In Emers’ YA fantasy, an immortal being is determined to heal her fractured family—no matter how long it takes.

Kali Brewster and her family are Wanshiqi, a species of powerful, immortal beings with godlike powers that range from the ability to heal the sick to the capacity to destroy entire cities. Back in the year 79, for instance, Kali leveled a city: “The fall of Pompeii? Yeah, that was me.” By Wanshiqi standards, this kind of thing isn’t terribly taboo; after all, her grandfather sunk Atlantis and her mother destroyed the Aztec civilization. However, Kali trapped a Wanshiqi named Octavius under the ash of Pompeii, where he remains to this day. As punishment, Kali and her parents were sentenced by the powers that be to live among humans and reincarnate until Kali reaches her 17th human year and undergoes qifa, the Wanshiqi coming-of-age process. But because Kali uses her powers to ensure her own death, she and her family have gone through hundreds of reincarnation cycles. Her divorced parents are furious, but Kali isn’t ready to stop, and she thinks she can repair the family rift. Now that Kali is 16-going-on-17 yet again, she’s preparing to drag her parents—as well as her maternal grandparents and her Wanshiqi soulmate, Hunter—through it all again. This time, though, there’s more at play than she realizes. At its core, the first book in Emers’ Wanshiqi Trilogy is an exploration of how unprocessed trauma can spiral into other parts of one’s life, even if that life plays out over multiple centuries. Kali, with her many lifetimes of hiding her Pompeii-related trauma from her loved onesand her infliction of violence against herself, is often a sympathetic protagonist. That said, she also comes off as remarkably selfish at times, as shown most starkly in her violence against others and her persistence in extending her family’s reincarnation sentence. Emers’ worldbuilding is thorough and her supporting characters are well developed. The pacing of this dense story often drags, however, and readers may find the plot’s high school drama elements to be unnecessary and off-putting.

An intriguing and complex but slow-burning read.

Tansley’s YA fantasy/mystery tells a story of ghosts, curses, and a deadly secret.

Kat Preston is a prep school student who can see ghosts, or, as she calls them, “unbelievables.” She’s tried to deny her power ever since she was 9, when a friendly ghost saved her from being possessed by another spirit. Ghosts are invading her life once again as she researches the lives of Cassie Mallory and Sebastian Radcliffe, who left only two things behind when they disappeared on their 1886 wedding night: a pool of blood and a family curse. Her instructor, professor Astor, invites her to be part of a team that will investigate the disappearances at their source—Castle Creighton on Connecticut’s Isle of Acacia. Kat visits the castle only a few weeks before a family curse is due to strike the final Radcliffe heir. Any hopes of avoiding the supernatural are dashed when Kat and her antagonistic teacher’s-assistant Evan, are pulled through a magical mirror. They find themselves in the bodies of Sebastian’s friends Toria and Alistair shortly before the Radcliffe wedding in 1886. They both have to return to their own time before their souls become too weak, but before that, they must stop Sebastian and Cassie’s bloody disappearance. As time runs out, Kat’s and Evan’s connections to the deadly plot become clear. The novel’s murder mystery is intriguing and grows more complex as its supernatural elements are unveiled. Readers will enjoy connecting the dots and guessing at the motivations of the Radcliffes’ wedding guests. However, Kat proves to be one of the novel’s most unbelievable elements. Her supernatural gifts grow more fanciful and powerful as the novel progresses, and her knowledge of obscure topics seems unnatural for a student who appeals to her professor for a B-plus on a paper; she can also identify Rococo artists by name, tell the difference between statues of Oceanus and Poseidon by their tridents, and use words such as “iolite” and “labradorite” to describe eye colors. As a result, she seems almost too perfect.

An intricate supernatural mystery with an overly gifted heroine.