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Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
I bought this when it went on sale last year because of a blog review which I unfortunately can’t find right now. But wherever it is, it convinced me to give it a go. And y’all, I LOVED IT. SO MUCH. For some reason I thought it was more of a romance than it actually is? It is not a romance; it is instead a fantasy adventure mystery with really excellent characters. There is a decided lack of kissing in this book,[1. although apparently there is some in the second one] so if you’re looking for kissing in your fantasy stories I’ll direct you to The Magpie Lord.
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Liberty and Other Stories by Alexis Hall
After falling in love with the world and characters of Prosperity, I jumped on the chance to read this collection of short stories/novellas. There are both prequel and sequel stories, both origin stories and what-happened-afterwards. All the characters from Prosperity showed up again AND there were some fun new ones!
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A Hero at the End of the World by Erin Claiborne
A Hero at the End of the World has been getting lots of positive reviews lately, and for good reason. It’s funny and cute and hugely enjoyable; past me, why were you so slow getting to this? You’ve had a copy in your possession since October! For shame, past-me. Present-me is totally gleeful, though, because I had such a good time reading it! I found myself highlighting like a fiend in the first ten pages because every other paragraph had some funny thing in it. It was also a weird kind of comfort read, maybe because it has some tropes I recognize from the world of fandom/fanfic.[1. Since Erin Claiborne…
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Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
I liked this one SO MUCH more than Wild Magic! Which is really great, because I still rated that one fairly high despite my dislike of certain aspects. If you’re new to Tortall (like me) I’d say Alanna would be a good place to start. It’s the same sort of coming-of-age story, but with a twist: the protagonist is a young girl disguised as a boy, training to become a knight in a world where women mostly aren’t. And it totally works! (Perhaps because she starts her disguise before puberty set in.) I had to take a lot of things for granted, sure, but getting to know Alanna and co.…
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Prosperity by Alexis Hall
Memory wrote an excellent review of Prosperity back in October, and it was SO excellent that I went on NetGalley and found Prosperity and requested it for review myself! And I’m so glad I did, because I LOVED it. There is steampunk (or maybe gaslamp)! There is alternate history (kinda)![1. It’s actually set in an alternate universe! Love love love alternate universes.] There are air ships and monsters living behind the sky and lesbians and a bisexual protagonist and crime lords and a nonbinary ship captain and a floating city and, really, the only thing missing was a band of sky pirates. (Maybe they’ll be in another book.)
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A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
How did I decide to buy this book? I must have seen a review of it somewhere and added it to my wishlist.[1. Previous to it winning the 2014 World Fantasy Award for best novel. Congrats!] It’s exactly along the lines of what I like best in a fantasy book: non-European style countries, travel, adventure, and intrigue, with spooky magical things. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if there’d been dragons somewhere and if the protagonist were a woman.
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Clariel by Garth Nix
First off, if you’re like me and expecting dragons from the get-go and was VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT– sorry, but it doesn’t show up until way at the end and it’s not even a real dragon, so. Secondly, forget the thing with the dragon because Clariel is AMAZING and WONDERFUL and it was totally worth obsessing over for a year or so prior to publishing. No regrets! I love the Abhorsen series. A LOT. And so I was super excited to find out that Garth Nix was writing another book set in that world. Tbh, the only thing I’d be excited about MORE is if Diana Wynne Jones came back…
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A Case of Possession by K.J. Charles
So remember how much I loved The Magpie Lord? Take that love and apply it to A Case of Possession, because it was just as good a read! All the great stuff from the first book is in here– great characters[1. including Stephen’s magic partner, who I was very excited to meet. She is snarky and hard as steel, but with a marshmallow center. Love her!], and interesting setting/worldbuilding, fun (yet scary) magic stuff, tricksy mystery, etc. etc. It’s not just a copy-cat of The Magpie Lord, though. For one thing, there are Chinese vampires instead of evil wizards. Also, things are complicated from being in the city rather than…