Fast, fun, and full of charm(s).
A coven of diverse modern-day witches must band together to discover their seventh and final member before they're hunted down.
Lucky St. James’ life has been anything but lucky. Born to the wildly iconoclastic and troubled Arnya, a member of Canada’s Indigenous Métis people, Lucky was largely raised by her paternal grandmother, Stella, after her mother’s early death and her father's disappearance "down an opioid drain hole." Now in her late 20s, she's trying to hold a job, manage Stella’s increasing dementia, and stare down her and Stella’s impending eviction from their Toronto apartment. Lucky’s life seems impossible—and then she finds the spoon. Tiny, ornamental, adorned with a witch caricature and labeled SALEM, the spoon seems nothing more than a curio, but, unbeknownst to Lucky, it marks her as the sixth and penultimate member of a coven of contemporary witches who are about to change her life forever. Meena, the descendent of one of the original Salem witches; Wendy, an Anishinaabe woman who has outgrown reservation life; Morticia, a goth terrified of aging into suburban femininity; Lettie, a young Creole mother fleeing an abusive relationship; and Freya, a trans girl from a fundamentalist Christian family, are ready to welcome both Lucky and Stella into their unconventional family circle, but there’s a catch. There's a seventh witch who must be located before the circle can be completed—but no one knows who she is, she could be anywhere in North America, and Lucky and Stella must find her within 17 days. As if this weren’t enough pressure for the bemused but hopeful Lucky and her relentlessly sprightly grandma, there's the added wrinkle of Jay Christos, a ruthless member of the ancient witch-hunting brotherhood the Benandanti who is hot on their tail. A propulsive read full of intriguing detail, this novel is well written, engaging, and, more than anything, enjoyable. If the dichotomy between the feminine (good) and masculine (bad) is a bit stark, this is made up for by the genuine affection the reader will feel for Dimaline’s irreverent, badass witches as they battle for the future of their family and the future of the world, one and the same in Dimaline’s inclusive vision.
Fast, fun, and full of charm(s).Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063054899
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
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Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
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