her down. He asks her to run away with him, and she declines, so he leaves.  

Violence  

  • When Amani is abducted by the Imperial droids and taken from her coming-of-age ceremony, the robots attack her friend, Khadija, and her brother, Husnain. “There was no sound as the phaser went off, only the sudden weakening of Khadjia’s grip around my hand. Her fingers slipped from mine, and her body fell forward. Her knees hit the ground, and then she fell sideways, eyes open in shock. Red bloomed on her shoulder like a flower, staining the green lines crisscrossing her arms.” As Husnain protests Amani being taken, he is “[thrown] back nearly halfway across the courtyard. He landed against the fountain with a bloodcurdling sound, then fell to the floor, unmoving.” Neither of them dies from their wounds.   
  • As Amani meets Maram, she talks back to her, angry about being taken from her family. In response, Maram “move[s] quickly, like a viper, and backhand[s] [Amani] with her ringed hand. Pain was quick and hot; it radiated over [Amani’s] cheekbone and down [her] jaw.”  
  • After the slap, Amani continues to talk back to Maram. Maram calls for her pet bird and orders it to attack Amani. “The [bird] was silent as its claws slammed and then dug in [Amani’s] shoulders. They clenched, digging into flesh and bone, before it lifted [Amani] off [her] feet and dragged [her] back several feet.” The bird releases her, and Amani is dismissed from Maram’s presence. She heals quickly from the shoulder wounds. 
  • Maram’s fiancé, Idris, is an Andalan hostage, forced to be engaged to Maram as part of a peace treaty. When Amani asks her servant, Tala, about his history, she discovers that he was forcibly taken from his family. Tala says, “There was no trial, no warning. A year passed. And then one night, Vathek forces stormed the strongholds of all the dissident families, pulled them from their beds, and shot them. Idris was allowed to live.” This is the extent of the violence described in terms of the Vathek takeover of Andala.  
  • As Amani poses as Maram in a council meeting, the emperor, Mathis, suggests that they “bomb the coastal cities” to quiet the rebellion. They just discuss it during the meeting, but they don’t take action. 
  • During Maram’s coronation as the official Imperial Heir, Amani is again posing as Maram when there is an assassination attempt against her. “One of the [guards] collapsed in front of [Amani]. [She] stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending, and watched a red stain spread across his chest.” The assassin approaches Amani, but she reveals herself as Maram’s body-double, and he pauses. The guards apprehend the assassin and handcuff him with no further violence. It is unclear if the shot member of the guard died or not.  
  • When Maram and the emperor’s steward discover that Amani knew about the assassination before it happened, they punish her by showing her a live feed of her family being attacked. “One of the [guards] moved on screen, and slammed the butt of his gun against the back of her head. [Amani’s] mother was silent, though her face contorted into a grimace.” Nobody is fatally injured. After Amani begs, the steward shuts the live feed off, leaving Amani crying on the floor.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • The Andalans and people on Cadiz have their own monotheistic religion. They worship the god, Dihya, and the prophetess, a Jesus-like figure, Massinia. Before her secular coming-of-age ceremony, Amani thinks about how “when Dihya wanted to give you a sign He slipped a feather into your hand [from a bird]. When He wanted to command you to a calling, to take action, He sent the bird itself. It was a holy and high calling.” At the end of the novel, Amani receives one of these birds, a sign she believes to be a reminder to stay brave. 
  • Before her coming-of-age ceremony, Amani explains that “Massinia was the prophetess of our religion and though we all loved her, I loved her above all other things in our faith.” 
  • Sent in Maram’s place to visit her grandmother’s palace, Amani visits the catacombs under the building, finding a religious statue. Amani “was transfixed by the image of [Massinia] on a horse, her black robes whipping in an unseen wind.” Amani comes across similar statues of Massinia during her travels and duties as Maram’s body-double. 

Heiress Among Thieves

Olivia Owens is back—and this time she’s going international. After successfully stealing millions from her rich father, Dash Owens, Olivia is invited to her grandmother, Leonie Owens’s, castle in Switzerland for Leonie’s 70th birthday. It will be a big reunion for the Owens family. Olivia accepts the invitation, but not because she wants to meet her extended family. Instead, she’s interested in Leonie’s legendary fortune locked away in the castle dungeon. 

Olivia, alongside original crew members Tom, Deonte, and Kevin, and newbies including Tom’s sister Grace and Olivia’s boyfriend Jackson, head overseas for Christmas break, hoping to pull off another robbery of the Owens family. But the Owens family has secrets, and Olivia’s plans are quickly thrown off the rails by conniving family members with their own agendas. 

Olivia isn’t the only one planning to steal Leonie’s fortune—most family members are there to get a piece, especially after Leonie reveals she’s dying and won’t be giving her riches to anyone. And competition isn’t the only issue. Olivia’s crew members struggle to get along, and Olivia struggles with her identity as an Owens. Will she turn out just like the rest of her selfish, wealth-obsessed family? Or can she carve her own path?  

Unexpected appearances of people from Olivia’s past throw a wrench in her plans, as does Leonie’s hidden agenda. All the while, a shadow organization called The Knives is intruding on the Owens family’s business. Suddenly, the stakes of Olivia’s heist go from dangerous to deadly, and it’s up to Olivia to protect her crew and steal Leonie’s fortune. The clock is ticking—literally—as the heist begins, as the clock counts to midnight on New Year’s Eve. Can the crew pull off this heist and avoid The Knives? Or will they be caught. . . or worse? 

Olivia Owens is back, but she’s not better. She’s actually worse, suffering from the same flaws as the first book, but now she’s also obnoxious. She’s obsessed with living large and having couture items, making her even less relatable than ever. Plus, her wealthy status muddies her motives, which are unclear to begin with. The first book, Heiress Takes All, made sense because Olivia wanted revenge on her dad and money to help herself and her mom. In Heiress Among Thieves, Olivia enjoys stealing just because she can. Plus, Olivia critiques her family for being insanely rich while aiming to become exactly that by stealing Leonie’s fortune. She is blind to her own motives. Olivia’s selfish desires for money and control overshadow and even counteract her intended character growth. She claims she doesn’t want to be like her family, but she doesn’t do enough to prove herself different from the other Owens. 

The supporting characters are no doubt the highlight of the book. This is especially true of crewmember Tom Pham, who is honest about who he is and his moral ambiguity. As a result, he challenges Olivia. Leonie spices up the book with her no-nonsense attitude and calculated manipulativeness, adding an entertaining element of ice-cold surprise. However, Heiress Among Thieves struggles to balance a large roster of characters. Olivia’s other crewmembers, while enjoyable, are hardly relevant, appearing only to conveniently fix a plot problem. Olivia’s many family members are hard to keep track of, and only one cousin is particularly provoking. Olivia’s boyfriend, Jackson, also contributes to the imbalance, as he is prioritized over other characters. He brings good tension and is supposed to be the reassuring boyfriend who guides Olivia away from the darkness. However, his efforts to help Olivia ultimately make her look bad, leading to an ending that seems more about shock value than meaningful character development.  

The castle setting, with the vault located in the dungeon, is a great location that is utilized well to create dramatic, intriguing, and glitzy scenarios for Olivia and her crew to operate in. However, Heiress Among Thieves lacks its predecessor’s charm, instead opting for a much darker tone. The sheer number of twists is overwhelming, to the point that it’s actually annoying—it feels like the authors couldn’t make up their minds while writing the book. Some twists are genuinely engaging, but they ultimately fail to matter because subsequent twists render them moot. Additionally, the book doesn’t do that much heisting at all. The con drags on too long, making the heist seem like a subplot while the characters spend time together and fall in love in Europe. It’s not that non-heist scenes aren’t entertaining—many are, as the absurdity of the Owens family drama is amusing—but this results in a loss of focus and direction. That said, the two heist scenes that are present are wonderfully wild and suspenseful, bringing back the first book’s fun, if only for a few chapters.  

In the end, Heiress Among Thieves attempts too much and is unable to balance the characters, twists, and subplots. In addition, the book fails to portray characters who act their age. Olivia remains a frustratingly unrelatable main character because she shows no significant character growth. The authors introduce important themes, such as reconciliation and forgiveness, friendship versus family, and the moral issues of money, but then leave them hanging. The refusal to make significant character progress or bring about any kind of impactful change makes it seem like the events of this book are merely designed to set up a third book. The entertaining array of side characters, small but excellent heist scenes, and striking setting don’t have enough page time to counteract an insufferable main character and a slow, unfocused, and, at times, counterintuitive plot. Readers looking for an entertaining heist story should skip the Heiress Heists Series and instead read the Heist Society Series by Ally Carter and the Thieves’ Gambit Series by Kayvion Lewis.  

Sexual Content  

  • On the train to Olivia’s family reunion, Olivia and Jackson enjoy themselves one last time before they have to begin the heist plan. “I return to Jackson, finally kissing him deeply. He trembles beneath me—not, I know, just from our proximity.” 
  • Olivia and Jackson put on a clumsy teenagers-in-love ruse to create a distraction, which is also a pleasure. “Jackson presses his kiss to my smile, and his hand slides into my back pocket. Laughing, we stumble down the center aisle.” This scene is described over two pages. 
  • During her last heist, Olivia kissed crewmember Tom. Olivia says, “Yes I made out with Tom—only for revenge on Jackson. It wasn’t real, even if it was hot.” 
  • Olivia and Jackson kiss. “[Jackson] softens to my touch. He kisses me back, sinking into it as he always does. Like he can’t get close enough. Like he wants me 100%. When we part, he keeps my fingers entwined with his.” This scene is described over one page. 
  • Jackson verbally entices Olivia with innuendos, and Olivia, as a result, becomes flushed. “‘I’ll show you which of your parts intimidate me if you sneak into my room tonight,’ he whispers slyly into my ear. Heat rushes through me, sweeping the mountainous cold from my skin.” 
  • During a game of truth or dare, someone dares Tom to kiss Olivia in front of Jackson, making Jackson, Tom, and Olivia uncomfortable. Tom ultimately refuses. “‘Kiss her,’ Mia says. Suffocating silence descends over the room. Jackson stiffens.” 
  • Jackson and Olivia have a flirtatious moment in the hallway before going to a meeting with their heist crew. They get close, but they don’t kiss. “[Jackson] hems me in, pressing me flat to the wall with deliberate urgency. . . his hand finds the curve of my hip.” 
  • Olivia gets into an argument with her crew, including Jackson. She finds him afterwards, where they make up, intensely making out while having a conversation. “I kiss him as if I can hold off heartbreak. Ferociously, without reservation. . . He kisses back as if it’s everything he can do to keep me here. I swallow the sounds he makes, his panting, his moaning.” This scene is described over four pages. 
  • When Olivia returns from an excursion to Norway, she has a dramatic romantic reunion with Jackson, kissing and embracing him in front of her family. “Jackson grins into my kiss. It’s wonderful. . . my stomach swooping like during our flight’s ascent into the clouds, while Jackson’s warm scent surrounds me. Outside the frozen castle, I melt into him.” This scene lasts two pages. 
  • Oliva accidentally interrupts crewmembers Abigail and Deonte sharing a kiss. “I walk in on Abigail locked in a passionate kiss with Deonte. His hands are in her hair. Her shirt is rumpled.” This scene lasts two pages.
  • Jackson brings roses to Olivia’s room, leading to a passionate make-out session and implied sex. “With the warm memory of his kiss still fresh on my lips, the pounding in my heart changes. Fear into desire. I imagine his hands on me, his kiss on my neck—his caress obliterating every danger and doubt. . . ‘No,’ I say. ‘Stay.’” This scene lasts six pages. 
  • Olivia apologizes for breaking up with Jackson with a desperate kiss. “I fall to my knees in front of him…I kiss him, pressing my lips to his with the vault of my heart wide open.”

Violence  

  • Olivia discovers that her grandfather, Andrew Owens, didn’t die of natural causes but was murdered. Figuring out who killed her grandfather and avenging him becomes one of her motivations, especially once she realizes her extended family thinks her dad, Dash, did it.  
  • Ernest Hensson, Olivia’s distant relative, is pushed off a ski lift. “There’s a figure up the mountain, splayed out in the snow. His angles don’t work, limbs warped wrong. He isn’t moving.” He is unresponsive for much of the book, but he does survive. 
  • When Olivia’s cousin Mia and her heist crew are trying to break into the vault, they forcefully restrain Olivia and her crew. In an effort to escape, both Tom and Jackson throw punches against their captors. This turns into a fight with blood. “[Olivia] see[s] the man throw a punch, his fist hammering into Jackson’s face. Blood sprays onto Mia’s white sweater. Jackson goes down hard, pummeled under this man’s blows.” The violence happens in spurts across thirteen pages, and Jackson sustains bruises on his face.  
  • Mia’s men try to break their way into the vault, causing a huge explosion in part of the castle with Mia still inside. Olivia rushes “to the stretcher, where I find Mia. Her sweater is no longer white. There’s blood smeared with soot on her forehead, bruising already purpling her neck. But she’s conscious. Awake. Alive.” Everyone comes out alive, but Mia and one of her men are very hurt. Mia has a severe concussion. This scene lasts three pages. 
  • When Olivia is trying to negotiate her way into the vault with Leonie, Dash gets injured and shows up bloodied, warning that danger is coming. “Then a thud. Powerful. Hefty. He grunts, half gasps. Like he’s been hit. . . Dash crashes into the dungeon, his face bloody.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Alcohol is served at Leonie’s parties and dinners, and is sometimes consumed by the underage main characters. 
  • In a game of truth or dare, Mia dares Jackson to drink an expensive bottle of wine. Jackson refuses, saying, “I don’t drink.” Olivia does the dare on Jackson’s behalf. “While everyone watches, I finish off the potent red, then wipe my lips.” 
  • Older members of Olivia’s family drink and smoke while she’s in the room. Olivia suffers “through my family smoking cigars and drinking brandy for the next hour.” 
  • Olivia compares Dash’s concern for her engaging in this heist to being “hungover after a sleepover.” 
  • Kevin grabs a glass of champagne to celebrate New Year’s Eve and successfully executes his part of the heist. Tom takes the drink away and then, “Tom hands him back his champagne, and Kevin takes a gleeful sip.” Kevin then “downs his glass.” 

Language  

  • Profanity is used sometimes. Language includes hell, damn, shit, and fuck. 
  • Variations of “God” are rarely used as exclamations.

Supernatural  

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Sarah Leberknight 

The Shadow Wand

Elloren Gardner is the spitting image of her grandmother, with the power to match. She is the Black Witch, destroyer of worlds and subject of prophecies. Her friends have fled to the East. She has been married without consent to Lukas Grey, a man who loves her but has ambiguous allegiances. Furthermore, she is the weapon Gardneria has been searching for across the continent.  

Elloren’s country, Gardneria, and the rest of the continent are fully in the clutches of a fascist and theocratic government. To defeat her enemies, Elloren trains her magic and her fighting skills under their noses. At least, that was the plan. Soon after she arrives in the desert to train with the world’s greatest sorceresses, they quickly turn on her, convinced that she will bring about the devastation predicted by the prophecy of the Black Witch. In the hopes of joining her friends, Elloren returns to Gardneria and to her mysterious husband, Lukas.  

Elloren is a hopeful, fierce protagonist, dead set on saving the world—no matter what the rest of the world thinks of her. This turns out to be more complicated than expected when Lukas reveals his plans to destroy Vogel, Gardneria’s dictator. As their plans develop, Elloren meets new friends, strengthens the Resistance network, and struggles to recover from the disastrous losses of the past.  

With characters now separated, The Shadow Wand divides into multiple perspectives, though Elloren’s is by far the most dominant. Due to the influx of character perspectives and new storylines, The Shadow Wand is more complicated than the previous two books. To help readers remember all the details, the book includes far too much exposition, which slows the story’s pace. Since the beginning and conclusion are packed with vital information, readers must pay close attention to the details. The plot revolves around characters’ emotional distress, lacks action, and is boring at times. The inconsistent pacing may also annoy readers. Despite this flaw, the story has solidly developed characters, a villainous society, and a positive message. The Shadow Wand highlights the importance of friendship and perseverance even when it seems like the world is ending.   

The Shadow Wand escalates Elloren’s journey through the growing intolerance and paranoia of the magical world of Erthia. The tragedies carried over from the previous book are emphasized through Elloren’s grief, and while the novel takes a darker turn, it has hopeful messaging and ultimately delivers further emotional depth to every character. The Shadow Wand teaches readers the importance of never giving up in the face of the impossible, whether fighting external threats or mental health challenges.  

The world of Erthia will enthrall readers as it grows even more intricate in The Shadow Wand. Readers who enjoy teenagers fighting authoritarian regimes, complex magic systems, and political intrigue will love Elloren’s determination. The addition of her friends’ perspectives provides a broader picture of the intolerance on their continent and how to combat it. The Shadow Wand is about dealing with consequences, learning from mistakes, and fighting even when no one thinks you can succeed. It concludes with an unexpected cliffhanger that will have readers reaching for the fourth installment.  

Sexual Content  

  • On the Gardnerian front lines, Elloren’s ally, Thierren, recalls moments with his fiancée. He thinks about how “she’s allowed him one brief, intoxicating kiss,” and how he “can still feel those soft lips, the contours of her slim waist under his palms, her body pressed against his.” 
  • While trying to escape the island she’s trapped on, Elloren’s ally, Sparrow, runs into one of the border guards, who calls her lovely. The guard has been harassing Sparrow for the past couple of weeks. He lightly touches her face and asks her to accompany him back to his room. When she refuses, he says, “You’ve put me off long enough . . . I’ve been patient, Sparrow. More patient than any other Mage here would ever be.” She escapes before he becomes a real threat. 
  • Having just arrived in the East, Tierney meets with other Water Fae, and one of them, Fyordin, becomes territorial over her. After Tierney speaks to another kind of Fae, he asks if she is “going to take the Death Fae as [her] lover?” 
  • Elloren’s love, Yvan, thinks about his time with Elloren on a military base. “Their separation is too much [for him] to bear at times, often keeping him up tossing late into the night, his skin feverish as his fire lashes out . . . desperate to find his Wyvernfire-bounded love.” 
  • Elloren reunites with Lukas at a party, and he “kisses her deeply, the feel of [their] powers merging both startling and all-consuming.” 
  • Lukas’s father disapproves of his marriage to Elloren, and in an argument with Lukas, he requests that Lukas “seal the fasting and the breed on the girl. And quickly.” 
  • Later, when Lukas tells Elloren about the conversation with his father, Lukas says that “the minute there’s a possibility that I’ve got you with child, [my mother] will leave you alone.” Elloren replies that “no one is getting [her] with child.” Lukas agrees and says that he has Sanjire root, a form of birth control.  
  • At their wedding, Lukas and Elloren seal the marriage with a kiss. Lukas “pulls [Elloren] into his arms, and brings his lips firmly to [hers]. . . he draws [her] tight against his body.” Later, during the reception, they discover that if Lukas kisses her, he can help shield her against Vogel, so he “kisses [her] so intensely that every one of [her] affinity lines tighten and grow as molten as wildfire.” 
  • After the reception, there is a five-page sex scene where Lukas and Elloren consummate their marriage. Lukas “moves in [her], slowly at first” and she “gasps at the fullness of him.” There’s talk of moving quickly and then slowly, but there’s very little description of anatomy. 
  • When Elloren is being trained in magic, the only way she can calm her magic down is when Lukas kisses her. So, she “capture[s] his mouth, and bear[s] down, boring power into his lines in a shuddering bolt. A burn races along [her] skin and into his.” 
  • After a long day of training, Elloren and Lukas have sex again. Elloren “kiss[es] him passionately, [her] soft curves fitting against the hard lines of his body” and they “give each other everything.” They wake up together in the morning. The scene is described over a page. 
  • Before a stressful next day, Elloren kisses Lukas. He says, “If we had Sanjire root, I’d take you right here. Against that wall.” They kiss but do not have sex.

