Tag Archives: Magic

Review: Serafina and the Black Cloak: The Graphic Novel by Robert Beatty adapted by Michael Moreci and art by Braeden Sherrell

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,
Serafina and the Black Cloak The Graphic Novel by Robert Beatty, Michael Moreci, and Braeden Sherrell cover shows the dark silhouette of a cloaked figure with glowing eyes and at its center, in a lighted space, a girl.

Serafina and the Black Cloak: The Graphic Novel
Robert Beatty
Adapted by Michael Moreci
Art by Braeden Sherrell
Disney Hyperion
Published April 4, 2023

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About Serafina and the Black Cloak: The Graphic Novel

Robert Beatty’s best-selling gothic fantasy about an unforgettable heroine is now a mesmerizing graphic novel with rich, atmospheric illustrations.

“The story drips with suspense, wrapping readers into the narrative just as easily as the man in the black cloak binds his young victims.” — School Library Journal

“ Never go into the deep parts of the forest, for there are many dangers there, and they will ensnare your soul.”

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of Biltmore Estate. There’s plenty to explore in her grand home, although she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists; she and her pa, the estate’s maintenance man, have secretly lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember.

But when children at the estate start disappearing, only Serafina knows who the culprit terrifying man in a black cloak who stalks Biltmore’s corridors at night. Following her own harrowing escape, Serafina risks everything by joining forces with Braeden Vanderbilt, the young nephew of Biltmore’s owners. Braeden and Serafina must uncover the Man in the Black Cloak’s true identity…before all of the children vanish one by one.

Readers who enjoy history and mystery and like their thrills and chills in visual form will delight in this graphic novel adaptation of a bestseller.

My Review

SERAFINA AND THE BLACK CLOAK has been on my reading list for a long time, but I had never read it before. When I saw the release of the story as a graphic novel, I realized it was the perfect way to immerse myself in the book.

My favorite part of the story is actually Serafina’s relationship with her pa. He protects her, but also gives her some autonomy (he gives her a job as Chief Rat Catcher for the estate). The panels show how much they love each other and the closeness of their family bond.

I also liked the relationship between Serafina and the boy she befriends. I like the way they work together and look out for each other.

While I’ve never been to the Biltmore, I spent a lot of summers in the nearby areas, so I found it really easy to think of the story as set in those kinds of woods. It was cool reading a story set in that part of the country.

Overall, I’m glad I read this one. I thought the illustrations brought a lot of heart to the scenes and really showed the connections between the characters. I’m not sure if there are plans to release the whole Serafina series as graphic novels, but I’d definitely continue reading them if so. I think readers who enjoyed TIDESONG or WINGBEARER will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Human characters appear white and mostly upper class. Serafina learns she may not be fully human.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
A man appears to absorb children into his black cloak.

Violent Content
Serafina witnesses a girl being kidnapped by a man in a black cloak. A mountain lion attacks Serafina, protecting her cubs. Serafina battles human and magical enemies.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Amari and the Great Game by B. B. Alston

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , ,

Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2)
B. B. Alston
Balzer + Bray
Published August 30, 2022

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About Amari and the Great Game

Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.

But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!

But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.

The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse?

My Review

I loved the first book in this series, so I knew I would continue reading with AMARI AND THE GREAT GAME. Amari and Elsie are my favorite characters. I love their friendship and the way they challenge each other and back each other up.

Amari feels both very believably thirteen and mature for her age. Her reactions to things make a lot of sense, and honestly, her response to some of the adults in her life has made me think back on some things from my own childhood and my reactions to things even now.

I was really fortunate in that I had a lot of trustworthy adults around me as a child. So often, even if an adult did or said something I didn’t like, I trusted that they had a good reason because my experience taught me that was probably true. But Amari doesn’t really have that experience. She does have some trustworthy adults in her mom, her mentor Magnus, and instructor Fiona. But she also has a lot of awful experiences in which her needs or her experience are denied or silenced. I guess reading the book made me stop and think about how that experience would change your reaction to adults. Anyway, just food for thought, I guess.

