Review: Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,
Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

Beetle and the Hollowbones
Aliza Layne
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published August 4, 2020

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About Beetle and the Hollowbones

In the eerie town of ‘Allows, some people get to be magical sorceresses, while other people have their spirits trapped in the mall for all ghastly eternity.

Then there’s twelve-year-old goblin-witch Beetle, who’s caught in between. She’d rather skip being homeschooled completely and spend time with her best friend, Blob Glost. But the mall is getting boring, and B.G. is cursed to haunt it, tethered there by some unseen force. And now Beetle’s old best friend, Kat, is back in town for a sorcery apprenticeship with her Aunt Hollowbone. Kat is everything Beetle wants to be: beautiful, cool, great at magic, and kind of famous online. Beetle’s quickly being left in the dust.

But Kat’s mentor has set her own vile scheme in motion. If Blob Ghost doesn’t escape the mall soon, their afterlife might be coming to a very sticky end. Now, Beetle has less than a week to rescue her best ghost, encourage Kat to stand up for herself, and confront the magic she’s been avoiding for far too long. And hopefully ride a broom without crashing.

My Review

Graphic novels are still a pretty new thing for me, but most of the ones I’ve read have been really cool, and Beetle and the Hollowbones is no exception. I really enjoyed Beetle– she’s awkward and quirky, loyal and brave. I didn’t realize reading it that she was supposed to be twelve, and I thought she seemed a lot older than that– maybe fifteen or sixteen, is what I had guessed?

The story world reminded me a little bit of The Nightmare Before Christmas, where things are all sort of dark and populated with sticky or undead magical creatures, and Halloween seems perpetually just around the corner.

I enjoyed Beetle’s journey to save her best blob pal and the sparks that reuniting with her childhood best friend caused. Beetle’s expressions and reactions to things often had me giggling.

All in all, I thought Beetle and the Hollowbones was a really entertaining and totally fun read. I’m so glad I was finally able to read it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
The story is populated with magical and undead creatures. Beetle has a crush on another girl.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kiss between two girls.

Spiritual Content
Most characters have or are learning magic. Undead characters must bind their soul to an object, like a heart, to stay alive.

Violent Content
One scene shows some depictions of verbal and physical cruelty toward a child.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of BEETLE AND THE HOLLOWBONES in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Written in Starlight by Isabel Ibañez

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Written in Starlight
Isabel Ibañez
Page Street Kids
Published January 26, 2021

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About Written in Starlight

If the jungle wants you, it will have you…

Catalina Quiroga is a Condesa without a country. She’s lost the Inkasisa throne, the loyalty of her people, and her best friend. Banished to the perilous Yanu Jungle, Catalina knows her chances of survival are slim, but that won’t stop her from trying to escape. It’s her duty to reclaim the throne.

When Manuel, the son of her former general, rescues Catalina from a jaguar, a plan forms. Deep in the jungle, the city of gold is hidden, home to the fierce Illari people, who she could strike an alliance with.

But the elusive Illari are fighting a battle of their own—a mysterious blight is corrupting the jungle, laying waste to everything they hold dear. As a seer, Catalina should be able to help, but her ability to read the future in the stars is as feeble as her survival instincts. While searching for the Illari, Catalina must reckon with her duty and her heart to find her true calling, which could be the key to stopping the corruption before it destroys the jungle completely.

An adventerous South American Tomb Raider! This hotly anticipated companion to Woven in Moonlight follows an outcast Condesa, as she braves the jungle to forge an alliance with the lost city of gold.

My Review

I always feel super nervous going into the sequel of a book that I adored. WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT was one of the best books I read last year, so I had high expectations for the companion novel, and I really wanted to read Catalina’s story.

I thought the book was great, so let me go no further without saying that. The jungle setting felt so spongy and deadly real. Catalina’s fierceness, her total, unquestioning commitment to her people made her admirable. I liked the slow burn, forbidden romance.

Perhaps the thing that kept me from falling in love with this story the way I did with WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT is that because I’d already walked with Ximena through her journey to understand and love the Llacsan people, it was difficult not to feel like Catalina was being selfish and narrow-minded as she dug into her prejudices and clung to them.

On the other hand, I think the things she felt and believed made a lot of sense for her character. I guess I just wish that the resolve of her hate had begun to crack sooner. That would have allowed more time for her spiritual journey, too, which I would have liked to see.

Even with all that, I enjoyed the book and loved seeing Catalina grow into the person she was meant to become. The jungle setting was fantastic, and the slow burn romance totally delicious.

I think fans of GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson (still one of my favorites) would really enjoy this book. It could probably be read on its own, though some characters and relationships from the first book are referenced. I think it’s written in such a way that you could infer a lot of what happened in the first book. (That said, if you want to read both, definitely start with the first book, otherwise WRITTEN IN STARLIGHT will spoil a lot of the plot.)

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Characters are Latinx-coded.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. At one point they bathe together but stay pretty far apart.