Violence  

  • In The Shadow Wand, international relations have deteriorated, and the whole continent is at war. This is primarily because Gardneria has become a fascist, authoritarian state led by an intolerant, isolationist, and xenophobic religion. This novel contains descriptions of hate crimes, sexual abuse and assault, and war crimes.  
  • Elloren’s uncle doesn’t want her mother to fight the Gardnerians. Elloren’s mother says, “They’re rounding up all the Fae, Edwin! The children too. We have to help them! . . . The Gardnerians are doing the same thing that the Kelts and the Urisk did to us. Children are being seized. Whole families. Do you know what that’s like? Watching your family, your people, herded together to be killed? The children screaming?” 
  • When Thierren is on the front lines, he witnesses Gardnerian forces burning the woods and Dryads. One of the Dryads warns them not to because “if the trees die, we die. You die. We all die.” Though Thierren tries to stop it, the forests are burned to the ground completely, and all the Dryads are executed. 
  • When Elloren is training in the desert, one of the groups who have helped Elloren hide turns on her, convinced that Elloren will try to kill them all because she’s the next Black Witch. While many of them resent her, they haven’t yet resorted to violence. One of them eventually goes rogue and attempts to kill Elloren, and the rest are forced to step in to save Elloren. So, “Quoi Zhon reaches for another star as Kam Vin slams an elbow into the woman’s arm, the silver star flashing with reflected firelight as it drops into a patch of smoldering embers. Then Kam Vin strikes the back of Quoi Zhon’s head, and the sorceress collapses facedown on the sand.” Nobody dies. 
  • Thierren, Sparrow, and Effrey are caught trying to sabotage Gardnerian forces. Thierren tries to fight “the ferocious desire to draw his wand, cut down every Mage in the room, and flee East.” He ultimately does nothing as the Gardnerian guards restrain him.  
  • While training in the East, Yvan is ambushed by Gardnerians, and he “falls to the ground, his whole body arcing against the terrible pain. . . as vine spears impale his chest.” Yvan loses consciousness, and it is implied that he has been killed.  
  • After Elloren turns herself in to the Gardnerians, her aunt Vyvian confronts her. Vyvian says, “Do you know what we do now to race traitors, Elloren Gardner? We execute them.” Vyvian threatens her niece, though she doesn’t act on any violent thoughts. 
  • At Lukas’s party, Elloren’s old bully, Fallon Bane, confronts Elloren and attacks her. Elloren then throws her “fist forward and punch[es] [Fallon] in the face as hard as [she] can.” Fallon tries to fight back, but Elloren runs.  
  • Eventually, Elloren runs into Fallon’s brother, Damion. Elloren attacks him. “[She] slams [her] whole weight against him and lunge[s] for his wand, but he anticipates [her], tightening his grip on his wand as [her] hand closes around his . . . in the blink of an eye, he sends out a spell. [Elloren] cries out as vine bindings fly from his wand and cinch tight around [her] body, the breath forced from [her] lungs.” 
  • Elloren and Damion fight until Lukas breaks them up. “Lukas pushes Damion roughly against one of the stone trees. ‘She’s mine!’ Lukas snarls before punching Damion in the face so hard that [Elloren] can hear something crack.” The fight is diffused, and everybody goes their separate ways. The entire scene spans approximately ten pages. 
  • Elloren thanks Lukas for his help. She thanks him for marrying her, saying, “If you hadn’t stepped in, Damion would have taken me back to his estate and raped me. And that would be my life. Every day.” 
  • On the way back to Lukas’s family estate, Elloren and Lukas are attacked by a sorceress assassin. Elloren’s “head jerks back as pain blossoms, [her] eyes temporarily crossed from the blow as the [the killing star] bounces off Lukas’s shield.” The sorceress soon escapes through a magical portal, and no more harm is done. 
  • When Sparrow is working at the Grey estate, she is sexually assaulted by Lukas’s brother, Silvern. He nuzzles her neck, and Sparrow tries to squirm away, desperation mounting. Silvern slams himself against her, as if for emphasis.” Mrs. Grey interrupts, and Silvern is sent away.  
  • In their escape from the Grey estate, Lukas and Elloren watch as dragons burn the estate to the ground, killing most of their wedding guests. “Soldiers scream as vivid blue flames and indigo smoke rise high into the air. . . they’re all dead, [Elloren] dazedly realize[s].” There are no dead bodies described. The scene lasts approximately four pages.  
  • While training in the desert, shadow creatures attack Elloren and her friends. “The thing’s powerful, serrated forelimb slashes down toward Lukas, who ducks and slides out of the thing’s reach.” They defeat the creature in five pages, and no one is seriously injured. 
  • As Lukas tries to give Elloren instructions with her magic, she accidentally “envelops the whole world in fire,” including setting herself on fire as “fire cuts off [her] vision and scalds through [her].” That’s the only description of her fire that’s given. She doesn’t even know she is on fire until her friends tell her afterwards. They eventually extinguish the fire, and no one is seriously injured. Elloren discovers she is immune to fire. 
  • Shadow creatures again attack Elloren and her friends. “Lukas pulls his sword, lunges at the bat, and slashes the beast in two.” As more arrive, Elloren’s friends sacrifice themselves for her. She is the only one to make it through the magical portal to the East, implying that her friends died defending the portal behind her.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When Elloren enters Lukas’s military camp, she notices that two Gardnerian soldiers “slide the tip of a green bottle out of [a] bag and hastily pour its contents into the water flasks that hang from their necks.” She identifies the contents as “spirits, forbidden by the mage council.” 
  • Before they consummate their wedding, Elloren asks Lukas to “bring spirits” for the consummation of their marriage. He says, “[he’ll] bring some wine.” Later that evening, Lukas “pours a small amount of the wine into the two glasses” for himself and for Elloren. They both drink it, but not enough to be drunk. 
  • After they escape from the Grey estate and meet up with Elloren’s ally, Valasca, Lukas says, “A glass of Issani wine would be good right now.” She brings out her own flask of alcohol and shares it with the group, everybody going to sleep drunk. 

Language    

  • Language is very tame. Words like stupid, idiot, and hell appear frequently. 
  • The word whore is used three times. 
  • Bitch is used twice. 
  • Slut is used once.   

Supernatural  

  • This series contains all kinds of supernatural creatures. The Shadow Wand has Lupines, Fae, shadow creatures and monsters, witches, Selkies, Icarals, Kelpies, Elves, dragons, wyverns, and people with skin of all colors of the rainbow. 
  • Most of the magic appears in battle and Elloren’s training. Once, while training, Elloren describes her magic as “a savage connection to the wand.” Multiple times she has a feeling like “burning fire” and strong connections to the forest. She claims to have no control over her magic and claims that there was a time “[she] would have killed everyone [she] was with. [She] killed Ni Vin’s horse. [She] melted it.” 
  • The priest and dictator, Vogel, is described as being able to see through a “bird’s central green eye, as well.” All the shadow creatures have eyes through which Vogel can see and spy. His magic is described numerous times as “dark, evil, and demonic.”  
  • The Elf and Icaral, Wynter, can also communicate with birds, but do so in a less evil manner. She sends some of the birds “East on a hopeful search for Naga, her dragon kindred.” 
  • There are various kinds of magical travel in this novel, including portals, winged flight, and rune ships. One of the rune ships is described as having “huge, whirling flank runes and base runes,” casting “the vessel in a penumbra of sapphire light that’s reflected off the current of the Vo River.” 
  • The forests are described as sentient numerous times. After escaping into the woods from their wedding, Elloren tells Lukas that “[she’s] been bound,” her magic limited and locked up by the forest because it’s afraid of her. Elloren seems to be the only person who can communicate with the trees.

Spiritual Content  

  • The Shadow Wand is full of religious references as a theocratic and fascist government has taken power in Gardneria and is threatening war with the rest of the continent for religious reasons. This religion has strong allusions to the three main monotheistic religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Their religious structures dictate more conservative norms and different swear words than what people literally use. For example, in a speech to a large crowd, Vogel claims that “the Ancient One has brought us victory after victory over the heathen races who seek to destroy us. Who seek to pollute our lands. Enslave us. And corrupt all that is sacred. And so the Ancient One has enhanced our runic magic, calling upon us to wall out the Evil Ones with border runes and holy purpose . . . we will cleanse this land and bring the Reaping Times to all of Erthia.” 
  • Marcus Vogel has been voted the leader of the Gardnerian government. Elloren’s aunt describes him as a “young High Priest” and “the absolute picture of pious elegance.” In the same moment, Vogel gives a speech in front of the council, claiming that “power belongs in Mage hands. We are the only ones who can wield magic to do the Ancient One’s will. So we are the only ones who should control it. All of it.” He complains about other species having power when he believes they shouldn’t because their god says so. 
  • Thinking about the wedding, Elloren explains that part of Gardnerian marriage customs include the “Blessing of Dominion. . . when the couple is required, by The Book of the Ancients, to enter the wilds alone and scatter the ashes of a destroyed tree to symbolize the Magedom’s dominion over Erthia.” 
  • During the wedding, Vogel officiates and declares that “We gather in the sight of the Holy Ancient One to celebrate the joining of these two Mages. In union with each other and in union with the Holy Magedom.” 
  • In the land of the Amaz, a refugee Elf explains to an audience that the Elf coming-of-age ritual requires them to wear a magical necklace called the Zalyn’or, which brainwashes them into the Elven religion. She says, “It forces complete belief in the supremacy of [Alfsiger religion and culture]. And it suppresses all rebellious thoughts, and all physical desire too.” All Elves in The Shadow Wand wear it and are unable to remove it. 

by Kate Schuyler 

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

For generations, Mina’s homeland has faced destructive storms that have destroyed the land. In the hopes of stopping the destruction, a young woman is chosen to be the Sea God’s bride and thrown into the sea as a sacrifice to him. This year, Mina’s brother’s lover, Shim Cheong, is chosen. But before Cheong can be thrown into the ocean, Mina jumps in her place. She’s willing to sacrifice herself to protect her brother and his love, her family, and her home.

After jumping, Mina finds herself in the Spirit Realm, where a Red String of Fate binds her to the Sea God. . . who’s asleep. Worse, she encounters mysterious attackers who seek to disrupt her connection to the Sea God. They steal her soul, the very thing she needs to save her home, as it is what binds her to the Sea God. Despite being lost in a world she doesn’t understand, and facing visible and hidden foes, Mina sets out to save the Sea God, her community, and herself. It’s a race against time because she only has 30 days before she succumbs to the Spirit Realm.

Mina navigates the unfamiliar realm with the help of spirits, landing herself in the perfect place to regain her soul—and hopefully her connection to the Sea God. But in a twist of fate, she finds herself instead bound to Shin, one of the very people who severed her connection with the Sea God. Mina becomes his bride instead of the Sea God’s, once again pushing her further from her goal of saving her home. As she looks for a way back to the Sea God, adversaries—powerful spirits and even a goddess—are hunting her in an effort to gain power. And yet another opposition arises, this time from within herself, as Mina realizes that she is falling in love with Shin. Can Mina escape the clutches of those hunting her? Will she be able to reunite with the Sea God before it’s too late? And will Mina have to sacrifice what she loves to save her people?

Mina is a bright teenage girl with a strong will and a big heart, resulting in youthful passion and emotionally driven recklessness. A coward she is not. She describes herself as “stubborn,” and that’s not a bad thing, rather a manifestation of her love and fierce determination to help others and do what’s right. She’s deeply sympathetic and selfless, quick to help others at the expense of her own well-being. Mina is also not afraid to admit that she’s not perfect and that she can be wrong, which really contributes to her strength and likability as a character. Yes, she has her moments of immaturity, but her behavior makes sense given that she’s carrying a heavy burden and has just been dumped into a brand-new world.

Mina is backed by a slew of great side characters, including cheeky and clever spirits, as well as Shin and his guards, Namgi and Kirin. Namgi and Kirin are opposites of each other—Namgi is humorous while Kirin is stoic—and, as a result, they serve as two different kinds of guides to help Mina on her journey. Shin works as an excellent counterpart and love interest, as he is apathetic to the human world Mina is working so hard to protect, but he shares the values of love and duty that Mina embodies. His mysterious backstory unravels throughout the narrative, adding complications to the tale. Their love story—working like a gentle enemies-to-lovers relationship—intertwines with the characters’s progressions and the book’s lessons.

The Korean mythology on which the book is based creates the endlessly intriguing, immersive, and stunning setting of the Spirit Realm. Readers experience the world like Mina does—with a bewildered awe. The action scenes are an energetic rush that help break up some of the slower scenes, and a number of well-placed twists successfully keep readers on their toes without overwhelming them.

The narrative is full of heart, coming not just from the soft romance but also from Mina’s personality and her interactions with all the characters. There are certainly elements of the world and certain character backstories (especially Kirin’s and Namgi’s) that feel underdeveloped and warrant more expansion. Many details about the world and the characters are introduced but not followed up on, leaving readers with outstanding questions, which can be frustrating. There were also plot points and events that felt slightly repetitive, with sometimes too much back-and-forth between certain settings and characters.

Oh’s tale is an ocean of messages and lessons, addressing the relationship between people and gods, the power of belief, balancing duty to others versus individual desires, sacrifice and honor, and the importance of making decisions for oneself. Mina says early on, “I am the maker of my own destiny,” and that idea is carried through the rest of the story despite the pressures working against that very notion. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea submerges readers in a charming, heart-filled tale that, despite minor flaws, shares powerful messages while delighting readers with a collection of curious characters and introducing them to the magical world of Korean mythology.

Sexual Content

  • Mina and Shin are having a heartfelt conversation that includes flickers of romance and handholding. “Shin’s breath catches. My heart begins to beat painfully in my chest. . . he slips his hand over mine, the pebble pressed between our palms, holding tight.”
  • To comfort her after a time of distress, Shin acts romantically towards Mina. “Shin lightly brushes back the wisps of hair that have escaped the tangle of my braid, clinging to my forehead and cheeks. The gentleness of his touch almost undoes the fragile walls I’ve built around my heart.”
  • Mina and Shin cuddle together in bed. “. . . He’s reaching for me, and I go to him, his arms circling around me. His breath whispers against my neck as he pulls me close.”
  • Mina sees Namgi “flirting with a boy in the crowd.”
  • Mina kisses Shin. “I lean forward, holding his shoulders for balance, and press a kiss to his lips.” Shin responds by kissing Mina back. “He takes my hand, pulling me forward until I’m in his arms, and then I’m kissing him. . . I throw my arms around his neck, returning each of his kisses with equal fervor.”
  • When Mina’s brother Joon reunites with his partner Shim Cheong, they kiss. “Joon gathers Cheong to him, kissing her soundly.”

Violence

  • One of the book’s core events is the sacrifice of a woman to the Sea God by throwing her into the ocean, where she’ll die by drowning. In a flashback, Mina and a woman preparing to be sacrificed discuss the deadly tradition. “There are even girls who truly believe all of this is real, and that they won’t drown, but will be saved by the Sea God.”
  • Shin fights off and kills intruders in a bloody fight to protect Mina. “[Shin] grabs the shoulder of the other thief, stabbing him through the stomach; [the thief] slumps to the floor.” This scene lasts two pages. Shin’s arm is wounded in the fight.
  • Mina burns her hand in a hearth. “My hand rips through the flames. A terrible sound comes from my throat, an agonized cry.”
  • Kirin cuts his hand to heal Mina’s burns with his magic blood. “With a quick motion, he makes a deep cut across his palm. Blood the color of starlight oozes from the wound.”
  • Lord Yu, the leader of Crane house (a rival house of Shin’s Lotus House), aggressively handles Mina because he wants to kill her, which, through the mechanics of the Red String of Fate, would also kill Shin. “Suddenly he lashes out, grabbing my wrist. I try to pull away but his grip is vise-like.” This results in a “great bruise” on Mina’s arm.
  • A hoard of Imugi, large, serpent-like creatures, attack Mina and the marketplace she’s in. Namgi transforms into an Imugi and battles the other Imugi, while two assassins hunt Mina, one of whom tries to strangle her. She has to fight them off with Mask and Dai, who are child spirits she befriended on her way to retrieve her soul, using daggers and firecrackers. “Arms wrap around my neck, hauling me off the ground. . . I struggle to breathe, my arms weakening, my vision blackening at the edges.” Mina kills one of the assassins and suffers minor injuries. Dai is severely injured, but lives. This scene lasts nine pages.
  • An assassin shoots Mina with a bow. “The bolt pierces my shoulder. I scream in pain. . . Blood pools beneath me.” She goes unconscious, but lives. This scene lasts two pages.
  • Another Imugi attack occurs, and Shin’s friend, Kirin, kills an Imugi to protect Mina. At the same time, Namgi fights off other Imugi. “[Kirin] unsheathes his sword and plunges the blade into the snake’s neck. . . the snake’s body begins to writhe in its death throes, spewing blood and venom.” Namgi is very injured and nearly dies but ends up recovering. This scene lasts four pages.
  • In a memory, Mina sees the Sea God get shot with an arrow and almost die. “The arrow pierces the Sea God’s chest. . . The arrowhead protrudes from his back, soaked in blood.” This scene lasts two pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Namgi asks Mina for more “wine-spirits.” He is clearly drunk, as he slurs his words. A guard says Namgi is drunk.
  • Lord Yu offers Mina “wine-spirits,” which she drinks. “He lifts the bottle and pours some of the golden liquid into a cup. . . The liquor tastes bitter in my mouth.”
  • Namgi offers Mina alcohol to ease the pain from an injury. “‘What about a drink?’ Namgi suggests. ‘Liquor helps with the pain.’” Mina drinks the alcohol.

Language

  • Curse words are not used, though characters are occasionally said to be cursing. For example, Mina says, “inwardly, I curse.” She later describes, “Shin curses beneath his breath.”

Supernatural

  • This book takes place in the Korean Spirit Realm, so it is inherently magical, featuring many creatures from Korean legends.
  • The “servant” of the Sea God is “a massive, silver-blue dragon” that appears numerous times.
  • A core element of this book is the mythical “Red String of Fate,” a red ribbon tied between the hands of two people that’s only visible in the Spirit Realm. “The Red String of Fate ties a person to her destiny. Some even believe that it ties you to the one person your heart desires most.”
  • The Sea God’s city features many magical qualities. “Brightly colored fish swim along the breeze, as if the sky were an ocean. Whales like clouds float lazily overhead. And in the distance, the dragon slips through the air.”
  • When Mina’s attackers die, their bodies dissolve. “The bodies of the thieves begin to fade, smoke swirling after them. After a few minutes, all that’s left are piles of empty clothing and discarded weapons.”
  • The Imugi are first introduced when they interrupt a party. Imugi are “snakelike creatures, as large as dragons, but without horns or limbs. They blend with the sky in colors of deep red, indigo, and black” and can switch between humanoid and snake form.
  • Mina meets a “fox demon” who appears as “a white fox” with a “tail split in two.” Fox demons, according to legend, are “evil spirits that prey solely upon men.” This fox demon possesses a priestess to speak through her.
  • Kirin is a creature referred to as “the Silver One.” He has magic blood with the ability to heal wounds, and he can turn into a “four-legged beast with two horns and a mane of white fire. It has the shape, body, and legs of a deer, but the height and strength of a horse.” In this form, he can walk on water.
  • The “River of Souls” is a river filled with human souls rushing from the mortal plane to the Spirit Realm or the afterlife.
  • The Goddess of Moon and Memory rides on “what looks like a horse but with hooves of fire.”

Spiritual Content

  • Gods are a central part of the plot, worldbuilding, and even the book’s themes. They are mentioned frequently and appear numerous times.
  • The book revolves around the Sea God, the god of the seas and ruler of the Spirit Realm and all other gods. He ravages the human world every year with destructive storms because he is consumed by anger. When Mina first meets him, she discovers him “slumped over the throne, his face shadowed by a magnificent crown. . . dressed in beautiful blue robes, stitched silver dragons climbing up the fabric.”
  • Mina describes the existence and functionality of the gods. “The world is filled with small gods, for each part of nature has a guardian to watch over and protect it.”
  • Mina’s soul is taken out of her body and turned into a magpie. Namgi explains, “When Shin severed the Red String of Fate, it took your soul.”
  • Shin discusses the functionality of souls. “Every being has a soul, whether it’s hidden inside you, as it is for humans, or in a different form, as it is for beasts of myth. Gods also have souls” which are the things they are gods of.
  • Mina meets the Goddess of Women and Children and asks for another’s wish to be granted. A dying pregnant woman asks for her child to be saved. The Goddess cruelly declines, stating, “This girl is dead. Her child is dead,” and then she “flings the paper boat into the fire.” The paper boat is a physical manifestation of the dream.
  • The Goddess of Moon and Memory appears multiple times. “A bolt of lightning flashes and silhouettes her against the darkness. She’s the most awe-inspiring being I’ve ever seen, terrible and terrifying at once.”
  • One of Mina’s spirit friends, Dai, discusses the afterlife, including heaven. Dai says, “Beyond this world, there are others. One of those other worlds is heaven.”
  • Mina and Shin encounter Shiki, “the death god.” Shin describes him as “One of the more powerful gods.”

By Sarah Leberknight

Bloodmarked

All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights — only to discover her own ancestral power. Now a medium, her ancestors’ voices sit in the back of her head along with the new arrival of Arthur’s presence, who is fighting to take over her body.  

Nick, the boy Bree loves, is missing. Both Bree and Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick, want to search for Nick. But the arrival of the Regents, the group in charge of the Legendborn, makes their departure difficult. The Regents aim to contain and control Bree and eliminate the potential threat posed by Selwyn. After a daring escape from the Regents, Bree, Selwyn, and their friends begin their mission to find Nick. However, to find Nick, they will have to face the Shadowborn, demons drawn to Bree’s power, and the Mageguard, Merlins employed by the Regents.   

