Tag Archives: Magic

Review: The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , ,
The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh

The Demon and the Light (The Floating World #2)
Axie Oh
Feiwel & Friends
Published October 21, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Demon and the Light

Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in The Demon and the Light, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Axie Oh’s The Floating World.

The battle is over, but the war is just beginning…

With the help of her friends and allies, Ren managed to topple the General’s insurrection, but the Floating World and its territories are still under threat of attack from the rival Volmaran Empire. And far worse, she was powerless to save Sunho from being overcome by the monstrous power in his blood. Now he’s gone, transformed into a feral, deadly creature that doesn’t even recognize her anymore, and her heart aches for the sweet boy she’s grown to love.

But the escalating war will not pause for her grief. Seen by some as a heavenly savior and others merely a figurehead to be manipulated, Ren must use all her courage and cunning to survive the royal court’s game long enough to find Sunho and bring him home before he loses himself to the Demon forever.

My Review

The Demon and the Light is the second part of a duology that began with The Floating World, which came out last spring. This book is a lot more focused on the romance between Sunho and Ren than I remember the first book being. Ren faces some uncertainty about her future as queen, and a powerful enemy rises to destroy her people, so she and Sunho have more going on than the question of whether or not they’ll be together. Their feelings for one another are never far from their thoughts, though, which keeps the romance a central focus.

The story also follows Jaeil, Ren’s childhood friend and now military adviser, who relates some of the political turmoil and observes Ren and Sunho’s relationship. A romance blooms between him and Ren’s adopted uncle (he’s one year older than Ren) as well.

Just like the first novel in the duology, this book is packed with Final Fantasy vibes. We learn more about the experiment that led to Sunho’s demon transformation. Ren learns more about her ancestry and her mother’s life and death. A powerful villain rises, intent on destroying the world in revenge. All we need are wild hairstyles and a super giant sword.

I remember racing through the first book in the duology, so eager to read every chapter. I enjoyed this second book a lot, too. It’s awesome that we got both books in the duology in the same year.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Ren is descended from a goddess and has some supernatural abilities. By entering a dreamlike state, she revisits her ancestors. Some characters transform into beings with monstrous characteristics and violent natures, referred to as demons.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Reference to execution. Some battle scenes.

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: The Tea Dragon Festival by K. O’Neill

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

The Tea Dragon Festival (The Tea Dragon Society #2)
K. O’Neill
Oni Press
Published September 17, 2019

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Tea Dragon Festival

Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago.

With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep, but Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost.

My Review

I absolutely love K. O’Neill’s beautiful fantasy communities. They create such unique characters with a wide variety of skin tones and fantasy-inspired features. This story is set in a different village (and at a different time) than the first book. Initially, I wasn’t sure of the connection between the two stories beyond the presence of tea dragons. But then, shortly after the story begins, two characters from the first book appear as visitors to Rinn’s village.

You could read this book without having read the first book in the series. The storytelling here is pretty gentle, so it’s accessible to very early middle grade readers. My daughter is seven and enjoyed this one.

Rinn and Aedhan’s friendship is such a sweet part of the book. I loved how that developed. I also loved the way that the sleep mystery resolved. I’m looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have magical abilities. Bounty hunters look for a nature spirit that can cause people to fall asleep for long periods of time.

Violent Content
A mythical creature attacks a group. A dragon fights off the creature but is injured.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my local public library. All opinions are my own.

Review: I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends
Kylie Lee Baker
Feiwel & Friends
Published November 18, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends

A teen descendant of a Japanese dragon god must team up with a cute rogue agent to subvert a corrupt time travel organization and find out the truth of what happened to her missing sister in acclaimed author Kylie Lee Baker’s magical new YA romance, I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends.

When you’re ready, come find me. I will keep you safe. -Hana

Descended from a Japanese dragon god, Yang Mina was born with the power to travel through time, and has spent her life training to take her place in the Descendants, a secret organization whose purpose is to protect the timeline. Then Mina’s world is uprooted when she moves to Seoul and finds a note from her sister–a sister who no one remembers, as if she had been erased. The only people who could have made her sister vanish so completely are part of the very agency that she’s been working so hard to join. So now Mina has a new mission, infiltrate the agency as quickly as possible to find her lost sister.

And, as if things weren’t complicated enough, a strikingly handsome rogue agent has determined that Mina is the only person who can help him put an end to the Descendants’ corruption. Placed in an impossible situation, Mina must decide how much she’s willing to risk to find the truth.

My Review

At first, this story might look like a love triangle between Mina, Jihoon, the boy she’s supposed to seduce into a kiss, and Yejun, the rogue agent desperate for her help righting a wrong in the timeline. It becomes clear pretty quickly, though, that poor, sweet Jihoon really doesn’t stand a chance against the unpredictable Yejun.

It took me a long time to invest in the Mina-Yejun connection. He seemed too pushy, and too determined that she should just take orders from him, no questions asked. That didn’t sit well with me. It seemed like it was exactly the same way that her superiors within the organization treated her. He was asking her to go rogue, risk her life, and just trust him that it would all be okay. Seemed like a big ask to me.