Spiritual Content
Catalina was raised worshipping the moon goddess, Luna, and believing that her people were the only ones to do so. Other people worship the earth goddess or the sun god. Some prayer and meditation rituals are shown, and some characters speak with and experience the presence of the gods.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. The jungle is full of dangerous animals and people who attack Catalina and her allies. A vicious monster literally tears some limb from limb. Magic wielders use their magic against Catalina and the others.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of WRITTEN IN STARLIGHT in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Into the Heartless Wood
Joanna Ruth Meyer
Page Street Kids
Published January 12, 2021

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About Into the Heartless Woods

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain.

When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king who is trying to stop her.

Epic, heartbreaking, and darkly atmospheric, Into the Heartless Wood is the story of impossible love between a monstrous tree siren and a boy who lives at the edge of her wood.

My Review

I feel like the back cover copy, shown above, for this book is a great summary of the story. Now that I read it after having read the whole book, it feels like it is packed with a lot of hints at things that I didn’t see until I read the book. Which is pretty cool, actually.

When I read the first page of the book, which I did really just to gauge how much I might like it, I found I couldn’t stop reading. I think I read the first forty pages or so just sitting on the edge of my bed, without actually taking a minute to get comfortable.

The whole story hit me like that. I felt like I needed to keep drinking it in, line by line, as quickly as I could, all the way to the very last page.

I loved it. Owen’s gentle spirit. His mischievous little sister. Seren’s terrible strength and her longing to not be a monster any longer. The transformative power of love and the destructive power of betrayal. The healing power of a little kindness. I loved the hints of gender-flipped Beauty and the Beast. (Aha. See? I got you there, didn’t I?)

As I’m writing this review, I’ve only just finished reading maybe an hour ago, and I still feel like I’m buzzing with all the adrenaline from those last chapters. It’s so good. INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD is definitely a must-read book for this year!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Most human characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used a few times.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. Vague reference to sex.

Spiritual Content
Human souls can be collected and used as a source of great power. A witch uses magic to create beings who enchant humans. The trees in a magical wood are aware and dangerous.

Violent Content
Multiple scenes show the brutal murder of multiple people. Sometimes the description is pretty brief, but other times it’s more drawn out. A few scenes show torture or an enemy causing terrible injuries. A mother character is particularly brutal to one of her daughters.

Drug Content
Owen drinks liquor from a flask to numb him before a medical procedure.

Note: I received a free copy of INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Fortune’s Fall by Katherine Barger

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Fortune’s Fall
Katherine Barger
Anaiah Press
Published November 3, 2020

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About Fortune’s Fall

While her classmates prepare for elite careers across America, Nyssa Ardelone trains for her secret job as the president’s dream interpreter. But when her mentor lies to the president about the prophecy in his latest dream, Nyssa must figure out why before the lie unravels. What she learns could destroy her own future.

Fearful of a rumored rebellion, the president has launched a gas attack on Nyssa’s hometown, and her mentor lied about the dream to protect the survivors from more harm. When Nyssa learns her parents were injured in the attack, she flees with a stranger sent to steal the antidote—a stranger who claims to know her.

Together, they race to deliver the cure as well as an interpretation of another prophetic dream only Nyssa can provide. But a devastating loss dulls her caution, and she learns too late that not everyone is trustworthy. To survive the president’s deadly pursuit, Nyssa must break every rule she’s ever followed, learning along the way that faith is the only thing that can save her.

My Review

I feel like Biblically-inspired fiction as a topic is always a little dicey, so while I was super fascinated with the idea of this tale, I was a little nervous that it might fall flat or be too political or the characters too perfect.

Instead, though, I found a really gripping dystopian setting with a controlling, paranoid leader right up there with President Snow from The Hunger Games. The story world has advanced technology paired with this earthy, simple feel that I thought really worked well together.

I liked the characters a lot, especially some of the minor ones, like Greer and Nyssa’s mentor and Cass. (I hope they all reappear in a sequel!)

The story kept me really intrigued and I thought the pacing was pretty good. At times I felt like things maybe happened too easily, like I wanted the process of achieving a smaller goal to be more complex, but the story moved quickly enough, that those bumps didn’t pull me out of enjoying it at all.

I think readers who enjoy dystopian books, especially MATCHED by Ally Condie, will like this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Most characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Nyssa feels some attraction to a couple of the boy characters.

Spiritual Content
Some resistance members believe in God and the Bible, something that’s been outlawed for a long time. They tell Nyssa that dreams and the ability to interpret them come from God.

Violent Content
References to torture. Prisoners are hanged for their crimes. Nyssa is there but tries not to look, so it’s not described in any detail. A fighter uses a biological weapon to kill soldiers. The same weapon was used on civilians before the story began. Soldiers treat an older man roughly, killing him. A man cuts a boy’s face.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of FORTUNE’S FALL in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Limerick Comics by Robert Hoyman and Steve Feldman

Book Review and Content, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, Poetry, , , , , , ,

Limerick Comics
Robert Hoyman
Illustrated by Steve Feldman
Published March 2, 2019

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About Limerick Comics

Limerick Comics offers original limericks on a wide range of history and science topics, each with an informational panel of surprising facts, presented in entertaining comics.