Bree struggles to understand and use her power. She needs to be a leader, but to do that, she may have to let go of Nick and save herself. She battles the expectations of the white supremacist Legendborn society against the expectations of her ancestors, all while grappling with the knowledge that her power exists because her ancestor was raped. After the Regents kidnap her, she desperately wants to find independence, but she is unable to abandon her friends, even for her own safety. While her friends advise her to save herself, she occasionally takes advantage of her role and orders them to obey her and do as she wants, but readers still find themselves rooting for her and her clear vision of justice.  

Bree continues to rely on her friends, making Bree and Selwyn’s relationship deepen, as does Nick and Bree’s romance. Nick and Bree are drawn together in their longing for each other and in Bree’s bloodwalks, where they are able to visit each other in Bree’s mind. Alice is also much more developed as a character; her friendship with Bree again provides a touchstone of stability amid the chaos of Bree’s life. Readers will enjoy the return of familiar characters and the arrival of interesting new ones. Almost everyone who meets Bree is won over by her selflessness and kindness, even in the face of threats to her life, and they return her loyalty in kind.  

Bloodmarked takes a deeper look at what it means for Bree to inherit power as a Black girl. Stunned by how much each of her friends cares for her, she strives to be worthy of their sacrifice. Bree also deals with relatable conflicts such as questioning authority, building confidence, and figuring out her identity. While much of the conflict is interpersonal, there are still moments of action and violence that sustain the fast-paced narrative. The novel concludes with a twist that will lead readers directly to Oathbound, the next book in the series.   

Sexual Content  

  • While Nick and Bree are separated for most of the novel, they are still in love, and the few times they do see each other, they hug and kiss. “Nick’s lips crash against mine, warm and fierce . . . What one of us wants, the other gives with lips, tongue, heat.” 
  • Nick and Bree are making out, but then are interrupted, as Bree is pulled out of the vision that allows them to visit each other. “Power cycling from his body to mine in a slow loop between his skin and mine . . . He moans, tugging us to the ground.” 
  • There is tension between Sel and Bree, as they both are attracted to each other, and they flirt with each other. Sel says, “I would say you look . . . devourable.” 
  • Sel has been creating an illusion of himself to trick Bree. She thinks that he was doing it to make her attracted to him, but he was really trying to disguise how unhealthy he looked. “What I thought felt like falling into him, maybe even for him, had been me, falling into Sel’s illusion.” 
  • Sel and Bree kiss. “Before he can respond, I pull his head down and press my mouth to his indignant scowl until it turns soft and warm . . . his palm wraps around the nape of my neck, turning the kiss fierce, his mouth open and hot. He pulls me in by the hip, closer, a pulse building between us, a shared demand.” 

Violence  

  • While practicing summoning her magic, Bree’s powers manifest in flames that burn her skin.  “The fine hair on my forearms singes; there’s a charred smell in my nose . . . The magic bites into my skin, the burns going deeper.” 
  • Bree is fighting intruders. She attacks with, “A right hook to their ribs. They pivot away before it lands—too fast—grasp my forearm, use my momentum, pull me off balance. I stumble into them, nearly slipping off the branch. They hold my wrist tight.” The fight is interrupted before anyone is seriously injured. 
  • Bree is pulled into Arthur’s memories, which are often scenes of war. “A battlefield soaked in red. My tunic and leathers, shining with it . . . We are always arguing, even here with our comrades screaming on the ground around us, bleeding—” 
  • When a boy tries to restrain Bree, she accidentally breaks his hand. “This time I do use Arthur’s strength to break his grip . . . I hear a pop. A bone broken.”  
  • Demons attack the car Bree is in. The car crashes, and “a deep thwunk as the car hits something. . . I end up pressed against the seat looking at the sky through the front window . . . The car tilts again. I go tumbling . . . I hit the floor shoulder-first. Pain shoots across my chest.” 
  • Someone in Arthur’s bloodline raped Bree’s ancestor. Bree and other characters make references to the rape throughout the book. Bree says, “I am Arthur’s heir not by choice or honor, but by violence . . . I am the Scion of Arthur by rape.” 
  • William, one of Bree’s friends, tortures a demon after she attacks it. “When bones crack beneath the skin, they make a deep, wet popping sound. That sickening crunch echoes around us in the yard until there are no more bones to break. . . William’s forefinger and thumb have just . . . twisted her elbow joint completely apart. Her limb is still held together by flesh. But now it’s in two pieces.” They release her after she answers their questions, but Selwyn kills her as she’s running away. 
  • Max kills Nick’s father, Lord Davis, because he betrayed the Legendborn Order. “And the spear pierces Lord Davis’s chest straight through with a wet, loud thunk.”  
  • In retaliation, Nick beheads the attacker. “Nick’s crossed blades meet his opponent’s throat, then part — cleaving Max’s head from his body.” 
  • A demon attacks Bree. “My right ribs and side are opened in stripes. Muscle, glistening wet. A steady stream of red flowing down into the dirt.” She is seriously injured.  
  • Bree attacks the Mageguard after they threaten her and her friends. Bree shoves the Mageguard and hears “a deep snapping sound, mixed with wet. A bone breaking as he lands.” The Mageguard is unconscious for the rest of the fight.  
  • In an attack, Bree accidentally hurts Alice. Bree “pull[s] the attacker [Alice] up and over by their arm, throwing them into the broadside of the van with a heavy thunk.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The Regents kidnap Bree and keep her drugged to contain her powers. “I blink slowly and register the odd feeling in my chest . . . I feel hollowed out . . . It doesn’t occur to me until the end of the second day of confinement without the return of my abilities that the serum is probably in the food.” 
  • Bree, Sel, William, and Alice go to a bar where they are served drinks, but they don’t drink them. “[The waitress] looks down at Sel mischievously, then over her shoulder, before lifting a final, double shot glass.” 

Language    

  • Profanity is used regularly. Profanity includes damn, shit, hell, fuck, and asshole. 
  • Racist language is used toward Bree. One emissary of the Regents tells Bree that she should change her hair, “perhaps smooth things down for a cleaner look.” No racial slurs are used.  

Supernatural  

  • As a result of her Rootcraft and Bloodcraft, Bree has magic that is borrowed from her ancestors. She is the Scion of Arthur. Because she is a medium, she can communicate with Arthur, and she has his strength. Her root manifests in flames. She struggles to control both elements of her power.  
  • Bree explains her power. “Mediums can’t control the dead. Even if I could contact Arthur at will, I can’t—and won’t—rely on possession to wield his power.”  
  • Sel and the Mageguard are Merlins—humans with demon ancestry—who have heightened senses, strength, and speed. They can manipulate aether, and mesmer people, erasing their memories or creating illusions.  
  • Merlins are always fighting against succumbing to demonia, a loss of their human side. “If our latent demonic natures overcome us, we lose empathy, sympathy, kindness…Eventually, all that remains are the core hungers of demonia: the inescapable desires to create and consume human misery.” 
  • There are other Scions, descendants of the knights of the Round Table, who possess the powers they inherited from their ancestors.  
  • Bree performs bloodwalks, during which she communed with Arthur and her other ancestors. In these instances, when she touches Lancelot, she can summon Nick, as his descendant, and communicate with him. “I reach toward Lancelot—something Arthur did not do—and Lancelot does not react . . . My fingertips touch Lancelot’s shoulder. . . Lancelot flashes bright—and becomes Nick once more.” 
  • Bree and her friends go to a bar owned by a crossroads demon, who makes deals with humans to give them temporary magic powers.  
  • Bree and her friends visit a community of Rootcrafters, where Bree performs a ceremony to communicate with her ancestors. “Think of this place and ceremony like an amplifier for the ancestral stream. Volition and the communion circle will boost your call so you can talk to all of them at once”.   

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Scythe

Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch live in a world where natural death has been eradicated. People who die are simply revived, and aging can be reversed. In place of natural death are scythes — humans who work as professional cullers, choosing people to kill, otherwise known as “gleaning.” These days, more and more scythes are needed to combat overpopulation, so scythes pick apprentices to train. But neither Citra nor Rowan expected Honorable Scythe Faraday to make them both his apprentices. They don’t want to be scythes, but Faraday believes that’s why they’d make great ones. The catch? Only one will become a scythe. The other will return to their old life. It’s a competition for a role neither want.  

Soon enough, Citra and Rowan are learning the art of killing by training with weapons and memorizing poisons, studying the history of the world, and witnessing Faraday’s gleanings. But when it comes time for their first of three apprentice tests, both Citra and Rowan fail. As a result, one scythe argues that Faraday’s apprentices aren’t taking the competition seriously enough and then successfully rallies to add a deadly stipulation to the apprenticeship: the one who becomes a scythe will have to glean the other apprentice. Citra and Rowan are horrified, as is Scythe Faraday, who self-gleans as a result. This act of suicide should release his apprentices, stopping the competition. But it doesn’t, as two scythes step in to be Citra’s and Rowan’s mentors.  

Citra is sent to study with Scythe Curie, and Rowan with Scythe Goddard. Curie is an old-guard scythe like Faraday, but Goddard is a controversial, flamboyant new-guard scythe who is intent on bending the Scythedom’s rules for his gain. Whichever apprentice wins will have a huge impact on the Scythedom, which is struggling from infighting between new and old guard scythes. As training continues, Citra makes an alarming discovery — Faraday might not have self-gleaned. He may have been murdered.  

On the other hand, Rowan gets an inside look at just how far Goddard is willing to go to get what he wants. As Citra and Rowan peel back the layers of the Scythedom, they realize the corruption is beyond what anyone expected. What really happened to Scythe Faraday? Is Goddard breaking scythe law—and what’s his final goal? What will happen to the Scythedom? And of course, who will win the apprentice competition? 

Citra and Rowan are very different characters, providing interesting contrasting perspectives. Citra is a driven, outspoken eldest daughter with a competitive spark, while Rowan is a sly but unexpectedly empathetic forgotten middle child who keeps to himself. Even though they live in a world drastically different from the reader’s world, they feel like characters readers could meet in high school. Plus, the fact that neither wants to be a scythe, and is appalled by the act of killing, mirrors readers’ thoughts, adding another element of relatability. Citra and Rowan are both easy to root for, which adds complexity to the read, as readers may struggle in deciding who they want to win the competition.   

Scythe’s side characters, particularly Curie and Goddard, shine as contrasting perspectives to Citra and Rowan, challenging each to their core. Curie’s wise perspective as an older scythe who was flashy in her youth guides not only Citra but readers, offering critical moral lessons. However, she’s far from boring, bringing a calculated strength that is both engaging and surprising. Goddard, on the other hand, serves as a striking, charismatic, and manipulative villain whose sadism and god-complex put him at direct odds with Curie. As an avatar of human corruption, he drives much of the book’s suspense forward and becomes the ultimate villain readers love to hate.  

The worldbuilding is extensive, with many different elements for readers to understand, but Shusterman makes the concepts easily digestible through explanations dispersed throughout the story rather than one large info dump at the beginning. Shusterman wastes no time at the start, throwing readers right into the action, which prevents the slow build-up that often plagues fantasy novels. The concept of scythes is incredibly interesting and only grows more intriguing as readers learn about their complex hierarchy and moral codes. Scythe‘s rich lore makes the world feel authentic, and Shusterman couples these fascinating concepts with an engaging plot and compelling characters to create a tight narrative that readers won’t want to leave — it’s a definite page-turner. 

Scythe is darkly exciting, with grim humor that makes its heartfelt moments unexpectedly endearing and highly impactful. The book is well-paced, with a natural flow that guides readers between eventful action scenes and contemplative lulls. The twists are appropriately placed and induce shock. The ending isn’t one readers will see coming, but it feels completely fitting.  

Shusterman is not subtle about his message, and his directness effectively highlights how this world is not the utopia it appears to be and how perfection remains elusive. He includes journal entries from scythes that question whether immortality is beneficial and what drives the will to live. These entries also highlight the corrupting nature of power and how humans often abuse it, address issues with governing bodies, and explore the inevitability of human nature. These themes, along with others such as greed, class divisions, information abuse, and the dangers of operating above the law, are demonstrated through the characters’ actions. The main villains even wear bejeweled robes, directly marking them as problematic. This straightforward approach to messaging is both refreshing and insightful while still allowing for critical thought and surprise. 

Scythe is chilling in the best way possible, providing dark, thrilling entertainment while bluntly holding up a mirror to contemporary society through its dystopian landscape. Its relentless villains are as compelling as its strong but skeptical protagonists, and the interactions between friend and foe create excellent tension. The concept of scythes is fascinating, and the plot successfully twists and turns, maintaining suspense throughout the novel. Shusterman uses the idea of situations so horrifying you can’t look away to drive home serious messages while delighting audiences with a grim, intriguing, and riveting story. 

Sexual Content  

  • Rowan comes into Citra’s room to check on her after a rough day. Rowan thinks romantic thoughts about Citra, and then she kisses him. “Rowan wanted to kiss her. There was no denying that anymore. He had suppressed the urge for a week. . . then, to his surprise, [Citra] lurched forward and kissed him.” 
  • Rowan stares at a girl in a bikini at one of Scythe Goddard’s parties. “Rowan realized a moment too late that he was staring. She grinned and he blushed, looking away.” She later gives him a massage.  
  • A member of Scythe Goddard’s posse, Scythe Rand, touches Rowan’s body and says things to him with sexual implications. For example, “Scythe Rand constantly slapped his glutes, threatening all kinds of lewd liaisons with [Rowan] once he was of age.” 

Violence  

  • The very concept of scythes as professional, sanctioned killers is gruesome. This means much of the book features violence, killing (sometimes in mass quantities), and death. Some of the deaths in the book aren’t permanent, however.  
  • As part of their scythe training, Citra and Rowan learn “Black Widow Bokator—a deadly version of the ancient Cambodian martial art developed specifically for the Scythedom.” Bokator appears many times as part of the scythe training regimen.  
  • Rowan’s friend Tyger is a “splatter,” someone who repeatedly kills themselves for fun. Rowan goes to visit Tyger in the hospital after Tyger is revived from another splat. “Tyger Salazar had hurled himself out a thirty-nine-story window, leaving a terrible mess on the marble plaza below.” Splatting is mentioned a variety of times. 
  • A scythe shows up at Rowan’s school to glean his classmate Kohl. Rowan holds Kohl’s hand while the scythe gleans Kohl by electrocution. “The scythe pressed the [electrified] paddle to Kohl’s chest. Rowan’s vision went white, then dark. His entire body convulsed. . . It might have been painless for Kohl, but not for Rowan. It hurt. It hurt more than anything.” 
  • Scythe Faraday gleans a woman with a deadly pill as Citra and Rowan watch. “Scythe Faraday placed the pill on her tongue. She closed her mouth, but didn’t bite it right away. . . Then the slightest crunch. And she went limp.” 
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse brutally glean an entire plane of people with many kinds of weapons. One victim, a businessman, commits suicide on Scythe Goddard’s sword. “[Goddard’s friends] drew weapons and began the awful gleaning. . . [Goddard] pulled out his own blade but the businessman was ready. The moment the blade was drawn, he thrust himself forward onto it.” 
  • Goddard’s plane gleaning isn’t shown directly, but after the man’s suicide, the scythes pull out a variety of weapons in preparation, including, “Knives of various lengths. Guns,” “a machete” and other unnamed weapons. The exact number of deaths isn’t stated, but the flight was full and everyone on board — passengers and staff — are gleaned. This scene lasts five pages.  
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse mass-glean a food court. “Three of [the scythes] pulled out weapons that glistened even more than their bejeweled robes, and the fourth pulled out a flamethrower. ‘This food court has been selected for gleaning,’ their leader said. And then they began their terrible mission.” Their slaughter isn’t explicitly described. 
  • A young girl, Esme, attempts to escape the food court gleaning. While hiding, she sees “the man who had served her pizza slumped over the counter, dead.” Goddard and his crew leave Esme as the sole survivor. The scene lasts two pages. 
  • When Citra and Scythe Faraday go to glean a man, he fights back. “When Citra and the scythe entered the room, he ambushed them. . . he rejected his gleaning and fought the scythe.” Citra subdues the man, and then Faraday “slit the man’s throat.” Faraday’s jaw is broken, but Citra is fine. The scene lasts two pages. 
  • Scythe Curie performs a fast gleaning on an unsuspecting man. “Then [the man] suddenly gasped — because Scythe Curie’s blade had already been thrust up beneath his rib cage and into his heart.” 
  • Rowan’s mentor, Scythe Goddard, and three other scythes nearly beat Rowan to death. They torture Rowan, ensuring he feels the maximum pain by turning off his “nanites,” which are pain blockers put in everyone’s bodies. They believe that he needs to feel pain to learn how to be a scythe. “Scythe Chomsky. . . swung his fist, connecting with Rowan’s cheek so hard, he spun around, lost his footing, and fell to the dusty floor.” Rowan sustains multiple broken ribs, and his entire body is swollen and bruised. This scene lasts five pages.  
  • In the backyard of his borrowed mansion, Scythe Goddard orders Rowan to practice gleaning by temporarily killing 12 paid volunteers. “[Rowan] yelled and screamed and grunted with every thrust, slice, and twist. He had trained well. The blade sunk in with perfect precision.”  
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse perform a mass gleaning in an office building. “Blades and bullets and flames. The office was catching fire. . . The doomed were caught between fire and water, and the deadly sights of four master hunters. No one stood a chance.” Rowan helps a couple of workers escape. This scene is described over two pages. 
  • Citra and Rowan are forced to fight in a Bokator match, which they both try to lose. Rowan purposely disqualifies himself by making an illegal move and temporarily killing Citra. “[Rowan] flung his body into the air, twisting her head the other way. Her neck broke with a loud and horrible snap, and darkness came over Citra like a landslide.” This scene lasts three pages.  
  • Scythe Goddard and his posse mass-glean a cult, gleaning about 100 people. One of the posse members, Scythe Volta, gleans a classroom of children and then decides to self-glean in regret and grief. “Rowan realized the blood on Volta’s hands was not from his victims. It was from Volta’s own wrists. The gashes were jagged and long. They were made with very clear intent.” This scene is described over five pages. 
  • Rowan stands up against Goddard and his posse’s actions by beheading Goddard and fighting and killing posse-members Rand and Chomsky. He then sets the building they’re in on fire. “[Rowan] stepped back, withdrew his sword from Goddard’s gut, and swung it in a broad, sweeping arc that took off Goddard’s head in a single blow.” This scene is described over four pages. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Scythe Volta, one of Scythe Goddard’s friends, forcibly gives Rowan a glass of champagne. “Rowan took a sip, wondering if an underage scythe’s apprentice could get marked down for drinking. Then he remembered that such rules didn’t apply to him anymore. So he took another sip.” 
  • Rowan is taken to a wine cellar for the “pain training,” where his mentor Scythe Goddard and his posse torture him. “There was a wine cellar in the basement of the main house. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of bottles of wine rested in the brick alcoves.” The wine isn’t consumed. 
  • After Rowan defeats Citra in Bokator, Scythe Goddard breaks out the champagne to celebrate. “[Goddard] called for the butler to bring champagne and glasses for everyone. . . so they could toast Rowan’s audacity.” Rowan drinks the champagne. 
  • After Rowan escapes a fire, he talks to High Blade Xenocrates, the leader of Mid-Merican scythes. “A servant arrived with champagne and finger sandwiches.” Rowan does not drink. 

Language    

  • Profanity is used occasionally. Language includes damn, hell, and ass. 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • In one of her journal entries, Scythe Curie reflects on how religion became obsolete when death became a thing of the past. “I think about religion, and how, once we became our own saviors, our own gods, most faith became irrelevant. What must it have been like to believe in something greater than oneself?” 
  • In the Scythe universe, groups called Tone Cults exist, which are pseudo-religions whose members worship “wavelengths and vibrations that are beyond the limits of human sight.” They have priest-like leaders and monasteries where they practice their beliefs with tuning forks, using them to create sounds. Their beliefs are “a hodgepodge of mortal age faiths slapped together.” 

by Sarah Leberknight 

Within These Wicked Walls: A Novel

Andromeda is a free spirit, and she won’t let anyone get in her way. She is a debtera, an exorcist hired to cleanse sites and people of the Evil Eye. Trained from a young age by one of the most prominent and dysfunctional debteras in the country, Andromeda is good at her job. The only problem is that she’s not officially licensed, and after a falling out with her mentor, Jember, her only hope of steady work is to find a Patron—a rich, well-connected individual who will vouch for her abilities. 