There were a couple of moments where I thought others’ reactions to Amari didn’t make a lot of sense and were stretched to support a plot point. For example, Amari physically can’t talk about an event because she’s taken a vow of secrecy on it. When Elsie asks her about it, Amari clams up and can’t speak. Elsie assumes that Amari is willfully keeping secrets or playing some kind of joke on her. Elsie can see auras, so I kept wondering why she couldn’t see Amari’s distress from keeping a secret from her.

There were only a few moments like that, though, and often I was able to skip past them pretty easily to focus on the next step in the plan to save her world.

Conclusion

All in all, I think fans of the first book will love getting more of the story and the relationships we loved in the first book. The story ends in an intense place, so I’m already eager for book three.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Amari and her family are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. Some characters have been created by magicians.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Magic battles.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: The Magic Fish by Trung le Nguyen

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The Magic Fish
Trung le Nguyen
Random House Graphic
Published October 13, 2020

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About The Magic Fish

Tiến loves his family and his friends…but Tiến has a secret he’s been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together.

Real life isn’t a fairytale.

But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through?

Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?

A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what—we can all have our own happy endings.

My Review

One of the things this book does so cleverly is clue the reader into the different threads of the story with the color of its panels. There are different timelines and stories all being told at the same time. In the present, Tiến is figuring out his feelings for a fellow classmate and how to tell his parents he’s gay.

His mom shares memories of her own life, and later, her journey back to Vietnam to visit her family. In the midst of these stories, in Tiến’s family, they share a lot of stories with one another. For example, in some scenes, he reads fairytales to his mom. In others, his mother listens while her aunt tells her a fairytale. Each of those threads– Tiến’s perspective, his mom’s perspective, and the fairytales are color-coded so that the background of the panels is one color.

That way when the story switches to a different thread, the panels change color. It’s pretty genius. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that, and I have to say it made the story really easy to follow.

Another thing that I really liked is the fairytales themselves. I loved the choices the author made in terms of what the settings looked like for those stories– that’s something we kind of take for granted in reading fairytales in text, I think. But it’s really clear that the author made very purposeful, carefully considered choices about the clothes and backgrounds of each of the tales. I loved that.

The author’s note points up the fact that cultures all over the world have their own versions of tales like Cinderella. For some of those stories, like Cinderella, the western version wasn’t even the first version of the story. I loved that the author points this out in the note at the end of the book.

Conclusion

So I feel like I talked a lot about the setup and background of the story, but let me say that I also really enjoyed reading THE MAGIC FISH. They way Tiến wrestles with what to say to his family felt very real. I love the way his family used stories to bond with and communicate with each other.

There’s something really special about a story that can transcend genre and tell a transcendent story as well. I think THE MAGIC FISH does that beautifully.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Tiến is gay and Vietnamese American. His best friend Claire is Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Tiến has a crush on a boy.

Spiritual Content
A priest speaks to Tiến about his feelings. We only see the beginning of the conversation, but it’s clear he says some deeply homophobic things.

Fairytales contain magic and spirits. One is about the grandfather of the sea, a man who rides on the back of a skeleton and tries to claim a girl for his bride. Others contain mermaids. In one animals speak to humans.

Violent Content
Brief references to prison camps in Vietnam. Some of the fairytales have some dark themes or scenes. In one, a woman stabs another through her heart. A woman unknowingly consumes a meal made from her daughter. A tipped over container of the soup shows it contained human bones.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Wish of the Wicked by Danielle Paige

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

Wish of the Wicked
Danielle Paige
Bloomsbury
November 14, 2023

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About Wish of the Wicked

Bestselling author Danielle Paige puts a dark spin on fairy godmothers in a new YA series for fans of Brigid Kemmerer and Maleficent.

For centuries, the enchanted members of the Entente have worked in tandem with the Three Fates—the Present, the Past, and the Future—to maintain destiny across the Thirteen Queendoms. But when Queen Magrit learns of her untimely demise from Hecate, Fate of the Future, Magrit burns Hecate at the stake and decrees death to all Entente in order to live forever.