Young readers age 8 and up are invited to linger on each page to enjoy the humor, ponder inferences, and view the evocative details of each illustrated panel.

Topics include bats, an Egyptian king, a famous trapeze artist, and more.

“For young readers and parents alike, this collection of factoid limericks will be a great introduction to poetry while delivering interesting knowledge and good laughs.”–Booklife

“Both amusing and instructive, with broad appeal and excellent illustrations.”–Kirkus Reviews

My Review

This book is only about 35 pages or so, which means it’s a pretty quick read. I like that it pairs a silly or fun limerick with a short informative note about the topic of the poem. For example, there’s a poem about bats followed by a few sentences giving some information about different types of bats.

The poems are placed on graphic panels, one line per image, so that it sort of shows a mini-comic-story. The informative paragraph immediately follows, printed over a colored background. I think I might have preferred to have the informative part as black text on a plain white page so that it would be easier to read, but I was able to read everything okay as it was printed.

This seems like it’d make a nice choice for reluctant readers, or those who tend to avoid nonfiction. The poem kind of sparks interest in a topic and then the facts about the topic give a few key bits of information, making it a bit more educational.

All in all, I thought this was a pretty fun book and a very quick read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 10.

Representation
Poems cover various topics and people. One talks about the Native American Mohawk tribe. Another covers an Egyptian ruler.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of LIMERICK COMICS in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Faye and the Ether by Nicole Bailey

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Faye and the Ether
Nicole Bailey
Published October 27, 2020

Amazon | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Faye and the Ether

For as long as I can remember, the sea has called to me, luring me to explore the secrets hidden beneath its cresting waves.

Faye is tossed into a current of uncertainty as she deliberates over her college choices. More than anything she wants to study by the sea, forever chasing the line where the ocean meets the horizon. But she finds herself dragged down by the riptide of her and her mother’s financial restraints. How can she be true to herself when anchored by her world’s limitations?

As the leader of the deadliest group in the Ether, Daron is at the top of his game. Yet there is one thing he’s failed at time and again–finding the human-raised Ether. It’s a known fact amongst his team that success on that particular mission would change their lives in unimaginable ways. Yet Daron couldn’t comprehend how true that was… until he saw Faye.

Guided by Daron, Faye enters a world she never knew existed. One filled with mythical creatures, struggling to coexist. As Faye wrestles with where she fits in this magical realm, secrets are revealed that turn the tide once more.

Inky darkness is seeping ever closer. Can Faye and Daron work together to save Ether and themselves? Or will the world be crushed under a wave of evil?

From author Nicole Bailey comes a young adult adventure filled with magic, intrigue, and the inner well of strength that flows through us all.

My Review

Especially at the beginning, this book reminded me a lot of the book OF POSEIDON by Anna Banks. (I liked the Syrena Legacy books, so it’s a good comparison.) I also liked that the story didn’t follow things I expected, both in the way the plot unfolded and in some of the story elements. For instance, I liked that Faye didn’t turn out to be quite what I expected.

Faye also turns out to be a powerful character, and she learns a lot about her power from another woman. I liked that she shared a bond and learned strength from a female character rather than from Daron.

I also like that the romance in the story doesn’t go the way I assumed since it’s a dual point-of-view story. The romance seemed to emerge really quickly, though. Like, there’s a conversation where one character basically says to another, “I need to talk to you about the fact that you’re in love with X.” And I was like, whoa, wait, what?! It’s possible that I overlooked clues because I assumed that a different romance was in the works, so that could just be me.

There were some scenes toward the end, though, where things moved really fast, and I felt like there were some gaps in the narrative that left me confused about what was going on. I felt like I was missing some understanding about the setting (At one point there was a ship approaching another ship, but not a lot of visuals there or anything to distinguish one ship from the other.) or the actions the characters were taking (In one confrontation with enemies, suddenly a character is bound, but there’s no description of that happening.).

I kind of wish there had been more to the magic system, too, but that might just be because I tend to be a fan of the kind of system where magic requires an exchange of some kind, and that’s not the system in FAYE AND THE ETHER. The magic kind of felt too convenient sometimes, I guess.

Other than those few things, though, I enjoyed the story. I particularly liked Faye’s character and her journey toward discovering her strengths and her role in the Ether. I loved the connections between mythology and the Ether, and especially loved that it focused on types of characters that I don’t see a lot. Reading a dual point-of-view story that didn’t follow a traditional romance arc was really cool, too.

I think if you enjoyed the Syrena Legacy by Anna Banks, it’s worth checking out FAYE AND THE ETHER.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
One major character is gay. Faye’s best friend Merri is mixed race. In the Ether, people are separated into groups based on what their Ether form is (there are centaurs, birds, selkies, etc.) and there’s some racial tension and prejudice between groups as well as some homophobia.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two boys. In one scene, the two boys go beyond kissing and it’s hinted that they have sex.

Spiritual Content
References to the gods in the Ether.

Violent Content – Trigger warning for rape, torture, and homophobia.
References to torture and rape. One scene shows soldiers whipping a bound captive, torturing him.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of FAYE AND THE ETHER in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.