Out of desperation, she takes on the one job even Jember is afraid of: working at the Manor of Magnus Rochester. Knowing no one in their right mind would hire an unlicensed debtera, Andromeda refuses to be afraid and faces the Manifestation of the Evil Eye with determination—because if Magnus hired her, and formidable exorcists like Jember are terrified of his curse, Magnus must be even more desperate than she is.   

Andromeda is a fierce but stubborn protagonist, committed to doing the right thing and keeping her promises even when facing great peril. When she arrives at the Manor, the servants already look down on her, but she keeps her head held high and proves that she is smarter than they think. Yet the Manifestation is far more complicated than any she’s seen before, and it doesn’t help that the young heir who hired her, Magnus, is too attractive for his own good. Fighting her growing attraction to Magnus and her new, budding friendship with one of the quieter servants, Saba, she discovers that both are hiding many secrets. As the curse grows more deadly, Andromeda’s new friends, her new love, and her old mentor all urge her to give up and leave the Manor, but her morals are too strong. Even when she finds out that Saba is dead but reanimated and haunting the house, she is still determined to save them all or die trying.  

Within These Wicked Walls is a retelling of Jane Eyre, made palatable for teenagers. However, it loses some of the original intricacy and depth of its inspiration. The romance between Magnus and Andromeda comes on a little too quickly to be natural, and their romance is too soft and kind to be related to that of Jane Eyre. Nevertheless, Magnus and Andromeda are sweet together and have occasional swoony scenes. That said, Within These Wicked Walls does do an acceptable job of adapting the overall story with new natural laws, a new tone, and into a new country with different customs.  

While the book’s magic is intriguing and contributes to the horror and gothic themes, it may be confusing for those unfamiliar with magic or supernatural elements inspired by Ethiopian folklore, such as amulets and spells. To add to the confusion, the story lacks the necessary backstory regarding Magnus and his family, as well as the overall setting. Regardless of complicated supernatural details, the novel is still an easy read with a relatively simple plot, managing to build an excitingly suspenseful and scary tone throughout.  

Readers who enjoyed These Violent Delights, Pride and Premeditation, and House of Salt and Sorrows will love the magical curses, vicious gothic tone, and Andromeda’s fierce independence, not to mention the growing romance between Andromeda and Magnus. All of this makes the book worth reading, regardless of the flaws. Andromeda’s focus and her pride teach about perseverance when no one believes in you and trusting yourself and your instincts, no matter what danger lies ahead.  

Sexual Content  

  • After the house throws a book at Andromeda, she finds sketches of women inside the book. She confronts Magnus about a specific sketch. Andromeda believes that the sketch shows him kissing his friend, Kelela. “What about that scandalous one of you two kissing?” Andromeda asks. “Does [Kelela] know about that one?”  
  • During that same conversation, Magnus explains that it’s a picture of him and Andromeda. Moved, she lays her “hand against his still-red cheeks and [kisses] him . . . His soft lips press hard against [hers] at first, as if he lost his footing.” 
  • After Magnus saves Andromeda from the hostile ghost of the Librarian, he reassures her that he likes her and kisses her. The “kiss wasn’t like the last one. It was certain and sweet. . . it felt like a promise.” 
  • While Magnus holds a dinner party with friends, Andromeda discovers that he’s betrothed to Kelela. Feeling betrayed, she confronts him and he “kisses [her]. [She bucks] anyway, shoving hard against his chest, trying to pry his hand from the back of [her] neck, to turn [her] face away from his. But when a verbal protest finally [makes] it to [her] lips it [doesn’t] sound like a protest at all.” 
  • After an emotional conversation with Kelela about Magnus, Andromeda talks to him. To reassure Andromeda of his feelings yet again, he kisses her. “‘My darling,’ he [coos], running his fingertips across [Andromeda’s] lips, ‘it’s always been only you.’ And he press[es] his lips where his fingers [have] warmed.” 
  • As Andromeda spies on her mentor, Jember, and Magnus’s mother, Saba, Saba climbs “onto the table, crawling over and closing the gap between [Jember and her] as she kiss[es] him.” Saba and Jember have a history, but the kiss is as far as it goes. 
  • After getting rid of the Evil Manifestation on Magnus’s house, to celebrate, Andromeda shifts “to [her] knee to lean up, kissing [Magnus’s] lips. His hand skims [her] jaw, the pure love in his touch pushing away the remainder of [her] sadness and regret.” 

Violence  

  • When Andromeda first tries to exorcise the house of the Manifestations, she is attacked by an invisible force. “But whatever had tripped [her] was still there, and [she] kicked at it, yelping as it grabbed [her] foot. [She] stumbled to [her] feet, looking around in the dark. The Something grabbed [her] more firmly this time, and [she] quickly stomped to get it off and rushed to [her] room. But as soon as [she] shoved the door open it grabbed [her] again, this time wrapping around [her] ankle to hold [her] still. It felt familiar and terrifying, and when [she] looked down the moonlight flooding from the window in [her] room revealed a hand coming from the ground, long fingers curling around [her].” She makes it out unscathed, and the invisible force vanishes. The whole scene is about two pages. 
  • When Andromeda visits Jember, she remembers his past disciplining techniques when raising her. “[Jember] gripped his maqomiya, the long prayer staff grinding into the floor like it was trying to drill through it, and [Andromeda] couldn’t fight the wince [her] body had long been conditioned to perform at the sight of it. [She] backed away a few steps, even though [her] mind rationalized that Jember hadn’t disciplined [her] in years, and never within the walls of the church.” 
  • Andromeda is attacked by the Librarian, a ghost in the library. “Two books slammed [Andromeda] in the hip and arm, as if trying to make [her] drop the table, but [she] grimaced and raced it over to the small space [she]’d found.” The Librarian throws books at her until Magnus rescues her 
  • While being controlled by the Evil Eye, the servant, Saba, attacks Andromeda, and Andromeda must fight her off. Andromeda “snatched Saba’s forearm with one hand, digging [her] fingers in and reaching for [her] knife with the other just as [she] kicked [Saba] in the shin. Saba stumbled back a few steps, and [Andromeda] heard the shinkt of a breaking plate, a sharp, warm pain rising up [her] fingers that the rest of the cold house might’ve numbed.” Andromeda makes it out of the event largely unscathed, though Saba loses an arm. The scene is described over a chapter. 
  • Andromeda and her friends attempt to rid the house of the Evil Eye Manifestation using Kelela as bait. Kelela is attacked by a hyena, and Andromeda “pulled [her] knife, dodging out of the way as the hyena backed out of [her] bedroom door, snapping its jaws and clawing at the fireplace poker Kelela was swinging at it . . . [Andromeda] stabbed the hyena in the back so it would turn on [her].” Kelela is wounded, but everyone else makes it out okay.  
  • After a particularly emotional day, Andromeda tries to leave the house, but Saba physically restrains her. “So [Andromeda] screamed, wordlessly, trying to aim the sound at [Saba’s] ear, and kicked. She had no hair to pull, no flesh to dig [her] nails into, but [Andromeda] managed to get knife from pocket and stab [Saba] in the back. [Andromeda] felt the break of pottery, [her] knife easily piercing through. [Andromeda] cocked back [her] knife to stab again, but [her] body went backward instead as Saba dropped [her] onto [her] back in the sand. . . This time when [Saba] picked [Andromeda] up she held [her] out at arm’s length, facing away from [Saba].” Neither is gravely injured at the end. 
  • When Andromeda asks Jember for advice on defeating the Manifestation, he explains that many debtera have suffered in trying to do so. “Only four debtera in history have survived their encounters with a hyena. All of them suffered nerve damage from their injuries. None of them could bear to touch another living person again. Three of them killed themselves before old age could.” 
  • During the final battle between Andromeda and the evil magic infesting the house, Andromeda and her friends are attacked multiple times. “Jember screamed again just as [Andromeda] finished [a thread for the amulet to defeat the Manifestation], and his body moved to let in more light. It was only a second, a breath. But [she] saw the hyena’s green eyes glint at [her], even as its jaws were sunk securely into Jember’s side. It threw Jember across the room, and [Andromeda] leaped up and ran to the desk, climbing on top of it, watching it the entire time. [She] saw blood drip from its mouth. Saw it charge at [Andromeda].” Jember dies of his injuries. Andromeda and Magnus survive unharmed. The scene is described over a chapter. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When getting hired at the Manor, the servants ask what it’s like to train under someone as talented as her mentor, Jember. She thinks to herself, “Why would you want to spend any amount of time with that heartless addict?” She does not elaborate. 
  • When Magnus and Andromeda have their first dinner together, “Magnus took a bottle of wine out from under the table and uncorked it, pouring it far higher than one serving.” They do not become intoxicated. 
  • Before Andromeda goes to visit Jember at the church, she stops by a market and buys wine, taste-testing it first. “For a moment [Andromeda] just marveled at the honey wine before indulging in a gulp. Sweet, then bitter, a little spiced, burning. It made [her] a little light-headed. Last time [she]’d lived with Jember was the last time [she]’d had any. . . it tasted like home. And at that thought, the wine turned to poison in [her] mouth.” She puts the bottle into her bag and leaves for the church without drinking more.  
  • When she returns to the Manor, Magnus takes the bottle from her without asking her what it is and drinks some. “‘It’s honey wine,’ [Andromeda] said, taking the bottle from him and cradling it close. He coughed, then dry heaved like a cat with a hairball. [She] rolled [her] eyes. ‘That’s what you get for not asking before taking a sip.’” 
  • Returning to ask Jember for advice, Andromeda wanders into his bedroom. She describes it: “glass bottles and jars littered the bed, and there was a paper bag of pills on the side table that were most definitely illegal.” There is no description of him taking the pills or an indication that he is using them.  
  • Before their confrontation with the Manifestation, Andromeda asks Jember to tell her the story of how he found her, an orphan, on the streets. He starts the story by saying, “I was on my way to drink myself to death . . . ” Andromeda stops him, asking him to restart without the admission of depressed and suicidal ideation. 

Language  

  • Words like damn, stupid, and hell appear frequently. 
  • Occasionally, “dick” is used as an insult  

Supernatural  

  • Within These Wicked Walls follows Andromeda in her work as a debtera, someone who rids sites of dark magic and supernatural spirits. She describes her job as “[leading] the worship services with hymns and chants, as well as [performing] all the duties of the priests, without benefiting from being ordained or esteemed. We were healers. Artisans. Trained to attune ourselves to the spirit world deeper than anyone else would dare to.” Due to this, there is magic and supernatural content described or unfolding on almost every page. Andromeda makes contact with spirits, called Manifestations, multiple times, and they even occasionally cause violence/death or permanent damage.  
  • Andromeda wears a magical amulet to protect herself from the Evil Eye. She “hid [her] amulet under [her] dress again, adjusting the collar so the metal chain wouldn’t show. It was a survival habit Jember had taught [her] to live by since the age of five: Protect your amulet better than it protects you.”  
  • The amulet is introduced in Chapter 1. Andromeda describes it as follows: “the Evil Eye was the first Manifestation of sin—namely jealousy and greed. In a constant state of longing, it latches on to any human who desires the same thing it does. Thriving crops, a random string of good luck, even receiving too many compliments could draw unwanted attention.” 
  • Andromeda finds evidence of evil spirits in supernatural signs, such as “random items falling off walls in one room. Strange ripples on the floor, like drops of water, in the next. A room that just seemed unnaturally covered in soot.” 
  • During one of the nights Andromeda stays at the Manor, Andromeda and Magnus are attacked by the house and Magnus almost drowns in blood. Andromeda “gaped at the bedroom, at what seemed to be blood filling the room from the floor up, like the swiftly rising tide of a river. Magnus was still in his bed, fast asleep. [She] slipped in through the crack [she]’d managed, the shifting of the liquid shutting the door behind [her]. . . [She] waded across the room through the quickly rising blood, the shield of [her] amulet pushing the blood away from [her] body.” She saves him, and they are both unscathed. This is another example of Manifestations.  
  • While at the Manor, Andromeda makes friends with a mute servant, Saba. She eventually comes to discover that Saba is Magnus’s mother, dead and reanimated to seem alive by the Manifestation. During a Manifestation, the Evil Eye takes control of Saba and uses her to attack Andromeda. Since she’s dead, she does so supernaturally. An example of this is when Saba’s arm falls off during the attack. Andromeda “looked quickly up to Saba, as she stood still, her right arm missing and hollow at the forearm, making her look like a beautiful, sad porcelain doll.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • Andromeda and her mentor, Jember, are debteras. This means that they exorcise Evil Manifestations of magic from buildings or sites. Exorcisms are typically used in Christianity to remove demons or holy spirits and send them back to Hell. In this book, the word “exorcise” is often used, but it refers to ghosts and dark magic rather than demons.  
  • Kelela believes Andromeda is an uneducated working woman. Andromeda tells her, “I actually read a few languages. One of the benefits of being raised in a church.” There is no detail about the church in this chapter, and Andromeda is not very outwardly religious. 
  • Andromeda goes to visit Jember at the church. “There were a handful of people standing in prayer in the direction of the altar, where Jember sat on the stairs constructing an amulet .  . . finally, the prayer was finished, and each worshipper made the sign of the cross on themselves, touching forehead to chest, shoulder to shoulder.”  
  • Before their final confrontation of the Manifestation, Andromeda asks Jember to help her calm down. Andromeda asks, “Can we pray together?” He responds with “God hasn’t heard me for quite some time.” They do not pray together, and the conversation evolves into other topics.  

Our Infinite Fates

Evelyn has lived a thousand lives, and in every one, she is hunted by the one she loves most. Arden, her soulmate, reincarnates in each of Evelyn’s lives and makes it his mission to find and kill her before their shared eighteenth birthday. However, by killing one another, they seal their fates as neither can live when the other dies. Their souls are inexplicably bound, and despite knowing their inevitable future, they keep falling in love.

In this most recent life, Evelyn’s little sister Grace has cancer, and Evelyn’s bone marrow is the cure. However, Evelyn will never get the chance to save her sister if Arden kills her before their eighteenth birthday, which is fast approaching. To save her sister, Evelyn decides to face Arden head-on, even though something has changed within him from their last life. She will somehow need to convince Arden not to kill her until the last possible moment, which is made more difficult by the fact that Arden knows the secret of why they must die while Evelyn has been kept in the dark for generations. To save Grace and possibly even herself, Evelyn will need to confront Arden once and for all, so they can have a real future together and enjoy a life truly lived.

Readers will be inspired by Evelyn, who, despite encountering continuous loss and the worst of humanity’s history, has a heart that remains vulnerable. Her belief in humanity and love is unchanged. The part that Arden most loves about Evelyn is that “they love over and over and over again, even though it can only ever end in tragedy. They love softly, and fiercely, and openly, and it’s the bravest thing [he] know[s]. The most human thing [he] know[s].” Evelyn is selfless, empathetic, and creative. She feels others’ pain as if it were her own and would not hesitate to put herself on the line to protect another. Her pure love will surely affect readers, and Evelyn’s experience will teach them to find and share love in their own lives.

Evelyn’s story would not be complete without Arden, her sister Grace, and her mom. Grace is stubborn, morbid, a dreamer, and charming. Their mother is strong and gentle, having been through so much grief, but raising two lovely girls despite it. Finally, Arden is a stunning patchwork of centuries of experiences, or rather, the same soul gaining new depth with every life lived. Arden loves poetry, collecting words from every language he’s spoken, and caring for nature. These three enrich Evelyn’s life and give her the strength to fight against her seemingly predetermined fate, where she and Arden must fight, die, separate, and reunite all without Evelyn understanding why. Without them, Evelyn would not be herself. Steven beautifully captures the complexity that makes up a person through her exploration of Evelyn’s thoughts and the glimpses of Arden’s and Evelyn’s past fundamental and complicated experiences in the interlude chapters.

Our Infinite Fates is, at its core, a celebration of life and love, transcending the supernatural and the constant cycle of death. Evelyn continues to love and find happiness because “big joy and small joy are the same.” When she was reborn in France, she was on her way to France’s tennis championship before WW1 started, but she feels the joy from that moment was the same as reading her little sister a bedtime story. Evelyn takes things as they come and enjoys the small moments that life presents. A person doesn’t need an all-encompassing love like Arden and Evelyn’s to know love or to share it with others. Additionally, the author makes a point of keeping love all-inclusive, as Arden and Evelyn love each other’s souls and not their physical form. Arden tells Evelyn that he feels more like a boy inside, but Evelyn says she feels like neither gender, just herself. They both experience same-sex love in multiple lives and heterosexual love in other ones. Additionally, Evelyn and Arden are reborn in many different cultures and circumstances across the centuries, and Steven uses that to spread knowledge and inclusivity of other cultures and peoples.

The conclusion to Our Infinite Fates is sweet and hopeful, as Evelyn and Arden are reborn with no knowledge of each other, but they still find each other in their new forms. Their journey is one of insurmountable grief and pure selfless love. Love, like Evelyn said, will come back no matter the form or time. Our Infinite Fates teaches readers about an irrefutable fact about humans, that “to love was to live, and to live was to die.” However, it celebrates that humanness in each person and encourages readers to continue living hopeful, vulnerable, human lives.

Sexual Content

  • Evelyn and Arden meet in El Salvador, and as they fight, Evelyn ends up straddling Arden. “He groaned blearily as I straddled him, knees planted either side of his waist, and some traitorous part of me throbbed at the feel of his body beneath mine.”
  • Evelyn and Arden lived in Siberia. In this life, they are in love and sitting together out in the woods. They kiss but then stop because they are too cold. “We angled our bodies together, and as his lips brushed mine. . .”
  • Another life is recounted, this time in Nauru. Evelyn describes their relationship now that they are both girls. “We’d both been born girls, in this life, and I adored the softness of it, all sweet tongues and gentle edges. . . stealing kisses beneath the stars, from lacing our fingers together like ribbons in plain sight.”
  • Arden has a nightmare in Nauru, and Evelyn tries to comfort them. “I pressed myself against her back, burying my face into the thick dark hair at her neck, wrapping an arm around her gentle waist. Warmth spread through me, halfway between pleasure and ache. . . the gentle tug in my lower belly was becoming harder to ignore.”
  • Evelyn, in her current life in Wales, recalls her time with Arden in their other lives. Evelyn “thought of sweet, stubbled kisses in a rank trench. Of our bodies folded around each other on a salt-licked fishing trawler. Of thick fur bedding in darkest Siberia, of my head on a broad chest, of forehead kisses and laced fingers.”
  • Evelyn meets Arden again in their Algerian life. Arden comforts Evelyn. “The sensation of his body against mine after seventeen long years brought a familiar yearning, an insistent tug behind my ribs and below my belly.”
  • Evelyn describes her early crush on Dylan, her mother’s farmhand, who turns out to be Arden. “The flutter in my lower belly, the love he had for the earth. . . they were hard to dismiss as adolescent lust and simple coincidence.”
  • When they were soldiers in the trenches of World War I, Arden and Evelyn comforted each other and kissed. Arden “pressed his lips to the top of my head, not caring who saw. . . It was a wild furnace in which romantic love was often forged and, as the war raged on, many were becoming more brazen about it.”
  • After meeting Arden in Wales and realizing he wants to kill her, Evelyn is not upset but rather desperate to hold Arden. She recalls intimate moments they had in other lives. “But I didn’t. I ached for him. I ached to go to him, to feel his heartbeat against mine, to press my face into his neck and just sob and sob and sob. Memories came to me as visceral images: a head on my shoulder as we lay beneath a goat-hide tent in the desert; two ravenous bodies pressed together in a steaming hammam.”
  • Evelyn and Arden cross paths in Austria-Hungary, and Evelyn has missed Arden intensely. “I wanted to nestle my face into his neck, to breathe in the papery soft skin there. I wanted to talk, to touch, to share.”
  • Evelyn and Arden are two girls who have been committed to an asylum in the United States. Arden returns after undergoing cold water therapy. “Her nude figure came sprinting back down the corridor towards my cage. . . A thick snare of pubic hair, her legs bowed and angular. Eyes lupine, feral.”
  • Evelyn, in the asylum, manipulates a nasty guard who wants to sleep with her. To escape, Evelyn steals his keys. “I crawled on hands and knees towards the place where he knelt, playing up the helpless prisoner angle. Sure enough, the very tip of his tongue brushed the corner of his lips, and I knew I had him. . . I reached out a filthy hand and stroked his cheek, tracing a fingertip down the dull ridge of his jaw. . . ‘Do you want me?’ he asked, reaching a hand through the cage and cupping my breast.”
  • Evelyn tells the asylum guard, Howard, she’ll sleep with him tomorrow, but she plans to escape by then. “‘Tomorrow,’ I whispered, grabbing at his crotch just hard enough to hurt. . . After a long, lecherous stare, Howard got to his feet, adjusted the rigid bulge in his pants.”
  • Evelyn’s mother tells her about her own experiences when she was about eighteen, “I was having sex in car parks at your age.”
  • Evelyn recalls her time in Constantinople, where her and Arden were in a public bath together. “I remembered something suddenly and vividly – our naked perfumed bodies, both of us male, a rough hand at my waist in the sweet steam of the hammam, a desperate tongue flickering over mine, the desire so raw and intense that my entire body was flooded with heat.”
  • Evelyn again recalls their lives in Constantinople. “I tried not to think of our naked bodies pressed together in an Ottoman hammam, hot and breathless and desperate.”
  • In Norway, Arden saves Evelyn from angry villagers, and she kisses him. “I pulled my head back from his neck, cupped his rough, stubbled face in my hands, and kissed him.”
  • In Constantinople, Arden has been selected to join the Sultan’s harem and is being prepared for the role. Arden says, “The High Porte has been grooming me rather heavy-handedly.”
  • Before Arden becomes a part of the sultan’s harem, Evelyn and Arden want to have a moment for themselves. “His grip on my ribs tightened, desperate and raw. . . As our lips finally touched. . . every inch of me shivered before igniting into flame, and his tongue flickered over mine and I moaned. My hand went to his hip. . . and as the coarse breath slipped from his throat, there was a gathering in my lower belly. A pulsing of desire. . . I was almost dizzy with the need to feel him inside me.”
  • Evelyn and Arden are in Wales, about to turn eighteen, and they finally decide to make love. Evelyn “fumbled with the belt until it was undone, then slid open the top button of his jeans and rested my hand on the flat plane of his lower stomach. . . When he softly, so softly, tugged down my jeans, my underwear brushed against me and I shuddered, sighed, yearned.” This is described over three pages.