I’m glad I stuck with the story, though. I don’t want to give spoilers. But I will say that by the time I reached the end of the story, I understood why certain things happened the way they did. It’s a pretzel-y story, which I enjoyed. For example, both Mina and Yejun encounter future versions of themselves in the present taking action to alter what happens. Later, we see those same scenes, and they make a lot more sense from the vantage point later in the story.

Time travel stories have got to be hard to write. I love that this one plays with some of the common tropes and elements of time travel. I also grew to appreciate the love story as the full landscape of what was going on became clear.

If you’re looking for a time travel romance, check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are descended from the gods and have magic abilities. They use these abilities to navigate to different parts of the timeline and make changes.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief gun violence. References to tragedies that caused deaths, such as a bridge collapse. One character witnesses allies punishing a woman by “erasing” her from the timeline. (They force her to eat her own magic and she disappears.)

Drug Content
None.

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

Review: Lord of Blade and Bone by Erica Ivy Rodgers

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

Lord of Blade and Bone (Waking Hearts #2)
Erica Ivy Rodgers
Peachtree Teen
Published November 11, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Lord of Blade and Bone

A harrowing companion to the romantic fantasy adventure, Lady of Steel and Straw

The kingdom of Niveaux’s most vulnerable are being hanged—their bones mercilessly collected for an arsenal of wraiths. With young Prince Artus locked away and the Order of the Guardians driven from the capital, Cardinal Lorraine the Pure fixes her gaze on conquering bordering nations. To succeed, she’ll have to convince Captain Luc de Montaigne to embrace the power he’s been running from his entire life.

But even in chains, Luc yearns for the light of Lady Charlotte Sand. Proclaimed an outlaw, Charlotte and her lavender scarecrow Guardian, Worth, are staging rebellion with the underground network, the Broken Bird. Three new Guardians have also woken to aid their cause, but someone in their ranks is not who they seem. And with corruption spreading, the Guardians’ hearts are weakening. Can Charlotte trust Luc to abandon his former master and secure peace for the kingdom? Or will the darkness haunting Charlotte’s Guardian destroy any chance for reconciliation?

An exhilarating second installment in the Waking Hearts duology, this YA fantasy was inspired by The Three Musketeers and offers a beguiling dose of dark magic.

My Review

This book was at the top of my list of most-anticipated books coming out this year. I loved Lady of Steel and Straw. I don’t think I spotted the similarities to The Three Musketeers in that first book, but I definitely loved the whole magic system based on guardians with magical hearts that woke when placed inside a scarecrow body laced with herbs.

Lord of Blade and Bone started off a little rough for me, if I’m honest. It’s been a year since I’d read the first book, so I remembered the broad strokes but no details about the political scene or minor characters. The opening scene doesn’t include anyone I remembered from the last book. It sets up the action in this book nicely. Once I finished the book, I went back and reread that first chapter. It made a lot more sense.

There’s not a lot of recap in the opening chapters of this book, despite the fact that it’s almost 500 pages. While I love that I got to read the whole story at once, I wonder if the book would have been better as two novels so there was a little more time to catch up forgetful readers or introduce characters more slowly.

Because there are a LOT of characters, which is something I generally struggle with anyhow. It would have been cool to see a list of all the guardians and their herb-infused abilities somewhere, too.

Though the book started off a little rough, once I remembered who everyone was and what was happening, I didn’t want to stop reading. Charlotte and Luc’s slow burn romance is so sweet. Micah and Viggo are adorable, too.

The book has a lot of political intrigue and wrestling over whether magic abilities are good or evil. There’s a character recovering from addiction. It’s got a lot of intriguing elements.

Conclusion

Lord of Blade and Bone is packed with political intrigue and reads more like an adult fantasy that’s light on romance. If you liked King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, definitely check out this duology. Be sure to start with Lady of Steel and Straw.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to sex.

Spiritual Content
Wielders use forbidden power to disturb dead spirits, raising them as wraiths who inspire fear, pain, and torment in others. Very rarely, when someone dies, they become a Guardian, or an immortal warrior bonded to a person who will fight someone wielding the dead or settle disturbed spirits as part of the Order of old gods.

Under the cardinal’s rule as regent, the people worship a new duo called the Silent Gods, and the old ways are forbidden.

One theme that emerges in the story explores whether the magical ability to wield wraiths is itself evil or whether it’s a neutral ability that can be used for good or bad.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battle scenes. References to torture. References to the murder of civilians. Some brief descriptions of execution.

Drug Content
One character is recovering from a chemical addiction. A few references to alcohol served at social events or adults drinking socially.