But some survive, including sixteen-year-old Farrow, who hatches a dangerous plan to seek revenge. Along the way, she finds herself falling for the one person who could ruin everything. With life and love hanging in the balance, she must decide who to trust and what’s most important: living in the past or forging a new future.

Bestselling author Danielle Paige launches a brand-new fairy godmother origin story full of intrigue, magic, and romance.

My Review

I found the pacing of this one a little different than I expected. Sometimes an origin story takes us right up to the beginning of a familiar tale, or right up to a character’s involvement in a familiar tale. I expected something like that here. To follow Farrow’s story until she meets a crying girl in a wrecked dress who just wants to go to the ball.

Instead, about half of the book tells Farrow’s history, relating how she has magic, what happened to drive her to the palace, and why she’s interested in helping Cinderella in the first place. The second half basically tells the story of Cinderella, but from the fairy godmother’s point-of-view.

My favorite parts of the book were how the setup changed or reflected the story of Cinderella. I really liked the setup involving Cinderella’s step-family. That reflected the original story and turned it around completely differently. It created connections between the fairy godmother and the family that added a lot of interest and stakes.

I also expected a lot more romance in the book. There are a couple of kissing scenes, but they’re mostly performative, and Farrow spends so much time focused on revenge and survival that she barely spares a thought to her feelings about a certain boy. It’s possible that the romance develops more in a subsequent book in the series, though.

All in all, I thought this was an imaginative origin story/retelling with some clever changes to the original tale. Fairy tale readers will like getting the often-overlooked perspective of the fairy godmother in a female-dominated cast.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Farrow is described as having light brown skin.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used somewhat infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. At one point, a boy’s friends tease him and ask him to have Farrow disrobe in front of them as part of the aftermath of a ceremony where she’s presented to him. She obliges, down to her undergarments.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have magic. Three of the Entente have the ability to see events: past, present, or future. Some characters refer to Fate as a source of power or guidance.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some brief descriptions of women being burned alive or drowned. A few scenes contain some body horror, in which a person’s body transforms into beetles, bees, or scorpions. Soldiers attack using magic-suppressing weapons.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything but help support this blog. I received a free copy of WISH OF THE WICKED in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Before the Devil Knows You’re Here by Autumn Krause

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Before the Devil Knows You’re Here
Autumn Krause
Peachtree Teen
Published October 3, 2023

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About Before the Devil Knows You’re Here

A deliciously dark folk horror for fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Erin Craig, blending the tall tales of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan with Faustian elements, and centering a fierce Mexican-American poet on a quest to rescue her brother.

1836. Wisconsin Territory. All Catalina has left is her little brother—Mama died years ago, and Papa was buried just yesterday. She and Jose Luis are alone now, in their ramshackle cabin on the edge of the Wisconsin wilderness, with the cold weather coming.

As Catalina sets plans to ensure their survival, a strange man appears—a man covered in bark, leaves growing from his head, and sap dripping from his eyes. Before Catalina can stop him, he scoops Jose Luis up and disappears. He leaves behind a strange bird with crimson wings. She can’t let this man—if that’s what he is—have her brother. With no idea where they’ve gone, she tracks the bird in hopes it will lead her to Jose Luis.

Along the way, she finds help from a young Paul Bunyan, whose life has also been changed by the Man of Sap. As they travel deeper into the Northwoods, they uncover more of the Man of Sap’s history and the connections he and Catalina share, ultimately learning her fate is deeply entwined with his—set in seeds planted long ago—and now, giving her the power to change his life or end it.

My Review

The cover of this book somehow suggested a totally different story to me. I kind of wish that it included some of the story elements or characters– Catalina with her strength and pride, and Paul with his axe. An apple tree, heavy with fruit.

At any rate, I loved the concept of this story from the beginning. Taking familiar American folklore and adding Faustian elements to it created a high-stakes story that felt like it was set in old America. I loved the magical elements and eeriness of the tale.