Violence

  • In the prologue, Evelyn and Arden are getting married in an earlier life, but Arden still kills Evelyn. “Without pause, the bride swiped her marital blade across his throat, opening a mouth-like slit from which blood choked and gurgled. He grabbed for breath, but none came.”
  • In El Salvador, Arden finds Evelyn and puts a knife to her throat. Evelyn fights off Arden. “I slammed my head back as hard as I could into his face, crunching his nose with a bloody spurt. He grunted and fell backwards, the knife slipping away from my throat. . . The blade slit his throat right as we both tumbled into the pool. Body thrashing, he choked on the water and his own gurgling blood.” They both die.
  • In one life, Evelyn’s father is killed by a drunk driver. “Pinned against a stone wall, crushed until blood wept from his eyes, until everything in him ruptured and burst.”
  • When Evelyn was around eight, she would start to remember some of her past lives, including “a knife to the chest, a garrote round my neck, poison in my heart – and I would remember.”
  • Evelyn is in the hospital, thinking about why she hates needles. Then she remembers that she “once had [her] torso blown open by a grenade.”
  • Evelyn is nervous that Arden could be anywhere and kill her with, “A knife in my back, a bullet in my head.”
  • In their Siberian life, Arden says he loves Evelyn even after she kills him with “the crossbow at Mount Fuji. Right through the eye.”
  • In Nauru, Evelyn and Arden are both girls in love. Evelyn remembers all the violence they endured when they were of the same sex throughout the years. “Loving someone of the same sex wasn’t without its challenges, of course – throughout history we’d faced the constant threat of flogging and branding, castration and execution.”
  • Evelyn kills Arden in Nauru before he can do it to her. “[Evelyn] pushed [Arden] forward with all my might. The shudder ripped through me as her chest was impaled on the coral. We died right as the sun fell below the edge of the world.”
  • Evelyn remembers their deaths in Siberia, “and how it felt to be slowly, fatally poisoned.”
  • In Evelyn’s life in Algeria, her father “was shot on the beach.”
  • Evelyn is stuck in the trenches of World War I, and her “existence had become barbed wire and stacked sandbags and stepping over the lifeless corpses of your friends. It was reeking mud and unwashed bodies, the metallic tang of gunpowder and blood.”
  • Arden and Evelyn meet in the trenches where they “sustained several days of harsh enemy fire,” and suffer “big losses and bigger grief.”
  • Evelyn runs onto the battlefield where a “grenade detonated, and I was torn apart.”
  • In Wales, Evelyn is on a date with a man named Ceri, whom she thinks is Arden. Thinking he’s Arden, Evelynants to tie him up and stop him from killing her. “While he was still facing the other way, I swung at his head. Not so hard that the blunt force trauma would kill him, but enough that the flat side of the shovel would knock him clean out before he realized what was happening. Thunk. He fell straight to the ground. I thought of fallen soldiers and blood-soaked trenches, discarded helmets and blank stares, and, for a moment, I felt like I might throw up.”
  • Evelyn ties the innocent Ceri up, “wrapping his arms behind it and tightly securing his wrists with another rope.” Ceri is starting to wake up after being knocked out by Evelyn, “The body starting to shift sluggishly. The innocent body I had knocked unconscious and hauled here like an animal.” She discovers he is not Arden and lets him go.
  • In Austria-Hungary, Arden talks about his father, a “decorated hussar. . . I mean he committed horrific atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and they love him for it.”
  • Evelyn remembers how she died in her last life in India: “As Arden withdrew the inevitable knife, her final words had been: ‘Until we meet again, my love.’”
  • Evelyn, fed up with Arden and their cycle of pain, kills him. “I pulled out the gold pistol tucked in my breast pocket and shot [Arden] neatly in the head.”
  • Arden makes fun of Evelyn and her kidnapping attempt and references the procedures they endured in the asylum, “A very sane course of action. It’s a real shame that lobotomy in Vermont didn’t take.”
  • Evelyn is in the asylum, Allum, which has become a place of violence. “Once Allum’s founders realized the money that could be made on their cattle, the asylum quickly became an abattoir. It hired less and less qualified staff, who employed brute force in lieu of true medical expertise. It fell victim to chronic overcrowding – naked, unwashed patients stuffed into every corner of every room.”
  • Evelyn describes the cruel “therapies” she and Arden had to suffer through. “The ice baths from which you never truly warmed up. The rotational therapy, in which you were strapped to a chair suspended from the ceiling and spun around over a hundred times in a single minute. The starvation.”
  • Arden tries to get them out of the asylum and into the next life by killing Evelyn. “A sharp medical instrument in [Arden’s] outstretched hand . . . [Arden] was only inches away from plunging it into my throat.” Evelyn doesn’t die.
  • Evelyn “watched an orderly take [Arden] away, thrashing like she was being led to the gallows, all the way to the northern wing. She came back a few hours later, but she never truly came back.” After trying to kill Evelyn, Arden is taken away. It is implied that she had a violent surgery, such as a lobotomy.
  • After escaping the asylum, Evelyn has a vision “of pleading and begging so animalistic I couldn’t tell where it came from. Pain so large it took on a form of its own. Pain so absolute it was like the darkest pitch of night.”
  • Back in Wales, Arden handcuffs Evelyn to his bed to keep her from running away, and Evelyn is reminded of the asylum. “Grunting as the cuff pulled awkwardly at my wrist. . . In a second I was back in that awful asylum, restrained like a feral beast, prodded and dehumanized and humiliated, frozen and starved and drugged. Arms strapped to waists in starched white straitjackets, patches of drool on the collars.”
  • In the Dutch East Indies, Arden finds Evelyn and Evelyn “awoke to a garrotte at [her] throat.”
  • In the Dutch East Indies, Arden slams into Evelyn, and they fall off the ship they are on. “The brutal harbour edge came to meet our fragile skulls.” They both die and then reincarnate.
  • Arden saves Evelyn from angry villagers in Norway who want to brand her a witch. “The man wielding the leg irons was knocked out with a single blow to the back of the head.”
  • In a bookstore in Wales, Arden sees a book cover and remembers his life during the Siege of Jerusalem. “We poisoned the wells and cut down the trees surrounding the city, but nothing we did could hold back the tide of Crusaders. Seeing so many of my people slaughtered.”
  • Arden tells Evelyn about one of his nightmares, in which he killed her at their wedding. “I still see your throat opening like a bleeding mouth whenever I try to fall asleep.”
  • In the Mali Empire, Evelyn learns that her best friend is Arden and that he will kill her like all her other lives. “A stone to the temple in Samarqand, a rope round my neck in Al-Andalus, a pillow over my face in deepest Iceland.”
  • In Northern Song, Evelyn is a prince and sacrifices herself to save Arden’s father. Evelyn “threw [herself] to the ground beneath the bamboo, and as the pain rained down on [her] back I knew, somehow, somewhere, I had felt such agonies before; had felt the skin and flesh on my back scream out, felt the furious stripes of pain all the way to the bone.”
  • Arden tells Evelyn how they were tortured and forced to reap souls. “We were put on the hot coals until we obliged.”
  • While talking to Arden about killing each other, she suddenly remembers killing Arden in Argentina. “Arden’s throat, narrow and feminine, straining and bulging against my calloused palms.”
  • In the Underrealm, Evelyn tries to kill the Mother, the person responsible for her and Arden’s lives. “The bone shard plunged into the back of her neck. There was no spurt of blood, but rather a puff of pale-grey mist emanating from the wound; the same immaterial fog that slicked around her ankles. Wild arms grappled at me, then she weakened like a rag doll. I wrenched the makeshift blade free of her neck and then plunged again, this time into the back of her shoulder. Wrench, lift, bone into her heart.”
  • The Mother orders her servants to put Arden on a bed of hot coals. “Arden’s back was slammed against the hot coals, and coiling bonds appeared at the corners of the terrible bed. The servants secured them around Arden’s wrists and ankles. The coals glowed a thousand times brighter than they had before. . . And Arden was pressed bare against the source.”
  • In Evelyn and Arden’s original life in Greece, the Mother poisons and kills Arden. “A cruel froth foaming at her wine-red mouth, her limbs shuddering and smacking against the ground like a crazed puppet, her eyes devoured by their own bloodied whites.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • In Siberia, Arden poisons Evelyn with “cherry liqueur, spiked with sleepy poison.” They both die.
  • Evelyn describes her need to talk to Arden again because she has felt so alone without his conversation: “I needed more, like an addict craved the poppy.”
  • While in the asylum in America, Arden is drugged. “Her ferocious eyes glazed and vacant from whatever experimental drug they’d pumped into her.”
  • Another patient in the asylum has also been drugged. “He’d been dosed with a different drug. . . but the effect was largely the same. Less drool, but nothing behind the eyes.”
  • In Wales, Evelyn learned she “was allergic to general anesthesia the hard way. At the age of six, I’d gone to have a ruptured appendix removed and ended up in anaphylactic shock.”
  • In Evelyn and Arden’s original life, the Mother uses poison to kill Arden.

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes fuck, shit, bullshit, damn, and hell.

Supernatural

  • Evelyn and Arden’s fate of reincarnation is due to Evelyn making a deal with the Mother, a mysterious figure who feeds off suffering and love. To save Arden, Evelyn promised they would reap souls after turning eighteen. As long as they die before eighteen, they can continue to reincarnate and not reap souls.
  • At Evelyn and Arden’s wedding, the officiant’s “eyes glowing like crucibles. Her lined face was washing itself smooth, and her nails lengthened, thickened, blackened.” The officiant turns into the Mother, who wants to drag Evelyn and Arden to the Underrealm.
  • Evelyn ponders who the women that appeared on the battlefield in World War I could be: “a forest witch, a bog demon, some ancient god we had angered long ago.” The woman had “sheets of white hair [that] fell around her cool face, black nails curling away from her fingers like withered fossils.”
  • In Evelyn and Arden’s second life, Evelyn is forced to reap a soul or be tortured herself, so she makes an offer to Arden to save his sister in exchange for his soul. “If you agree to let me save your sister, you will be taken to the Underrealm. You will be nailed to burning coals for seven days and seven nights. Your pain will feed the Mother, and allow her to grow stronger. You will not die. . . And then, for the rest of your mortal days, you will serve the Mother as I do. You will reap souls.”
  • In one life, after turning eighteen, Evelyn and Arden are pulled to the Underrealm, where the Mother lives. “There was a slow falling of ash from an imperceptible sky, rows of jagged white trees, and a dark, desolate ground that sprawled out like endless tundra. Everything was too stark, too smooth, the ground like black glass and the trees like pale marble.”
  • Evelyn and Arden encounter the Mother in the Underrealm. She was “sitting atop a natural dais of raised ground, her throne, too, was made of bones. The shards had been unnaturally twisted around each other into the shape of roses, their stems woven together like braids. A curious substance swirled around her feet, a dark, metallic fog, as though the evil were seeping out of her in noxious whorls. A dozen hooded figures swanned around her, spectral and almost floating as they sank to her feet in prayer. Devils.”
  • After trying to kill the Mother, Evelyn sees that the Mother is healed and learns that “Arden’s suffering. Not only could it sustain the Mother, but it could also heal her.”
  • The Mother makes one final offer to Evelyn and Arden. She offers freedom from being reaped if they offer her all their love. Suffering sustains the Mother, but love is a far more potent substance that the Mother can survive on. Before this moment, the Mother has been living off Evelyn and Arden’s love and suffering for centuries: “The substance that poured from my chest was shimmering, ephemeral, the color of pearls and golden barley and every sunrise I had ever seen.”

Spiritual Content

  • Evelyn shares with the audience her personal belief system, rooted in love. “In truth, a part of me believed that everyone I’d ever loved would come back to me again in another life, in another form. They wouldn’t necessarily know that we had met before, and nor would I, but that energy would still thrum between us, that recycled love, that historic bond.”
  • In France, Evelyn meets a psychic whose words Evelyn still believes in: “lost souls were drawn to the love still felt for them by the living.”
  • Evelyn does not have a religion, but she has a belief system. “And so, in the absence of any abiding religious convictions, this was the one blind faith I had: that love was a physical force, and it was never wasted. Once it was called out into the universe, it would echo back to us forever.”
  • In Constantinople, Evelyn and Arden discuss their beliefs about God. Arden says their fate defies every religion, but if he had been born in Constantinople originally, he would have devoted himself to Allah, “Not just in fate, but…in God, I suppose. If I had been born here and only here, I think I would devote myself to Allah. The teachings are beautiful, and I often find myself swept away on their current. But I was not born only here. And what happens to us … it defies the teachings of the Qu’ran.”
  • What happens to Evelyn and Arden cannot be explained by any belief system. “Well, the fact we reincarnate, for a start. We do not lie in our graves awaiting our Day of Judgement. And there’s the mechanics of it all. For Muslims – and Christians, too – the soul is breathed into the body by God at some point shortly after conception.”

by Annamaria Lund

Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis

In the early 1930s, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party began seizing power in Germany. In the city of Cologne, three young children — Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud — watched their country change overnight. Their parents and neighbors, working-class and unabashed communists and socialists, were being arrested, beaten, and sent to labor camps. The Nazis’ ever-tightening grip was a constant contradiction to everything they believed in. 

With the outbreak of World War II, Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud, now teenagers, felt more emboldened than ever before to resist the Nazis. They join a resistance group called the Edelweiss Pirates, consisting of hundreds of young Germans who refuse to wear the Hitler Youth uniform. As Pirates, they sang illegal songs, went on unauthorized hiking trips in the countryside, and began small acts of resistance, such as distributing anti-Nazi flyers throughout Cologne under the cover of Allied bombing runs.  

As the war raged on and the Nazis became more desperate to win, the Edelweiss Pirates became bolder in their acts of defiance: committing acts of sabotage, stealing weapons and rations, and even shooting at SS officers. Dealing with the Pirates’ growing influence became the Gestapo’s top priority. Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud were arrested, brutally beaten, and interrogated. With death hovering over them, the Edelweiss Pirates continued to resist the Nazis despite the dangers. 

Flowers in the Gutter is a fascinating nonfiction piece that tells the largely untold story of the youth resistance in Germany during World War II. The book is broken into seven parts, beginning in Cologne in 1932 and ending in the winter of 2000. Each part is divided into mini-chapters, and told from the perspective of either Fritz, Jean, or Gertrud. They are ordinary kids from working-class families who yearn for freedom and are forced to take extreme measures to achieve it. Fritz was initially a member of the Hitler Youth but grew to resent their authoritarianism; he is the most determined and rebellious of the group, sabotaging the Nazis in broad daylight. At a young age, Jean witnessed his father being attacked by the Nazis. He is a thoughtful boy who loves to sing with the Pirates. Gertrud is a young girl who, along with the other female Pirates, defied the rigid gender norms of Nazi Germany.  Gaddy puts the reader into the teenagers’ shoes, and the fact that this is a true story makes the book even more immersive.  

What makes Flowers in the Gutter such a compelling read is the seamless blending of thorough research and engaging storytelling. The stories of Fritz, Jean, and Gertrud feel personal and grounded and are accompanied by contemporary documents and historical facts. Through her writing, Gaddy captures the internal conflicts the teens experience, such as dealing with loss, fear, and the increasing costs of resistance. The teens also encounter many external battles against the Gestapo, Hitler Youth, and Nazi Germany as a whole. The inclusion of both internal and external conflicts allows today’s readers to connect with and understand the Edelweiss Pirates.  

Flowers in the Gutter is a thorough and well-researched book that tells an important story and raises the question of what constitutes resistance. After the war, the Allies and the West German government initially dismissed the Edelweiss Pirates and other youth groups, labeling them as criminals. It wasn’t until decades later that the government formally recognized the Pirates and commemorated their courage. As Gaddy concludes, “There are always more stories to be told, if we take the time to listen.”  

Sexual Content 

  • In 1939, Gertrud and her mother visited the women’s society’s office. While there, “a woman told Gertrud about the role and duty of a German woman, which was, put simply, to have children- ‘Aryan’ children — preferably with an SS man.” 
  • Gertrud told her friend, Lolli, about a boy she liked named Gustav. Lolli asked, “So, have you and Gustav. . .” Gertrud turned red because “they didn’t normally talk about guys, and they definitely didn’t talk about sex.” Furthermore, “‘Normal’ sexuality fit into a small box in Germany: anything other than being heterosexual and cisgender was considered deviant.” 
  • Before an interrogation in 1944, Jean noticed an SS man and a female stenographer kissing. “Jean thought they looked like they were going to have sex. He couldn’t watch; he was so embarrassed.”

Violence 

  • In 1936, Jean and his father were staying at his grandparents’ apartment when suddenly two SS officers barged in. When they located Jean’s father, they began beating him as they arrested him. Jean, who was hiding in another room, “could hear everything — every blow, every cry of pain, every plea to stop.” 
  • During an altercation with the Hitler Youth in 1940, one of the members bumped into Gertrud. “She felt a tug on her scalp. He had her hair . . . the front of her neck strained as he pulled his hand back and her head came with it.” This escalated into a brawl between the Pirates and the Hitler Youth. After the fighting, Gertrud noticed that two other Pirates named Jus and Banjo Willi were injured. “Blood trickled down from both their nostrils and dripped off their chins. She hoped their noses weren’t broken.” 
  • In the winter of 1941, Jean and his grandparents ran to a bunker as the air raid sirens began to blare. The next morning, they returned to their apartment building, which was devastated by the bombing. “People were there, cleaning the rubble and pulling out bodies.” Jean found one of his neighbors who survived, but her daughter did not. “She just screamed over and over again, ‘Why do I have to live when my child is dead!’” 
  • Gaddy writes about the mass deportations in Cologne during the spring of 1942, noting “44,000 people are sent from the Messe to Theresienstadt, a camp-ghetto where they face almost certain death to disease or further transport to extermination camps like Auschwitz.” 
  • One day in spring 1942, Fritz discovered a bunker “where a bomb had broken through the shelter and destroyed everything — and everyone — inside.” Fritz “couldn’t imagine the gruesome scene where people realized they were about to die.” 
  • Gertrud is detained at the Gestapo’s Cologne office, the EL-DE House. While there, she was brutally interrogated. The Gestapo wanted to know the names of the Edelweiss Pirates. “Who were they? No answer. A blow to the side of the head. Where did they meet? No answer. Another smack.” Gertrud was hit multiple times but wasn’t seriously injured and was released the next day. 
  • Gertrud was soon arrested again. “According to Gertrud, they hit her so many times in so many places that her skin was shades of blue, violet, red, or green, depending on where they’d hit her and how hard.” 
  • In October 1943, Fritz was arrested at the EL-DE House. He and about a dozen other boys were “whipped, punched, and verbally abused.” 
  • After being transported to another facility, a guard punished Fritz and two others for whistling. He was hit over the head by a guard’s baton. “Fritz heard Emil crying and screaming. They all knew they couldn’t fight back; they just had to accept what was happening.”  
  • During an interrogation, Fritz remained tight-lipped when asked who distributed the anti-Nazi leaflets. A man with a baton hit him, saying, “Open your mouth, or I’ll kill you!” 
  • After being released from prison, Fritz was forced to work at a Ford factory. He noticed that one guard “was particularly sadistic with the starving forced laborers. When he caught someone, he’d shove their faces into the bowls and hit them on the back of the head. Fritz saw another guard kick a pregnant laborer in the belly for talking back. Others were simply worked to death.” 
  • Fritz, accompanied by his mother, was called back to the EL-DE House for questioning. When his mother defended him, an officer choked her. “Her color drained from her face and her lips turned from red to blue. She gasped for air.” 
  • In 1944, two Pirates named Barthel and Lang discussed how much further they could go. “We gotta get these party fat cats out of the way,” said Barthel. “‘What you mean. . . ’ Lang stuck his index finger and thumb out from his fist and made a shooting motion.” The implication is that they were thinking about escalating by killing certain Nazis. Later, when chased by SS officers, Barthel “pulled out his gun from his pocket and fired two or three shots in the direction of the patrol.”  
  • One day, Jean opened his apartment door expecting his friend but was instead met with a Gestapo officer, who asked where a Pirate named Ferdi Steingrass was. When Jean hesitated to answer, the officer “suddenly hit Jean in the face so hard that he flew backward into the cupboard, smashing the glass window.” Jean was bleeding from the back of his head due to this assault. 
  • Gestapo Officer Joseph Hoegen brutally interrogated Barthel. Hoegen’s “interrogation techniques included laying Barthel with his belly on the seat of a chair, placing a cord around his neck and a gag in his mouth so he couldn’t scream, and then beating him with chair legs until he couldn’t feel or think anything.” Barthel admitted that these interrogations broke him, forcing him to tell the Gestapo key details about the Pirates’ operations, in order to stop the pain. 
  • Jean, while imprisoned, noted that “the Gestapo men seem to take pleasure from making the prisoners hurt.” 
  • In November 1944, a group of Edelweiss Pirates were publicly hanged in Cologne. “Hangings aren’t supposed to happen in a public place like this, but the Nazis were desperate and wanted to show any resistance in this neighborhood what would happen if they continued.” Describing the hanging, Gaddy writes, “Instead of an instant death, strangling by hanging can last as long as twenty minutes.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • One night, twenty Pirates, including Gertrud, met up in an old German tavern. “Spread out across the checkered tablecloths were light and dark beers in big steins. Sometimes the girls mixed the beers with apple juice for a drink called schorle.” 