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

MMGM Review: The Beasts Beneath the Wind edited by Hanna Alkaf

Anthology or Collection, Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,
Version 1.0.0

The Beasts Beneath the Wind: Tales of Southeast Asia’s Mythical Creatures
edited by Hanna Alkaf
Harry N. Abrams
Published October 21, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Beasts Beneath the Wind

A sweeping and magical story collection showcasing the mythical creatures of Southeast Asia, including work by two-time Newbery medalist Erin Entrada Kelly and National Book Award finalist Shing Yin Khor

A turtle the size of an island. A cricket that can possess you if swallowed. A giant who turns enemies to stone. The legends of Southeast Asia—or “the lands below the winds,” as explorers used to call it—are populated with a whole menagerie of colorful beasts that inspire awe and fear in equal measure. Yet, passed on as they are through story and song, so many of these stories remain rooted in some long-forgotten past and bound by the borders of the region, creatures of myth and memory and nothing more. Until now.

Welcome to The Beasts Beneath the Winds, a collection of Southeast Asia’s most elusive cryptids by a team of bestselling and award-winning authors. Within these gorgeously illustrated pages, readers will find the stories of seventeen regular kids who encounter these mythical creatures in the here and now, and—fortunately or unfortunately—live to tell the tale.

My Review

I love how upbeat the tone of this whole collection is. Between each story, a two page spread that looks like pages from a journal introduces a cryptid. Illustrations show what the creature looks like while text describes where it lives, its temperament, and what it’s known for.

The stories often center around family relationships and connecting or reconnecting with the protagonist’s culture. Some stories are set in Southeast Asian countries while others happen in the United States. Sometimes the main character learns something unexpected about a friend or relative through their experience with the cryptid. At other times, the beast appears to impart wisdom or simply remind the protagonist that the world is a larger, more mysterious place than they realized.

I also love that this book introduces Southeast Asian mythology to readers in the context of short stories. This would be a perfect book to begin with for readers interested in folklore but who don’t generally reach for nonfiction. A list of further reading recommendations would have been amazing to add.

All in all, this is an entertaining collection that’s sure to engage readers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Contains stories about mythological beasts from Southeast Asian folklore and myths. Reference to Muslim holidays and prayer practices.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. In one story, characters stop poachers. In another, a character intervenes to help a creature battling an evil being.

Drug Content
None.

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

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

Review: The Tear Collector by R.M. Romero

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

The Tear Collector
R.M. Romero
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published October 14, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Tear Collector

This darkly fantastical climate change tale explores hope, memory, and what really makes a monster—set after the end of the world.

Climate change culminated in the Flood, an enormous wave that wiped out entire countries. Malka and her younger brother Ezra survived and now live with Dr. Jonas Hollman on the Island, the only piece of land left on Earth. Scavenging useful things from the shoreline under the watchful eye of the Island’s sinister leader Mr. Gray, Malka and her family get by. Barely.

But an illness called the Sorrow is changing people into monsters when their memories of the Mainland grow too sad…and Ezra is the latest to get sick. Desperate not to lose her brother, Malka throws herself into helping “Uncle” Jonas with his research to find a cure.

Then her family’s dismal lives are turned upside down by the mysterious Olivia, who crashes a plane on the beach. More people are out there, she says. The world isn’t lost forever. To save Ezra and the other Islanders, Malka will have to uncover the secrets of her flooded world—and the lies even the people she loves have told her about the true nature of the Sorrow.

R.M. Romero tackles our fear and anxiety surrounding climate change and weaves it through with hope in this beautifully told adventure that will resonate with readers young and old.

My Review

With her signature darkly whimsical writing, Romero introduces readers to a small island populated with survivors of a catastrophic flood. They subsist on items that wash up on the shore, scavenging for signs of life before the flood. The island community has a very rigid hierarchy, with a rich man at the top. He kidnaps any residents who become the Sorrowful, people who lose hope and grow animal-like characteristics. It’s a desperate way to live, and one that no one challenges until Olivia and her plane crashland on the island.

Olivia’s presence changes everything. Suddenly, someone voices the injustice and asks the difficult questions out loud. Someone offers the islanders hope, the thing they most desperately need and are most afraid to grasp.

I really enjoyed the reminder of how important hope is. Earlier in the story, the islanders are scared of remembering the past and feeling sad. They worry that if they think of sad things, they’ll lose hope. But, of course, they come to discover that sometimes remembering the sad things gives them reasons to hope for the future. I liked that the story explored that nuance a bit.

At one point Olivia needs a new engine for her plane. She and another character carry one from a car over to the plane to install it. I don’t think that would work in real life, but I was content to suspend my disbelief.

Throughout the book, I kept asking myself whether the story was stigmatizing depression. It clearly isn’t the author’s intent, and the difference between grief and depression doesn’t really come up in the story. That might have been something interesting to explore or to include in a note at the end.

All in all, I think readers who enjoy standalone fantasy about siblings will love this one. Give this to fans of The Firebird Song by Arnée Flores.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
People who lose hope transform by growing extra limbs, fur, wings, antlers, etc.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. One character enslaves others and imprisons them in his basement.

Drug Content
An adult character drinks champagne at a party.

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

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.