Review of A Restless Truth—Magical Murder at Sea

A Restless Truth coverBeing trapped onboard a ship with an unknown murderer is a frightening enough prospect on its own, without adding powerful magic to the mix. Luckily Maud Blyth is just as undaunted in the face of overwhelming odds as her brother Robin. I just reviewed A Marvellous Light, Book 1 in Freya Marske’s The Last Binding trilogy, the other week and went straight from finishing that one to reading the sequel. A Restless Truth, the second book in this fantasy romance series came out at the beginning of November.  Continue reading Review of A Restless Truth—Magical Murder at Sea

LGBTQ Reading Recs

I know we’re heading toward the end of Pride Month, but it’s never too late to expand your reading to include more books with LGBTQ representation! In this post, I’ll be giving you some recommendations of books that feature characters across the spectrum of queer identities, based on the literary works, genres, and tropes you already know you like:

graphic with The Gothic Library logo of a skull on a stack of books, plus rainbow hearts and the words Happy Pride Month! Continue reading LGBTQ Reading Recs

Review of In the Vanishers’ Palace—Loving a Monster

In a corrupted and poisoned world, the worst diseases can only be cured with the aid of a powerful dragon. But a dragon’s help always comes with a price. Aliette de Bodard beautifully blends the post-apocalyptic genre with Vietnamese-inspired fantasy (and some spicy sapphic romance) in her 2018 novella In the Vanishers’ Palace Continue reading Review of In the Vanishers’ Palace—Loving a Monster

Denizens of Distant Realms Review

Once upon a time doesn’t necessarily have to be long, long ago. I’ve mentioned my great love of fairy tales—whether they be classics, retellings, or brand-new fairy tales that emulate the classics in form and style. Denizens of Distant Realms, a new collection of short stories by Dawn Vogel, falls into the latter category. The book came out back in August, and while I was previously unfamiliar with the author and her other works, my great love of fairy tales drew me to take a chance on the new collection. Continue reading Denizens of Distant Realms Review

Down Among the Sticks and Bones–A Gothic Tale of Twins

If you discovered a door to another world, would you go through it? What if it gave you the opportunity to change who you are, to escape the pressures of who you’re expected to be? Twelve-year-old twins Jack and Jill face these questions in Seanan McGuire’s Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This book, which came out back in June, is the second book in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. (You can read my review of the first book here.) Rather than being a sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, however, Down Among the Sticks and Bones is more of a prequel that can also be read entirely as a stand-alone. Ostensibly a fantasy story about discovering a dark world full of monsters, the book is really a deep dive into questions of identity and family relationships. Continue reading Down Among the Sticks and Bones–A Gothic Tale of Twins