Language 

  • In 1940, Fritz, then a member of the Nazi Youth, was tired of being obedient to the Nazis. “This was bullshit, and he didn’t want to do it anymore.” 
  • A Pirate named Sepp wrote graffiti that read, “IS YOUR NOSE STILL FULL OF BROWN SHIT?” 
  • During Gertrud’s Gestapo interrogation, she was verbally abused. She was told she was a “piece of shit,” as well as being called a “slut”, a “bastard”, a “whore”, and a “devious bitch.” 
  • When returned to his cell after an interrogation, Fritz yelled, “How could you say such things and have done this to me! You’re fucking crazy! You assholes, do you know what they did to me?” 
  • When Fritz and his friend Bubbes walked past a group of starving Russian prisoners, Bubbes said, “These Nazi shits.” 
  • In September 1944, Fritz was sent to a “reeducation camp.” Accurately, Fritz thought, “Reeducation was bullshit; this place was a forced labor camp and children were the forced laborers.”

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • Two Pirates, brothers Bub and Wolfgang, were half-Jewish. Bub recalls being with his aunt at the train station when “family friends and the rabbi were loaded on trains for the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, friends they never saw again.” 

by Nicholas Paragano 

Fierce

Learn all about Aly Raisman’s journey from watching the Olympics as a child on her living room floor, to competing on the 2012 and 2016 USA Olympic gymnastics teams. Aly Raisman began her gymnastics career at eighteen months old in Needham, Massachusetts, taking part in a “Mommy and Me” class. By the age of six, Aly had made her studio’s pre-team, a gymnastics team that prepares young kids for future competitions. From there, her dedication and passion for the sport allowed her to continue to progress.  

Fierce delves into the hardships and triumphs that Aly Raisman faced on her way to the Olympics. From coming in fourth place – one spot away from a medal – at multiple competitions, to feeling tears stream down her face as she realized she won the silver medal in the all-around at the 2016 Olympics, this book gives an in-depth look at the time and dedication it takes to be a high-level athlete.       

Raisman explains her routines and the structure of each competition in a clear, beginner-friendly way. For example, Aly describes the competitive process of qualifying to become an elite gymnast. She explains the process of qualifiers, and how it involves a “compulsory. Compulsories are routines where gymnasts demonstrate that they can perform basic skills with good form.” These explanations make the book easy to understand, even for those unfamiliar with the nuances of gymnastics. Fans of the sport will be pleased with getting an inside look at what it takes to compete at a national level, while newcomers can enjoy learning about various aspects of the sport.  

Though the book is likely to resonate most with young kids with a passion for gymnastics, the level of commitment and athleticism that Aly Raisman demonstrates will feel relatable to any young competitor. Aly recalls moments where she felt left out at school because everyone was discussing their fun weekend plans that she could not partake in because of her busy practice schedule. However, she was confident that the sacrifices that she was making would allow her to achieve her greatest goal of being an Olympian. This dedication will be inspirational and relatable to any athlete.  

Chapter 25, titled “The Road to Rio,” speaks about Aly Raisman’s journey in gaining her confidence before the 2016 Olympic trials. The chapter includes twenty-two photos, ranging from Aly’s childhood all the way up to her time competing at the 2016 Olympics. Each photo also features a caption that explains what is happening in the image. Fans of the gymnast will enjoy getting this inside glimpse into Aly’s life.  

While most of the book describes her preparation for competition, Aly spends a chapter explaining the sexual assault that she and many of her teammates faced from USA Gymnastics physician, Larry Nassar. She states that she will not go into detail about what Nassar did but makes it clear that Nassar made her and her teammates uncomfortable during many treatments. Aly writes this chapter “in hopes that it may help people who are going through something similar.” She encourages people to speak up if they ever feel that they are being taken advantage of, as everyone’s story matters.  

Fierce also delves into the themes of body issues and the struggle to find confidence. By middle school, Aly had muscular arms from training. Since most other middle schoolers were not yet developing muscles, this quickly became a topic of discussion among other students, causing her to wear long-sleeved shirts to school to avoid showing her arms. She describes encounters with strangers after the 2016 Olympics, where she was asked how much weight she had gained since she stopped competing. In the final pages of her book, Aly reveals that as she’s gotten older, she’s learned to “be confident and comfortable in my own skin. It’s still a learning process and sure, there are definitely days where I don’t feel confident, but every morning, I look in the mirror and try to focus on something that I like about myself.” Young readers will feel inspired by Aly’s strength when dealing with her body insecurity and will feel empowered to embrace their true selves as a result.   

The book’s final chapter is titled “The Fierce Guide to Life,” where Raisman lists twenty-one pieces of advice for all her readers to live by. From speaking up for yourself to being kind to others, this list of rules is a great ending piece to encourage young readers to reach their goals and make the most of their lives. This chapter encapsulates the book’s overall tone, as Raisman is telling her story to encourage her audience to always try their best. Though Aly speaks about her successes, she also outlines the hardships and injuries that she has faced along the way, proving that even the strongest athletes have hard days. These honest recounts, along with Aly’s positive attitude, will make the audience feel connected to her story. Overall, Raisman’s Fierce is an empowering autobiography that will inspire young readers to chase their dreams and remain true to themselves while doing so.  

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • Aly discusses the differences in how men and women are represented in the media, particularly in their clothing choices. “I heard an actress who had been raped say that when she shared her story, people sometimes asked, ‘What were you wearing?’ As though wearing a sexy outfit gave a man the right to disrespect her.”  
  • When Aly got treatment from USA Gymnastics athletic trainer Larry Nassar, she felt uncomfortable. “It was different with Larry. I would lie on the table, my hands involuntarily balling themselves into fists as his ungloved hands worked their way under my clothing.”  
  • At training camps, Aly and many of the other gymnasts thought the way Larry Nassar “touched us was weird. But he did it to so many of us that we assumed, blindly, that he must know something we didn’t.” 
  • After speaking with a private investigator, Aly began to realize that what she had experienced with Larry Nassar was sexual abuse. “I wanted to throw up. Realizing that you’ve been a victim of sexual abuse is a horrible, sickening feeling. I didn’t want to believe it, but it had all become clear.”  
  • Aly believes that her focus on training and competing caused her to live a sheltered life. “That’s probably why I didn’t question why Larry would sometimes close his eyes or seem out of breath when he worked on me. More than once I would make excuses for his strange behavior.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Madeline Hettrick 

The Inheritance Games

Avery Kylie Grambs was a practically invisible teenager before she mysteriously inherited billions of dollars.  

After her mother’s death, Avery lives with her older sister, Libby. Avery plans to graduate from high school, secure a scholarship, and help her sister with the bills. But then, Avery is summoned to Texas to hear the will of Tobias Hawthorne, the ninth-richest man in the world. Avery is incredibly confused because she’s never met the man before. When the will is read, Avery is shocked to discover that she has inherited nearly all of Tobias’s wealth, uprooting the lives of Tobias’s daughters, Skye and Zara, and Skye’s sons, Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. But there’s one condition—Avery must live in Hawthorne House for a year with all the people whose inheritances she just stole. 

Well, as they say, more money, more problems. Avery quickly finds herself with a target on her back as she faces threats from those within and outside of the Hawthorne family. As Avery spends more time with the Hawthornes, she gets to know the family and realizes that all of this is a puzzle waiting to be solved. With no idea who is rooting for or against her, Avery struggles to adjust to her new life while simultaneously trying to figure out why Tobias chose her to be his heir.  

Avery is strong-willed and fiercely independent. She is initially confused and stunned by this turn of events but keeps her head high and her wits about her. Her background is vastly different from that of everyone she interacts with in her new life, but she is able to adapt and hold her own. Avery is also incredibly kind-hearted and doesn’t spend any of her new money on herself; instead, she attempts to send money to a homeless man. Avery also tries to protect her sister from her abusive on-and-off boyfriend, Drake. Avery is kind to those important to her and draws firm boundaries with those who try to harm her. Readers will be drawn to these admirable traits and find Avery to be a likable protagonist. 

It is compelling to watch Avery take control of her new responsibilities and shake up the Hawthorne world as she makes changes and takes risks. The story also explores themes of family, love, and the importance of staying loyal to those who are important to you. The narrative is constantly evolving, leaving readers desperate to turn the page and discover the next piece of the puzzle.  

The Inheritance Games will captivate readers with its twists and turns, riddles, complex family relationships, and a touch of romance along the way. The story will keep readers on the edge of their seats with dozens of unanswered questions — some of which remain open-ended, perfectly leading to the second book in the series, The Hawthorne Legacy.  

Sexual Content 

  • On a flight, Libby, Avery’s sister, tells Avery, “Smoosh in and hold up your warm nuts.” Another woman on the flight gives them a dirty look, likely due to the innuendo.  
  • Skye, the Hawthorne grandsons’ mother, says she has lovely conversations with people and “that’s how [she] ended up with four sons. Wonderful, intimate conversations with four fascinating men.” 
  • Jameson, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, is shirtless when he meets Avery. She notes “the muscles in his back tensing, rippling over his shoulder blades.” She later looks at his abs and his hair before he brushes his bare arm against hers as he leaves. 
  • Xander, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, describes the Hawthorne House as if “an M.C. Escher drawing conceived a child with Leonardo da Vinci’s most masterful designs.” Avery cuts him off and says he can’t use any “baby-making” terminology to describe the house. 
  • Jameson tells Avery it would be a shame if they were related. Avery tells herself to stop thinking about his smile and looking at his lips. 
  • Max, Avery’s best friend, calls Jameson “faxable,” meaning “fuckable.” She says that he looks like he knows his way around a “fax machine” and is probably really great at “dialing numbers.” 
  • Thea, a girl who shows Avery around her new school, tells her that “everyone who likes boys wanted to date” the Hawthorne boys. 
  • Jameson says that Avery “doesn’t bite” and that “now that the issue of relatedness has been settled in the negative, I’d be game if she did.” 
  • Avery walks past Grayson, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, and brushes up against him, thinking, “even that split second of contact made me feel like I was going two hundred miles an hour.” She later finds it attractive that he uses the word “empirically” and then tells herself to get her mind out of the gutter. 
  • After someone shoots at Avery, she and Jameson kiss. He angles her face by pulling her hair while she imagines him shirtless like before. She thinks that the kiss “isn’t soft and sweet” and it’s what she needed. 
  • In order to stay safe, Max recommends that Avery “whack” the entire Hawthorne family, but she’s worried Avery will take that as a euphemism.  
  • Max tells Avery that she sent “personal photos” to her boyfriend, Jaxon – meaning nude photographs of herself. After they break up, he sends the photos to her parents. 
  • Nash, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, tells Avery that Zara, his aunt, and her husband had trouble conceiving, while his mom “would leave for a few months, come back pregnant. Wash, rinse, and repeat.” 
  • After protecting Avery from his mother, Avery brings her hand up to Nash’s chest and then his jaw. He tells her that he’ll always protect her, “But this. . . us. . . It can’t happen, Avery. I’ve seen the way Jameson looks at you.” 

 

Violence 

  • Avery notes that Drake, Libby’s boyfriend, has “a fondness for punching walls and extolling his own virtues for not punching Libby.”  
  • After hearing that Avery received most of the money in the will, Avery notes that Skye, the Hawthorne grandsons’ mother, looks “like she could kill someone. Literally.”  
  • Avery can’t be kicked out of the house she now owns. The family looks at her, and she thinks, “They’re going to kill me. Someone in this room is actually going to kill me.” Several times, Avery worries that the family will kill her. 
  • Libby goes back home, and when she returns, one of her eyes is bruised and almost swollen shut. It’s implied that Drake hit her.  
  • Libby says her mom used to hit her when she was really stressed. However, Libby says she understood because things were hard for her mother raising Libby alone; because of this, Libby adds that she tried to “make everything easier” for her mother.  
  • Xander, one of the Hawthorne grandsons, and three other boys leave the headmaster’s office, and they’re all bleeding from what Xander calls “Robot Battle Death Match Fight Club.” It’s unclear exactly what this is, and Xander does not elaborate. 
  • Avery’s attorney tells her that Toby, one of Tobias’s sons, and three other young people died in a fire at a vacation home. The nature of the fire is unclear. 
  • Angry after dinner one night, Jameson goes into the woods and punches a tree “multiple times.” His wounds are not described. 
  • One night in the woods, someone shoots at Avery. They don’t shoot her, but the bullets hit a tree, and she “got hit by a couple pieces of bark.” She thinks to herself, “I’m bleeding” and “Pain.” There’s a “stabbing pain” in her chest, and her “chest throbbed” where she had been hit by the bark. Afterwards, her bodyguard stitches her “skin back together.” 
  • When Tobias’s mother was younger, she played piano, but she got too much attention for it, and her husband broke her fingers. He was “met with a tragic accident not long after that.” 
  • Avery’s attorney and bodyguard plan to have Avery go out shopping to draw out the person who shot at her previously. It works and the shooter tries to run Avery’s car off of the road; no one is injured. 
  • It is later revealed that Drake was the one who shot at Avery, and Skye helped him plan it. 
  • Grayson tells Avery that he killed Emily, a girl he used to date. Later, he adds that if it weren’t for him, she “wouldn’t have been there or jumped.” Finally, he reveals that they went cliff diving, which didn’t kill her, but “her heart stopped from either the adrenaline, the altitude, or the change in pressure.”  
  • Jameson tells Avery and Grayson that he “watched Emily die” because she was gasping and hunched over, and he thought she was “tricking him.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Jameson is drunk when he first meets Avery.  
  • One evening, Jameson drinks to cope with the fact that he knows nothing about his father.  
  • At dinner, Skye gives a toast while she is drunk and slurring her words. 
  • After getting stitches from being shot at, Avery drinks tea that has a lot of whiskey in it. 

Language 

  • Profanity is infrequent and includes bastard, hell, ass, bitch, and screw. 
  • Max has very strict parents who watch her closely, so she and Avery frequently talk using words very similar to curses to avoid this. One example is Max texts Avery, “Are you foxing with me, beach?” 
  • Avery describes Tobias by saying, “There weren’t any polite terms for what Tobias Hawthorne was, other than really insert-expletive-of-your-choice-here filthy rich.” 
  • In mentioning playing a game, Grayson says, “And God help us, we played.” 
  • Avery and Xander try to get Jameson to join them. Xander says, “I can report that some very colorful language was used when I requested his presence.”

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • None 

by Alexa David-Lang 

The Iron Flower

Elloren Gardner knows the truth about her world, and there’s no going back. Elloren and her friends were only trying to do the right thing when they rescued a Selkie and freed a military dragon. The last thing they expected was to be thrust into a realm-wide underground resistance against Gardnerian conquest. After just a few months at Verpax University, she’s abandoned her Aunt Vyvian’s more conservative and discriminatory values for the Resistance and is more dedicated than ever to protecting her friends. However, to do so, she is forced to pretend that she’s the same pious, ignorant girl she was at orientation.  

As war looms over the continent of Erthia, Elloren is trying to secure safe passage to the east for her friends. But more Gardnerian soldiers descend on the University, led by none other than Lukas Grey. To complicate things, Elloren is stuck in her own little love triangle, between a Commander who is not all he seems and the mysterious Yvan Guriel, who contains more power and allure than anyone she’s ever known. As his magic calls to her, Elloren finds it more and more difficult to believe she’s truly powerless. However, the last thing Elloren and her friends expected was to be thrust into a realm-wide underground resistance against Gardnerian conquest. 

Outspoken and authentic, Elloren is an inspiring character who studies medicine to help others. She also flaunts University traditions as well as negotiates with queens and renegades. In The Iron Flower, Elloren has found her family, and her relationship with each member becomes increasingly complex. They bond during emotional and traumatic times, but their home soon begins to fall apart with every raid, riot, and murder. Elloren is a force of nature and a lovable character who defies everything she’s ever known for what she knows is right. Her narration is simple and clear, even with all the moving parts, the average reader can’t help but root for her.   

The Iron Flower picks up where The Black Witch leaves off, with Elloren joining the Resistance and Marcus Vogel being elected and cementing power as Gardneria’s High Mage and leader of their government and military. The story includes new and old characters, as well as multiple plot lines, which can make the novel overwhelming and confusing at times. While a lot happens outside of university grounds, Elloren’s own story moves slowly at the beginning, peppered with exposition dumps and emotional turmoil. However, everything speeds up about halfway in and the conclusion is packed with twists and bloody endings. This book successfully builds a believable trajectory of the Gardnerian government’s descent into authoritarianism, while also teaching about standing up to bullies and knowing when to pick your battles.   

Readers who enjoy political intrigue, magical battles, and teenage drama will love The Black Witch Series. The Iron Flower adeptly continues Elloren’s journey through the magical world with powerfully moving tragedies and victories of the Resistance. Elloren and her friends are brave, complex characters who highlight the themes of acceptance, love, friendship, and kindness. The Iron Flower is about hoping for the best, even when nothing seems like it will work out, and it concludes with an exciting cliffhanger that will have readers eager to read the next book in the series, The Shadow Wand.  

Sexual Content  

  • Waiting for a Resistance meeting to start, Elloren sees “Iris [tilt] her head and [kiss] Yvan’s neck, nuzzling against him with a soft moan.” Yvan shuts it down before it goes further. 
  • Lukas and Elloren reunite after months of no contact. Lukas “leans in to kiss [Elloren], [she] lets [her] lips soften, like sugar melting against his heat.” 
  • While at a ball, Elloren talks to one of her friends, Jarod, who is a werewolf with the ability to scent emotions and arousal. He points out two men standing at the fringes of the dancing. Jarod says, “Those two men, they’re madly in love with each other. I can feel it from all the way over here.” 
  • When Elloren’s brother, Rafe, and his girlfriend, Diana, sneak into the dance, “he kisses [Diana] deeply” in front of the whole room.  
  • As Elloren dances with Lukas, she feels “a sudden, overwhelming desire to be dancing with [Yvan] instead. To feel his lips against [hers]. To have his arms around [her]. And to be close to his fire.” 
  • Andras, the child of Amazonian warrior women, describes their fertility rites. The woman who chose him “felt that [his] seed would produce especially fine, strong daughters.” 
  • While reviewing Resistance plans with two professors, Elloren remembers that “Diana told [her] about [them]—that they’ve one of the strongest attractions to each other that Diana has ever sensed in any couple.” 
  • Lukas announces his desire to marry Elloren, and then he kisses her. “Light as gossamer, he kisses the base of [her] neck, his lips rousing [her] fire lines with a heated longing that tingles straight through [her].” 
  • Mid-conversation with one of her friends, Elloren thinks about their marriage rituals, how “the consummation of the sealing union is expected [the] same night, prompting the fastlines to flow down a couple’s wrists as proof of consummation.” 
  • After freeing a Selkie from a prostitution ring, Elloren’s friend, Gareth, describes the inside of the brothels. He explains, “They were clothed, though barely. They had them standing in a row for the men to look at. Like livestock at a fair. Most of them seemed scared. A few of them, especially the younger ones, looked completely traumatized.” 
  • Elloren’s roommate, Ariel, plans to sacrifice herself so that another roommate, Wynter, can go free. Ariel confesses that she loves Wynter “not as a sister. [She] love[s] [her].”   
  • After a succession of traumatizing events, Elloren seeks comfort in Yvan. They have a tender conversation and then “he brings his lips to [hers]. His lips are warm and full and salty from his tears, his kiss tentative as a surprising warmth blooms from where his mouth touches [hers], his heat sliding through [her] affinity lines in a tingling rush.” 
  • At the end of the novel, there is a big plot twist that leaves Elloren and Yvan reeling from new information. “He kisses [her] again, his lips growing heated, his fire building and then flashing though [her] lines with a feverish urgency that makes [her] shudder against him.” 