It’s called horror, and there are a few strange/scary moments. I thought on the whole that it was more eerie than terrifying.

I loved the characters in this book, from the story of John (Johnny Appleseed) and the curse he encounters to Catalina and her quest to rescue her missing brother. Paul Bunyan’s character was really cool, too. He almost had that folk hero too-good-to-be-real thing going on, but I liked the way the author layered his character so there was more to him than met the eye.

This is a fairly quick read at less than 250 pages, which is great for anyone looking for a shorter young adult fantasy novel. I think readers who enjoy creepy stories and historical fantasy or reimagined history will like this one a lot.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
The main character and her brother are biracial: white and Mexican American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently. In one scene, someone says something racist toward Catalina’s family.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
One character is the devil in disguise. A man receives a curse that turns him into a tree-like person, with bark for skin and sap for tears. He must carry a heavy satchel of seeds that grow into trees that produce poisoned apples that seduce people into eating them.

Violent Content
Situations of peril and some scary imagery. Catalina witnesses someone’s death from poison. Brief battles include fatality.

Drug Content
Poisoned apples kill anyone who eats them.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE HERE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra

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Flower and Thorn
Rati Mehrotra
Wednesday Books
Published October 17, 2023

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About Flower and Thorn

One girl. One boy.
A promise broken.
A magic stolen.

Irinya has wanted to be a flower hunter ever since her mother disappeared into the mysterious mist of the Rann salt flats one night. Now seventeen, Irinya uses her knowledge of magical flowers to help her caravan survive in the harsh desert. When her handsome hunting partner and childhood friend finds a priceless silver spider lily–said to be able to tear down kingdoms and defeat an entire army–Irinya knows this is their chance for a better life.

Until Irinya is tricked by an attractive imposter.

Irinya’s fight to recover the priceless flower and to fix what she’s done takes her on a dangerous journey, one she’s not sure she’ll survive. She has no choice but to endure it if she hopes to return home and mend the broken heart of the boy she’s left behind.

My Review

One of the things I’ve learned about myself as a reader lately is that I struggle with long chapters. Chapter length isn’t something I usually know about a book before I start reading. Some books genuinely need longer chapters because of how they’re structured. This one is one of those. But, because I am a reader who struggles with long chapters, it took me a long time to feel like I hit my stride with this book.

Once I did, though, I was completely hooked. Like, I enjoyed the story from the early scenes, but it felt like it was taking a long time to read, and I kept having to stop mid-chapter, which really threw me off when I started reading again the next time.

I loved the story’s setting. It’s set in India at a time when the country is besieged by the Portuguese. The characters hope to use magic flowers as a weapon in the war, and hope to keep their existence secret from the invaders, though it isn’t clear if they can.

The story has some commentary on markets and unfair systems, particularly those that marginalize nomad communities. I thought the commentary on that was thoughtful and well-integrated into the story. Irinya hopes to help her people find a way to sell the magic flowers for a fair price, as opposed to the current system, in which a few powerful, wealthy individuals control the system.

I really liked Irinya’s character. She’s stubborn, willful, and deeply loyal to her people. She’s fierce and brave. Definitely my kind of heroine.

Conclusion

Definitely by the 20 or 25% mark, I was deeply invested in the story and needed to know what really happened with the mysterious stranger who’d promised the world to Irinya and the deep betrayal between her and her best friend, Fardan. I’m super glad I read this book, and I’m eager for more by this author. I really enjoyed her debut, NIGHT OF THE RAVEN, DAWN OF THE DOVE, as well.

Content Notes for Flower and Thorn

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Characters are Indian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Two women are in a romantic relationship. Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some flowers have magic abilities to heal or travel through time or space. Irinya can hear the flowers speaking to her.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Irinya sees a person killed by deadly wasp stings. Several characters engage in battle with swords and other weapons. Some are fatally injured. Irinya uses a blowpipe with poison thorns as a weapon. Thugs kill a man with a knife. A woman hits someone with a cooking pot in a battle.

Drug Content
References to alcoholic drinks.

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