Violence  

  • During their first Resistance meeting, Yvan warns the room about a new brutal practice. Elloren’s friend from work, Bleddyn, describes it as “cutting off the points of [Urisk] ears, like [they’re] animals. And shearing the hair from [their] heads.” The Urisk people are commonly enslaved in this novel, though the Resistance is working to free them. 
  • While waiting near a military camp for Lukas, Elloren “remember[s] the stories Yvan told [her] about how Gardnerian soldiers set their dragons on the Kelts during the Realm War. How the soldiers wiped out entire villages and burned them to the ground.” Descriptions of war and vague, past violence appear frequently in the book. 
  • During the holiday ball, Elloren sees her friend Aislinn, who’s unwillingly betrothed to an abuser, Randall. Randall “roughly grabs Aislinn’s free arm and yanks her toward himself.” In the process, Aislinn “makes a hurt sound and instinctively recoils.” One of Aislinn’s friends growls and threatens Randall, but ultimately, Aislinn leaves with Randall, and no blows come to pass. 
  • As Elloren discusses Rafe’s unwillingness to join the army, someone says that if Rafe doesn’t cooperate, “He’ll be shot.”  
  • With the fascist government gaining power, Elloren’s friend, Tierney, worries about her aquatic-creature friends. She says to Yvan and Elloren, “[the government has] pounded iron pikes into the waterways. Five of [her] Kelpies are now dead.” 
  • On a walk into town with Elloren’s friend, Tierney, Elloren spots graffiti on a wall that says in all caps, “reap the evil ones/Erthia for Gardnerians/take back the western realm.” Once they reach town, they notice a hate crime has been committed and non-Gardnerians have been attacked. They find Bleddyn “only semiconscious, her unswollen eye unfocused.” When she wakes to see Elloren, she “jerks her whole body violently away, her expression twisting into a desperate snarl.” They take Bleddyn home to heal her. Along the way, they find another friend, Olilly, whose ears had been partially but brutally cut off.  
  • After finding a Selkie in the woods in The Black Witch, Elloren and her friends are trying to free the rest of them in The Iron Flower. Frustrated at their lack of progress, Elloren yells at Yvan, “They’re beating the Selkies. Raping them!” 
  • Since Elloren and her friends can’t free the Selkies on their own, they ask the Amaz for help. During their visit, the Amaz are conflicted over housing Elloren and they almost come to blows over it. Their Amaz appointed bodyguard, Valasca, “pulls out a knife, leveling it at Alcippe,” another Amaz who opposes Elloren’s presence there. There’s a good deal of yelling and physical threatening before everyone backs down.  
  • To explain Alcippe’s hatred of men, Elloren’s Amaz bodyguard explains: “When Alcippe was twelve, she returned from tending livestock and found her mother unconscious on the floor. Blood was streaming out of her mother’s nose and ear, and her eyes were swollen shut.” Alcippe murdered her father for his abuse of her mother. 
  • Trying to find the valuables of the Selkies, Gareth infiltrates the brothels where they were housed. To describe where they keep the valuables, he says that “All the Selkie taverns have the same [storage] system—apparently, they streamlined things after one Selkie [freed herself] and murdered several people.” 
  • On a dark day, a werewolf shows up at Elloren’s footstep with news that all of the werewolves have been slaughtered, save him and her two friends at university. He cries, “I went out to hunt . . . and when I returned . . . I. . . I found them. . . all of them. . . dead. . . our homes turned to blackened ash.” In response to hearing her family was dead from Elloren, one of the last remaining werewolves, Diana throws herself off a building, but she survives.  
  • To distract the guard and smuggle her friends to another country, Elloren poisons the university’s students and the guard. The poison isn’t lethal, but it renders everyone unconscious for almost two days. 
  • During her escape, Diana gets revenge for the murder of her family. When the guard wakes, they find that “fifteen Gardnerian soldiers are dead. The University groundskeeper is dead, viciously decapitated. The ears pulled clear off a group of Third Division Gardnerian military apprentices.” 
  • When the government declares that all Icarals must be imprisoned, Elloren’s bully, Fallon Bane, and her brother watch as “a male Icaral [is] hauled up for execution, two soldiers grasping its arms, the creature’s wing-stumps flapping in panic.” There is no explicit description of his death, but it is implied. 
  • At the end of the novel, Elloren’s aunt discovers how rebellious she has become. Aunt Vyvian reveals that Elloren’s uncle is sick, and it is implied that Vyvian is responsible. As Elloren sobs next to him, Uncle Edwin “slumps back, his head lolling, his eyes gazing over,” and he dies. Vyvian’s guards “jump to [Elloren’s] side, roughly pushing [her] back and restraining [her].” Her aunt forces her to marry Lukas, but he lets her go when the process is over. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Elloren’s roommate, Ariel, is addicted to an opiate-like drug called nilantyr. When the Gardnerian military raids her room, they seize her stash. There is no description of the raid, only her withdrawal symptoms. Within an hour, Ariel is “starting to tremble,” which soon “worsens to full-body quaking.” Ariel then “vomits all over the clothing she’s pulled from [Elloren’s] drawers.”  
  • While visiting the Amaz, Valasca “pulls a flat flask out of her tunic pocket, unstoppers it and hands it to [Elloren].” At Elloren’s hesitance to take it, Valasca says, “Oh, I forgot. You Garndnerians don’t drink spirits.’” Eventually, Elloren gives in and they both drink. Elloren goes to bed drunk. 
  • During a visit to the capital city’s prison, Elloren and Yvan notice that the Icaral inmates are being drugged. They see a little girl in a cell with her “white tunic stained down the front with black vomit,” as a “woman appears to be trying to force-feed nilantyr to the child.”  
  • When Elloren and Yvan find Ariel in one of the cells, Elloren describes her “gaze [as] unfocused, her mouth curled up at the edges into a numb, blissful grin.” As they try to escape with Ariel, Yvan makes a surgeon and an apothecary eat the nilantyr on their way out, to knock them out and not alert the guards.  

Language    

  • Language is very tame, but includes words like stupid, idiot, and hell that appear frequently. 
  • The word whore is used three times. 
  • Bitch is used twice. 

Supernatural  

  • This book features a diverse array of supernatural creatures, including witches, kelpies, Icarals, fairies, elves, werewolves, other animal shifters, Selkies, dragons, green- and purple-skinned peoples, and Amazonian women who utilize rune magic in battle.  
  • The Iron Flower has spells, runes, and mentions of magic on nearly every page. Elloren often has dream-like visions of the future that she can never quite remember; things like “a battlefield beneath a reddened sky” or “a white wand gripped in [her] hand.”  
  • Their magic is defined by their “affinity lines,” which are how they describe their affinity for certain kinds of elemental magic. One of Elloren’s professors tells her “just because [she] can’t access [her] power doesn’t mean her affinity lines are weak,” meaning that Elloren may have more of an affinity for magic than she thinks. 
  • The Amaz are protected by runes, another form of magical spells, where the wielder doesn’t need strong affinity lines. Elloren describes part of the Amaz settlement as “farms set under geometric glass domes marked with huge scarlet runes.” 
  • Potions and magical medicines are made in this book. As an example, on a walk into town, Elloren watches as a “disheveled-looking apothecary is busy pulverizing a dragon’s talon into black powder.” Elloren and Tierney gather their alchemy materials from him.  

Spiritual Content  

  • During a Resistance meeting, Elloren is informed that “the mandatory wandfasting age for Gardnerians has been lowered to sixteen.” Those over the age of sixteen “will be forced into a fasting” by their religious government.  
  • On a walk into town, Elloren spots graffiti on a wall and describes it as “a phrase from [their] holy book. /Bring the reaping times.” 
  • Elloren says Gardnerians hate forests because “it’s part of our religion. We’re meant to subdue the wilds. They’re supposedly filled with the spirit of the Evil Ones.” 
  • On family weekend at Verpax, the werewolf pack visits and Aislinn’s family “pointedly make[s] the holy gesture to ward off the stain of the Evil Ones.”  
  • Elloren explains why Gardnerians have arranged marriages. She says, “Mating is considered sinful in our religion. Its sole purpose is to bring forth as many mages as possible. Mating for any reason beyond that is considered immoral. We’re supposed to rise above our base natures. Not be wild things.” 
  • A man and his Amaz mother discuss the werewolves. His mother says that the werewolves are “everything the Goddess despises. And after they die, it will be as if they never existed, whereas [you and I] will go to Goddesshaven.’” 
  • Around a campfire, Elloren’s brother, Trystan, remarks that their friends are “all Evil Ones” and that “according to the glorious and most holy Book of the Ancients, [they’re] all Evil Ones. Except, maybe, for [Elloren].” 
  • In a political speech to a large crowd, the fascist leader in power claims that the Gardnerians will “flush [the Evil Ones] out of our cities. [They] will flush them out of the wilds. [They] will flush them out of this realm and the next. [They] will flush them out with the full power of the Ancient One behind [them].” 
  • While visiting the Amaz, Elloren notices a painting that depicts “the three First Women walking in a beautiful garden with the Great Goddess; the slaying of the cruel male partner by the only faithful daughter; the Goddess rewarding this faithful daughter, naming her Amaz.” 

The Pharaoh’s Charioteer

Visited by the restless ghosts of warriors past, Arthur and Finn must travel back in time and rewrite history to set the ghosts free. Will the boys be able to gain the trust of a prince and princess caught up in dangerous rivalries? Even if they do, will they be able to prevent a war? 

Join Arthur and Finn as they travel back to ancient Egypt and find out if the boys have what it takes to survive a kidnapping and make it home alive. 

In The Pharaoh’s Charioteer, Arthur and Finn arrive in Ancient Egypt in separate parts of the city. Arthur finds himself in the Nile River, where the pharaoh’s son, Thami, fishes him out of the water. The two arrive on the edges of a city just in time to see Finn and Thami’s sister, Nefi, running from a group of men. Thami and Nefi take the two brothers to their home, allowing the reader to understand the life of a pharaoh’s child who was born from one of his secondary wives. While the pharaoh’s children’s lives are luxurious, they are also dangerous.  

Filled with adventure and suspense, the story has many exciting scenes—a lion hunt, a kidnapping, and a cunning high priest—that propel the plot forward. Suspense is created because Thami’s and Nefi’s lives are always in danger. Their mother explains some of the dangers facing a pharaoh’s child, “The palace is full of plotting between the queens, all of whom secretly hope that a son of theirs will be pharaoh one day. All I want is for Thami and Nefi to make it out of the palace, grown up and alive.” In this adventure, Arthur and Finn get an intimate view of the dangers of palace life, which makes the surprising conclusion satisfying. 

Even though The Pharaoh’s Charioteer is part of a series, the books do not have to be read in order because each focuses on Arthur and Finn going back to a different time period and wraps up the storyline. Each book in the series follows a familiar pattern, but there are enough differences to make each story unique and exciting.  

The Pharaoh’s Charioteer is a wonderfully engaging adventure that uses a unique angle to showcase the lives of the children of the pharaoh’s secondary wives. Neither Thami nor Nefi dreams of one day being the pharaoh, which allows them to have a caring sibling relationship. Even though Thami and Arthur are kidnapped, The Pharaoh’s Charioteer feels like a daring adventure with interesting characters, power-hungry villains, and unexpected developments that will keep readers reading late into the night. Readers can learn more about Ancient Egypt by reading these fast-paced adventures: Kid Detective Zet Series by Scott Peters, and TombQuest Series by Michael Northrop.   

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • Finn goes into a tavern where a girl cheats at a game. When the men discover the con, Finn grabs the girl, and they flee. The girl disappears into a courtyard with multiple exits. “But before he could begin to think about which route to take, he felt cold metal at his throat.” The men find the two kids and begin shouting at them. 
  • Finn’s brother, Arthur, and the girl’s brother, Thami, hear the commotion and come to their aid. Thami throws a fishnet over some of the men. “Two of the men went down, cursing in the tangle. . . Arthur swung the boathook through the air and knocked [one of the men] out with a blow to the head.” 
  • Arthur and Thami are kidnapped. “When he and Thami cried out for help, they were swiftly knocked unconscious.” The two kids are bound, blindfolded, and taken to the enemy’s country.  
  • Finn and Nefi help Arthur and Thami escape prison and return to Thebes. Finn and Thami are hiding when soldiers find them and give chase. “The first guards grabbed each boy by the shoulders, and the next thing Finn knew was the nasty sensation of a hood being pulled over his eyes, followed by a sharp blow to the head, and complete darkness.” 
  • The high priest finds two men he claims are spies. The high priest says, “And when we had tortured them, only yesterday, before we made them swim with Sobek, the great crocodile god, did they not reveal that the queen, also, is a spy?” 
  • Thami’s father, the pharaoh, realizes the high priest is plotting against him. The pharaoh decides they will let the crocodile god decide if the high priest is innocent or guilty. The high priest is taken to the pool. “Two guards brought forward a long, thin beam. . . they placed on either side of the pool so that it spanned the middle of the water. . .” The high priest is ordered to walk across the board. 
  • When the high priest refuses to walk across the plank, “the pharaoh brought his wipe down again, causing the priest to lurch forwards. . . The crocodiles’ head emerged from the water. . . With a sudden surge, the crocodile powered up and thrust the upper part of its body out of the water, huge jaws gaping. . . The priest screamed. The crocodile’s jaws snapped closed and there was a loud splash.” The crocodile kills the high priest.

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The Nile River allowed the Egyptians to grow “a lot of barley, which they used/ to make beer.” 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • Arthur and Finn’s grandfather created a museum about warriors throughout history. The museum is haunted, and when the grandfather died, “he started haunting the place too. He felt guilty about the trapped ghost warriors and vowed he would not rest in peace until all the other ghosts were laid to rest first.” 
  • When one of the ghost warriors touches the boys, “we get transported to the time and place where the ghost lived and died. And we can’t get back until we’ve fixed whatever keeps the ghost from resting in peace.” 
  • When the boys travel through time, “the room began to spin, and the firelight turned into a belt of light acceleration around them, until it vanished completely.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • In Egypt, the pharaoh “was believed to be a living god, in touch with the other gods who controlled the universe and who decided when the Nile would flood. . .” 
  • After being kidnapped, Arthur and Thami are imprisoned. They hear footsteps, and “Arthur prayed that it would be the prince returning with a plan. . .” 
  • Before going to war, the high priest “would conduct sacred rites in the palace temple in Thebes before blessing the pharaoh and his army.” 
  • Before giving the pharaoh his blessing, the high priest gives a speech saying, “The gods have spoken to me of VICTORY! VICTORY! VICTORY!. . .And the gods have decreed that your pharaoh will lead the army himself!” 
  • The high priest was plotting against the pharaoh. During the high priest’s blessing ceremony, the pharaoh and Thami discuss who is the messenger of the gods. Thami says, “No, Father, YOU are their messenger, just as YOU and not the high priest will one day become a god yourself.” 
  • When the high priest begs for mercy, the pharaoh says, “Pray to Sobek for mercy!” 
  • Two and a half pages explain who some of the Egyptian Gods were. For example, Amen-Ra “was really a combination of two gods—Ra, the great sun god, and Amen, the local god of Themes.”  

Bridge of Clay

The Dunbar boys, Matthew, Rory, Henry, Clay, and Tommy, live alone. After their mother died, their father left, driven away by his grief. Matthew, the oldest and the narrator, tells the story of how the five Dunbar brothers survived. Within multiple timelines, Matthew lays out the lives of his parents, Michael and Penelope, including how they met, how they raised their sons, and how it all fell apart. These flashbacks are interspersed between the main story, Clay’s story.

After a four-year grief-fueled disappearance, Michael returns to the Dunbar home to discover his sons have grown up without him. He asks for their help to build a bridge, but Clay is the only one willing to reconnect with his father. Clay is a mostly silent main character, and his story is told from Matthew’s point of view. Yet, beneath Clay’s quiet exterior is a boy who loves deeply—his brothers, his parents, and the girl Clay loves, Carey. Clay’s grief overflows into action, building both a physical and metaphoric bridge.

Bridge of Clay highlights the importance of storytelling. Matthew’s narration is influenced by stories told by Clay, their parents, and those told by Carey. The scenes that took place before Matthew was born are told using an omniscient point of view, allowing readers to understand the thoughts, emotions, and desires of other characters. Bridge of Clay is a book about leaving home and learning how to return, about grief and how it brings some people closer together while tearing others apart, and about the love brothers share for each other. The story also offers hope for reconciliation between the Dunbar boys and their father.

In the present timeline, sixteen-year-old Clay leaves home to help his father build a bridge, a decision that divides the Dunbar household. When he returns months later, the bonds between the brothers begin to grow stronger. Even as the Dunbar brothers are trying to understand why their father abandoned them in the midst of their grief, the love they have for each other is an almost tangible thing. Zusak creates realistic teenage boys, who are messy and violent. Despite the heavy topic, there are moments of fun, as expected in a home with five boys.

While this epic tale contains little action, the writing is poetic, strange, and beautiful. Although this is a slower read, the short chapters and flowing language ensure that it is never boring. The plot shifts quickly between timelines, and connections between the past and the present are made masterfully, weaving together platonic love, romantic love, young love, and old love. Even as Matthew is the one typing these words, every character’s language appears on the page, and every character’s story is vital to the book. Readers will be drawn to the precision of the language, as almost every line holds significance, much of which is revealed later through memories of the past.

Sexual Content

  • Rory thinks about a girl with whom he had a physical relationship. He remembered, “he pulled a long strand of girls’ hair from his mouth. . . she lay open-legged in Rory’s head.”
  • Clay watches an older boy with his girlfriend. “[Clay] didn’t mind the way they touched and sort of smudged each other, either—her crotch on his thigh, a leg each side.”
  • Clay imagines Carey kissing him. “She came closer and began; she put her bottom lip on his top one, and held the book between them.”
  • In the past, Michael and Abbey, his first girlfriend, made out in Abbey’s bedroom, and it is implied that they had sex. Abbey “held his hand and helped him with everything: the buttons, the clips, the descent to the floor. . . there was carpet and heat of shoulders and backs and tailbones. . . There was breath—her breath—and falling, just like that. And embarrassment. . . The sweat between each breast.”
  • As young adults, Michael and Abbey are in bed together. “She’d roll onto him and kiss his stomach. . . She’d kiss and kiss again, across and over, up toward his ribcage.”
  • Michael and his future wife, Penelope, kiss. “He didn’t know how or why, but he put the other hand on her hip bone, and without thinking, he held her and kissed her.”
  • Henry and Rory talk about a peer’s body. “You know—the one with the lips. . . You mean the tits.”
  • At the end of the book, Clay and Carey sleep together. They are teenagers. “They’d broken the unwritten rules. There was the feel of her naked legs. He remembered the laid-down length of her. . . and how she moved and gently bit him. And the way she’d pulled him down.”

Violence

  • Matthew refers to his father as “the Murderer,” but he didn’t actually murder anyone.
  • Clay runs on the track, while other boys try to stop him. It’s a way to train, and Clay believes that it makes him faster. “Business-like, they converged. . . It was a fist across his throat, an ample chest against his back. . . [Starkey] even pinched him as they went kicking and a-gouging in the blood and the shove. . . There was collision between boy and ground.” The scene lasts over four pages, and Clay is left bruised and bleeding, but not seriously injured.
  • A snake bites Michael’s dog. “There was nothing now but body and jaws, open-eyed death, and he kneeled in the backyard sunshine.” The dog dies.
  • Penelope gets in a car crash and breaks her nose. “The car was crashed into from the side, like a demon had taken a bite. Penelope’s ribs were ruptured. Her nose was slapped and broken; her face hit the head of the dash.”
  • Clay leaves home with his father. When he returns, Matthew is angry that he left and beats Clay up. “But now those thoughts weren’t thoughts at all, they were clouds of landed punches, and every one fell true. . . It was blood and hurt and getting up, and going down, till Rory called out enough.”
  • In an effort to divert Matthew’s violent intentions toward Clay, Henry gets himself beat up by mimicking one of Clay’s training sessions. He runs a lap around the track, and his friends beat him up to try to stop him from finishing. “Then a bloodied, grinning face. . . he was so drunk and beaten up he’d almost crawled.” Henry had been drinking and fell unconscious, but he was not seriously injured.
  • During the boys’ childhood, their mother punished them for getting muddy. Penelope throws a shoe at Henry. Their mother “gave it to us on the arms, on the legs. . . till finally she’d splintered two of the spoons, and threw a boot down the hall instead. . . hitting Henry, a thud in the face. His mouth was bleeding, and he’d swallowed a loose tooth.”
  • While in middle school, a classmate, Jimmy Hartnell, bullies Matthew because he plays the piano. Jimmy “nippled me in those toilets, and his punches bruised my groin.” Matthew fights back. “First I was caught in the mouth (like chewing on a piece of iron), then up, and into the ribs. . . I blocked the third punch outright, and clobbered him on the chin. . . I knocked him down twice, but he always came punching back. By the end I’d gone down four times myself, and on the fourth I couldn’t get up.”
  • Clay runs barefoot on the track, and his feet get cut up by broken glass. “There was glass all over the track. Clay hadn’t even seen it, and he didn’t notice the blood. Later, it took us hours to pick the pieces out.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • There is underage drinking throughout the book. Henry and his friends drink at the track while Clay runs. “They drank in that adolescent way, all greedy-mouthed and wide open.”
  • Rory comes home drunk. “As for Rory, he weighed a drunken ton, but they somehow slung him to bed.”
  • While Penelope is sick, Michael and Penelope smoke cigarettes. “They smoked, they coughed. . . their smoking was amateur at best.”
  • While in high school, Rory brings alcohol to school in an attempt to be expelled. Rory tells Matthew and his teacher, “It’s just a beer, I don’t see what you’re all so upset about.”
  • Right before she dies, Penelope takes her underage sons to a bar and buys them all beer. “As the oldest, it was only [Matthew] who made it through [his] drink, and it was quite an effort, I’m telling you. Rory and Henry each had half. Clay and Tommy managed the froth. . . [Penelope] stayed till she’d finished them off.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes goddamn, hell, shit, bastards, fuck, and bitch.
  • Matthew often uses Jesus and Jesus Christ as an exclamation. “Jesus! What was it about our house? It brought out the blasphemy in everyone.”
  • British curse words are used fairly often, including bloody and prick.
  • Henry and Rory talk about Starkey’s girlfriend’s “tits.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Abigail Clark

Solitaire

Nobody would describe Tori Spring as an especially cheerful person. In fact, she might be one of the most pessimistic teenagers you’ll ever meet. She often thinks about death and doesn’t particularly enjoy school or most things. She has friends, but it’s almost like they’re fundamentally different from her. When an anonymous individual, calling themselves “Solitaire,” starts posting mysterious clues, it catches the attention of Michael, a new student. After constantly discussing it with Tori, he eventually convinces her to figure out Solitaire’s identity. But when Solitaire starts pulling some not-so-harmless pranks, Tori’s life is upended, and she winds up reconsidering who she wants around her and what she really wants to do with her life.

Tori’s story is about a girl who doesn’t really know what she’s doing in life and maybe doesn’t even want to figure it out. She finds temporary solace in the occasional movie, which she frequently ends up not even finishing, or hanging out with her brothers. But mainly, she spends time nearly drowning in her seemingly endless parade of downer thoughts. Despite this, Tori is a compelling main character because she explores the challenges of growing up as a young girl, particularly those related to high school cliques and the internet.

Tori and her long-time best friend, Becky, are close in a somewhat confusing way. Tori tends to keep to herself, while Becky has a large circle of friends and is extroverted. This adds tension as the two of them are important to each other, but they occasionally drift apart. As a result, Tori ends up spending more time with Michael. While she and Michael grow attached to each other, others find Michael odd, further isolating the two of them. Lucas, another new boy, has a similar interest in Tori, but he’s awkward around her. He spends more time with Becky and her friends, entering a different social circle. One of Tori’s younger brothers, Charlie, also plays a sizable role in the book as his mental health troubles worry Tori and heavily impact their family.

Solitaire delves into the complexities of various aspects of teenage life, including high school, being a girl, being an older sibling, and navigating friendship struggles. Tori’s life changes in tandem with the mystery of Solitaire, bringing the reader into a constantly changing and developing story. However, the story does go a little off the rails, especially towards the end. There are numerous moving parts and pieces to the puzzle that need to be uncovered, making it feel a bit overwhelming and, at times, unnecessarily complicated.

That being said, Solitaire remains an enjoyable and intriguing story. The complex characters shatter the expectations of typical high school clichés. The characters’ challenges are relatable and difficult to overcome, and the story doesn’t feel like it finishes too perfectly or abruptly. However, the ending is satisfying, but it is not entirely resolved. Solitaire encourages readers to be more active participants in their lives and reflect on their inner monologues. The book urges its audience to get involved with something new and interesting while being careful of its consequences – waiting around won’t do any good, but neither will trying to go absolutely wild.

Sexual Content 

  • Evelyn, an acquaintance of Tori’s, says, “The real question though is whether there’s sexual tension between Harry and Malfoy,” referencing enemies from Harry Potter.
  • Evelyn and her friend Becky are discussing the movie Juno and one of its main characters, Michael Cera, when Becky says, “You’ve seen Juno, yeah? You think he’s cute right? Awkward boys are the hottest, aren’t they?”
  • Becky tells Tori that she and her almost-boyfriend Jack had sex. Tori is surprised and then thinks to herself, “This is what most people do when you get to this age. You start finding partners, kissing, having sex. I have no issues with people doing that – like, I’m sex positive, and Becky has wanted to have sex with Jack for quite a while. And I know that kissing and having sex isn’t a race, and there are some people who never end up wanting to do those things anyway.” Tori asks Becky if it was good. Becky says, “It was both of our first times, so, no, not really. It was still fun, though.”
  • Ben Hope, a boy in Tori’s friend group, is described as “the guy” at their school. He’s “the one boy in the sixth form that every single girl in the entire school has a crush on.” Tori doesn’t “fancy him.”
  • Tori’s friends ask Michael if he’s gay. Michael says, “I guess you could say I’m not too fussy about gender.” Then he turns to another friend, Lucas, and says, “You never know, it might be you I’m in love with.” Lucas turns red.
  • Becky asks Michael if he’s pansexual, and Michael shrugs. They continue talking about Michael’s sexuality, and he says, “Everyone’s attractive, to be honest, even if it’s just something small, like some people have really beautiful hands. I don’t know. I’m a little bit in love with everyone I meet.” The conversation continues for around three pages, but Michael doesn’t label himself.
  • Tori hates Pride and Prejudice because “The women only care about the men.”
  • While getting dressed for a party, Becky is “in just her bra and knickers.” Tori thinks she shouldn’t feel awkward because they’ve been friends for so long, but she does and ponders when nudity became so normal.
  • Michael says Tori is a “sexy beast” and that she “could easily have had a boyfriend.”
  • Charlie, one of Tori’s younger brothers, and his boyfriend kiss and hook up.
  • Tori and Michael kiss. Tori says that when it happens, “everything finally starts making sense, knowing that it would be apocalyptic for me to not be here with him, because right then—at that moment—it’s like. . . it’s like—actually—I really would die if I don’t. . . if I don’t hold him.” Michael confesses his love for Tori, and she confesses hers in return.

Violence

  • There are lots of discussions of death, wanting to be dead, killing yourself, etc. For example, Becky says that Tori “looks a little bit like [she] wants to kill [herself].”
  • Tori also has lots of fantasies about killing herself, both passive and active. One example of this is when she is upset that her brother, Charlie, gets hurt. Tori thinks, “I’m still just sitting there. . . wishing that I hadn’t woken up this morning, I hadn’t woken up yesterday, I hadn’t ever woken up.”
  • In the Harry and Malfoy discussion, Becky says, “The idea that bullying means that you fancy someone is basically the foundation of domestic abuse.”
  • There is occasional talk of Charlie, his eating disorder, his obsessive compulsions, and his self-harming behaviors. Charlie has had self-harm relapses, spent some time at a psychiatric ward, and now goes to therapy.
  • One night at a party, Tori’s youngest brother calls her and says Charlie shut himself in the kitchen and blocked the door. Tori comes home and forces her way into the kitchen. There is no discussion of his injuries, but Tori explains, “I find the first-aid kit and put plasters on Charlie’s arm.” She knows “that there’d be good days and bad days and sometimes there’d be particularly bad days like these, but he only self-harms when he’s at his absolute worst.”
  • Michael, when meeting Becky’s friends, calls himself “a fairly capable Facebook stalker” and says, “You’re all lucky I’m not a serial killer.”
  • Solitaire, the mystery blog, has the slogan, “Patience Kills.”
  • Ben, a boy from Charlie’s school, hits Charlie in the face because he thinks Charlie “spread lies” about him. Tori finds Charlie “crumpled on the floor,” and “[Charlie’s boyfriend] tackles Ben.”
  • Michael loses a skating competition, and he punches some lockers, kicks a pile of helmets, pulls strongly at his hair, and rips up lots of paper.
  • A Solitaire post reveals that Ben is a homophobe and a bully. Solitaire’s post says that they hope people will help them “in preventing such acts of violence in the future by giving him exactly what he deserves.” After this, “two boys hold Ben Hope while several others hurl punches and kicks at him. Blood spatters onto the snow, and the spectacle gets wild cheers every time a hit is made.” Tori worries about people “killing him,” but Ben is only bruised.
  • At a music festival, Solitaire shoots off fireworks, and some people catch on fire. Tori jumps away from a firework, but it explodes, and then she notices, “I feel the pain on my left arm. I look at it. I take in the flames creeping up my sleeve. . . And I plunge my arm into the icy water.” After this, her coat is in tatters, and “the skin peeking through is bright red. [She] press[es] on it with [her] other hand. It hurts. A lot.” Later, she “went to the hospital” and now she has “a big bandage” on her arm.
  • Tori and Becky discover that Solitaire is really Lucas, Evelyn, and another boy named Quiff. At school, the three are in a room alone and take out a lighter. Lucas is “holding what at first looks like a gun, but is actually just one of those novelty lighters.”
  • Solitaire was planning on burning the school, but Lucas decides not to. Quiff gets mad and “he swings his fist at lightning speed and punches Lucas in the face.” Then he “smashes Lucas in the stomach, this time doubling him over. He grabs Lucas’s arm with ease and wrenches away the lighter gun, then grabs Lucas by the collar, holds the barrel against his neck, and pushes him against the wall.”
  • The Solitaire group start a fire at the school. Michael tries to get Tori away from danger by pulling her arm, and then, Tori describes, “before I know what I’m doing I’m yanking my arm so hard that my skin starts to burn. I’m screaming at him and pushing and I swing my leg around and actually kick him in the stomach.” Soon after, she ends up trapped in a classroom. Then, she “grabs a chair, not thinking about anything except fire and smoke and dying, and smash the thin window. . . a sprinkling of glass dust” goes over her face. There is no mention of anyone else getting hurt in the fire.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Tori describes a group at school as “popular girls who hang out with the cool boys from the boys’ school and use fake IDs to get into clubs.”
  • Someone in Tori’s class is a social smoker.
  • Tori imagines herself at a party, “everyone with a bottle in their hand” while she “tell[s] another of [her] embarrassing stories, perhaps a drunk story.”
  • Multiple parties happen where nearly everyone at the party is underage and either drinking or smoking.
  • Tori’s friends are going to a friend’s house. “They’re all going to get drunk and stuff even though it’s a Tuesday.” Tori later lies in bed and thinks about “all of the other people who were at the restaurant who are probably now drunk and getting off with each other on Lauren’s parents’ sofas.”
  • When Michael has trouble articulating a thought, Tori asks if he’s high. He shakes his head no.
  • At a party, Tori passes smokers. She thinks, “Smoking is so pointless. The only reason I can think of for smoking is if you want to die.” Some other teenagers at the party are drinking beer, and Becky is drinking Baileys Irish Cream. Tori also runs through a crowd of “drunk teenagers.”
  • At a different party, Tori dances with Michael after she’s “had a bit to drink.”

Language 

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes shit, crap, hell, twat, piss, bloody, fuck, bitch, bastard, and prick.
  • “God” and “Jesus Christ” are frequently used in exclamation or to emphasize something. For example, Tori says about her hair, “I realized then that most of my face was covered up and who in the name of God would want to talk to me like that.”
  • In an argument, Tori calls herself a “stupid, twattish pessimist” and says maybe she’s a “manically depressed psychopath.”
  • A boy says to Charlie, “I don’t remember saying that you could spread lies about me to your retard sister.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Michael says he doesn’t like his name. He says, his name “means ‘who resembles God,’ and I think that if God could choose to resemble any human being, he wouldn’t choose me.” Tori then imagines what it would be like to have a Biblical name because she’s not a believer and is probably going to hell.

by Alexa David-Lang

Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance

In the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, Simone Biles completed her floor routine to rapturous applause. After years of training, she scored the gold medal in the all-around gymnastics event. Achieving such an accolade is the dream of gymnasts across the world. It had certainly been the dream of Simone since she discovered her love of gymnastics at an early age. Now, competing in the world’s biggest stadium, she had made her family, coach, and supporters proud. If there was anything that could possibly make this moment better, it was the fact that this would be the first Olympic gold medal Simone would win that summer. In her first time at the Olympics, she made history as the first US gymnast to earn four gold medals in a single season.

Simone’s extraordinary performance at the 2016 Olympics made her an international celebrity. She is now one of the most recognizable American athletes today and is regarded by many as one of the greatest gymnasts in history. While she had always been talented in gymnastics, her success at the Olympics had not come easily. It was the product of years of training, failures, and a refusal to give up on doing what she loved.

In Courage to Soar, Simone gives readers a personal account of her life before the 2016 Olympics. Readers will learn how Simone’s grandparents adopted and raised her and her four siblings. Then, a rainy, impromptu school trip to a tumbling gym led Simone to meet a gymnastics coach who would be by her side for her entire career. Simone sacrificed her high school and college experiences for gymnastics practice and competitions. Various failures even forced Simone to question if her hard work was worth it.

While such a detailed autobiography may be daunting, readers can rest assured that the story at no point feels like it is dragging. An outgoing and enthusiastic figure in real life, Simone writes Courage to Soar with a conversational and engaging prose that makes every chapter of her life enjoyable to read, from her World Championships to the time she had to convince her dad to buy her a zebra-striped steering wheel cover for her first car. At 313 pages, Courage to Soar is an accessible and reader-friendly book that will entertain readers interested in learning more about Simone Biles.

Regardless of your knowledge regarding Simone Biles or gymnastics, you will find Courage to Soar an entertaining book filled with humor, touching moments of familial love, and thrilling accounts of Simone’s competitions. Having showcased her gymnastics skills in numerous World Championships and Olympic Games, Simone shares her vulnerable moments of defeat and failure, including the many harsh criticisms she received directly or indirectly from critics and competitors. Rather than letting these setbacks define her, Simone chose to surround herself with supportive people, including her parents and siblings, who constantly cheered her on, and her coach, who always reminded her to view every competition as another chance to pursue her passion for the sport.

Whether or not you aspire to be an athlete or have any passion for sports of any kind, Courage to Soar is a heartfelt and worthwhile book. You will come away from it with a deeper understanding of one of the greatest living athletes, along with the important message that you may reach your dream if you keep trying. To meet more motivational women athletes, read Rising Above: Inspiring Women in Sports by Gregory Zuckerman.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Simone describes an incident in her childhood when her sister was randomly punched by her friend Marissa. “Suddenly, I saw Marissa punch my sister!” Simone then “jumped on top of Marissa, shoving her down onto the grass.”
  • Simone describes a classmate with behavioral issues who harmed himself when he got a bad grade. “Whenever he scored lower than [ninety], he’d dig his pencil into his arm, dragging it back and forth until he saw blood.”
  • Later, Simone tries to stop this classmate by snatching his pencil. “What I didn’t realize was that [my classmate] had a pocketknife,” Simone writes. “I wasn’t prepared when he pulled it out and tried to stab my hand. Luckily, he missed.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Simone’s birth mother lost custody of her children because of a drug addiction.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Simone is Catholic. Throughout the book, she thanks God for her many achievements. For example, she says, “God had given me the ability to do gymnastics in a powerful way.”
  • Simone’s grandmother is unsure if she is ready to adopt Simone and her three siblings. These fears are assuaged when a coworker tells her about her own adopted child. “[God] sent that woman as a guardian angel to tell her everything would be okay,” Simone writes. “God himself was placing us in her care.”
  • Simone describes her confirmation. She explains the process for readers unfamiliar with the practice, saying, “For Catholics, this moment signifies you have been fully welcomed into the Christian faith community, and that you have pledged to let God’s love and Grace guide you always.”

by Luke McCain

Strange Bedfellows

Growing up in the terraformed alien planet Meridian, Oberon struggles with the usual parental pressures: go to college, get a job, make good friends – and, ideally, develop superhuman powers. Like many children of those who made the journey from Earth, Oberon’s siblings were all born with magical abilities. When Oberon wakes up with the ability to conjure his dreams, his world turns upside-down.  

After a public mental breakdown that led to the end of his college education and relationship with his boyfriend, Oberon spends his time hiding from his family and concerned friend group. The sudden existence of his powers is not the pleasant surprise his family might think – particularly when it creates a vision of his long-lost high school crush, Kon, whose infuriating manifestation won’t leave Oberon alone. Kon becomes determined to help Oberon gain control of his new powers and get his life back on track. This proves to be a difficult task, especially when memories, feelings, and a few secrets of Kon’s own start to get in the way.  

Oberon and Kon instantly become a lovable duo, full of banter and attraction. Kon equally enjoys supporting Oberon’s magical journey and pushing his buttons, while Oberon masks his growing feelings for Kon with annoyance and frustration. Stuck in a rut at such an important transitional moment in his life, Oberon often struggles to connect with his loved ones due to shame and stress. Despite this, he is constantly offered support from his large, blended family and boisterous group of friends.  

Strange Bedfellows is a whimsical, futuristic fantasy with art that exceeds all expectations of magic. Ries employs an abstract, watercolor-esque style to indicate when we are in the world of Oberon’s dreams, creating beautiful imagery that offers readers a glimpse into Oberon’s creative mind. The real world is illustrated just as beautifully and colorfully, though with slightly sharper borders that help ground the reader in reality. Colors also do an excellent job of conveying the character’s emotions: pink often indicates romance or blushing, and deep purples indicate sorrow or intense focus. While the dream sequences don’t feature much text, the reality-based panels contain one to five sentences. Characters’ lines feature an enjoyable mix of flirting, panic, and thoughtful reflection.  

Because this story takes place in such a magically developed world, it may be difficult to jump in. However, readers will find the effort to understand the exposition will be well worth it. The plot is unique, engaging, and well written, and the world is full of delightful magic that keeps even the more solemn scenes full of fun. Strange Bedfellows is a gorgeous story both in art and storytelling, featuring diverse characters and a great life lesson about perseverance and different kinds of strength. By the end of the book, readers are sure to feel as though they’ve just experienced a wonderful dream.  

Sexual Content  

  • Oberon and Kon are dancing in Oberon’s bedroom when they suddenly pull each other into a passionate kiss. Two panels show Kon’s hands reaching into Oberon’s hair and pulling his waist closer to himself.  

Violence  

  • As Oberon’s powers grow beyond his control, he has night terrors that manifest in giant monsters which he and Kon must fight off. In these fight scenes, Oberon conjures other creatures or objects from his dreams, which help eliminate the monsters. When they are defeated, the monsters simply disappear with a flash of light. The most intense of these scenes shows Oberon wielding a metal rail as a weapon, while Kon swings an air conditioning unit into the monsters. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • In a flashback scene, Kon is seen around a bonfire with his old friends. Some of them are drinking, and one says, “Remind me again who failed to steal weed from their sibling?”  

Language  

  • Frequent profanity is used. Profanity includes damn, ass, and fuck.  

Supernatural  

  • There are frequent references to and depictions of supernatural abilities held by many of the characters. These powers range from manifesting one’s dreams to telepathy or emotional manipulation. For example, Oberon’s sister Warren can tell when he is lying to her about how he’s feeling, and Kon can make an embarrassed girl burst into joyous laughter.  
  • There are frequent references to the “ghost dust,” which humans picked up on their space travels and is credited as the source of the younger generations’ superpowers.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 
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