Phoebe's Diary

 Phoebe's Diary by Phoebe Wahl (2023), 464 pages

If you read my previous post about Little Witch Hazel, you know that Phoebe Wahl is a favorite artist of mine. This is her somewhat true, somewhat fictionalized teenage diary. Wahl very much captures teenage angst and coming of age. It reminds me a lot of the risqué Judy Blume books we all read too young and hoped that our parents didn't know what was actually in them. Do people still read Judy Blume? I am aging myself, but I am not sure what the current equivalent would be. I suspect a lot of teenage girls would relate to this novel. If you are a parent to teenagers, you might want to wait until they are adults before diving in. 

Divine Traitors

 So Let Them Burn and This Ends in Embers by Kamilah Cole, 816 pages.

Faron Vincent was 12 when she was granted the power of the gods to become the Childe Empyrean and fight the war to liberate her country. Five years later San Irie is free and Faron has spent the last few years frivolously using her powers and feeling purposeless. She is given sudden purpose again when her sister Elara ends up bonded to an enemy dragon, and Faron has to desperately try to find a way to sever the bond so she doesn't have to kill her sister. This desperation drives her to start something she can't stop, and the whole world may have to pay the price.

This Jamaican-inspired anti-colonial fantasy novel started pretty interesting. I liked the tension between Elara's plot at the dragon academy and Faron's attempts to uncover ancient secrets. Unfortunately, the second book was much harder to buy into, partially because many of the characters' actions were so unfathomably selfish. I also found the magic a little simplistic, especially given then real world countries with the thinnest possible coat of fantasy paint. If you're looking for a young adult novel where a young woman from a (formerly) colonized people has to go to a dragon academy run by her colonizers, set in a world with clearly identifiable real world countries, I would recommend To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose instead. 

When Night Breaks

 When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles, 480 pages.

In this sequel to Where Dreams Descend, Kallia finds herself trapped in a world stranger and more magical than she could have imagined. Spectaculore may be over, but the world of magicians she finds herself in isn't any less cutthroat than the world she came from.

This book is very stylish, but I'm afraid that's all I can say for this extremely underwhelming sequel. Despite being presented as the answer to the mysteries of the last book, it doesn't actually answer very many of the open questions, sometimes feeling like it is actively contradicting the first book. I also didn't find the ending of this book, which also concludes the series, very satisfying. This is such an unfulfilling sequel that it makes it harder to recommend the first book, knowing that many of the most intriguing questions won't get any satisfying answers.  

Where Dreams Descend

 Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles, 464 pages.

Kallia has spent her whole life in Hellfire House, performing as the star masked magician in the mysterious club. But she feels trapped, and the city of Glorian calls out to her across the cursed woods, so when secrets revealed send her life tumbling down she runs to the city and enters a cutthroat competition for magicians. Kallia is the only women in the competition, as female magicians rarely make it to the stage, but she is determined to shine brighter than any of her competitors. Until competitors start to go missing, and she has something much more ominous to worry about. 

This was a fun book! I found it a little frustrating how many problems only existed because everyone steadfastly refused to share any information at all, as well as the 2-dimensional other competitors who mostly seem to exist as strawmen to perform sexism. That being said, it's a very stylish book, and it sets up some interesting questions that will hopefully be answered in the sequel. 

Sheine Lende

 Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger, 391 pages.

Shane, like many of the women in her family before her, has the power to rouse ghosts from the world below. She and her mother use these powers, including the tracking power of their ghost dog, to find missing people (whether they can pay or not). Which is the right thing, but also hard, since money has been tight since they lost their home, community, and several family members in a flood many years ago. Things get even harder when her mother goes missing on a search and rescue mission for two siblings, and Shane has to go further than she ever thought possible to get her back.

This prequel to Elatsoe really works as a prequel in a way that many don't. The story didn't undercut anything from that book, while also not being rendered less meaningful because we know how Shane eventually ends up. Rather it added a lot of depth and history to a character we only see in passing, letting her own her story in the same way the Ellie does in her book. That being said, this book didn't work for me quite as well as Elatsoe. I found the pacing to be a little slow and clunky, and I had a hard time really getting into this book. It's still worth reading for fans of Darcie Little Badger, but I would recommend her other books first if you're looking for modern fantasy mixed with Lipan Apache mythology. 

Don't Be a Drag

 Don't Be A Drag by Skye Quinlan, 368 pages.

After Briar Vincent's mental health takes a dangerously bad turn, her beloved older brother flies her out to spend the summer with him in New York, where he moved after graduation to escape their small Texas hometown and pursue his dreams of being a drag queen. New York is initially almost too much for Briar's anxiety to bear, especially after clashing with a drag king who is irritatingly full of herself (and also frustratingly hot). Which is how Briar ends up in a drag king of the year competition despite never having done drag in her life. 

This is, overall, a sort of fun book about community building. There were some aspects I found frustrating (some inconsistent characterization, a pretty slow plot, a few other minor quibbles), but there were also some interesting portions, putting it at a pretty solid 3 out of 5 for me. This is definitely a young adult novel, so mileage may vary with enjoyment of the genre. Overall a fine book with good representation. 

Sophie's World

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaardner (1991) 523 pages

This novel is about a high schooler in Norway, named Sophie, who begins receiving mysterious letters offering a course on Philosophy. I've had it on my reading list since before I used Goodreads. It was a nice review of the Intro to Philosophy course I took in college. About half way through you find out an officer working for the United Nations in Lebanon has written this work of fiction and has sent it home to his daughter Hilde, who is the same age as the fictional Sophie, for her birthday. By this point, I had become invested in the story of Sophie and her Philosophy teacher, so it was a bit frustrating that Sophie's story becomes more and more fantastic, and Hilde's story is about her reading what we have just read. My college course ended with Kant, so I was interested in an overview beyond that period of philosophic thought. The Philosophy teacher in the story begins pulling in other sciences with discussion of Darwin and Freud. More and more mythical and fairy-tale characters strangely pop up in Sophie's world as well. It really leans in to the dual worlds of grounded reality and mysterious fantasy, but I don't think the author mixes them particularly well.
 

Matilda

 

Matilda by Roald Dahl, 240 pgs.

What a fun book. My daughter started reading this one night, finished it in a day, and declared it as her favorite book of all time. I've seen most of the early movie versions of of Dahl's books but I'm just starting to read them now and really wished I'd experienced them as a kid. Matilda is one of those kids who is born to neglectful, awful parents and who don't encourage her natural abilities so she develops them herself. I love that this is basically a kid experience some massive trauma and ends up developing a superpower as a result to counteract all the bad people in her life. Books that feature kids who develop a power over grown-ups is always a good read, it's nice to see mean adults get their comeuppance at the hands of someone so small. Kids and adults. 

Spin the Dawn

 Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, 392 pages.

Maia Tamarin has always dreamed of being a Master tailor like her father, but by tradition that path is not open to women in A'Landi. But when her ailing father is summoned to the palace she feels she has no choice but to take his place, and is thrown into a high stakes competition for the longed for role of imperial tailor. A contest with impossible tasks, followed by an even more impossible quest, pushes Maia to her limits and helps her unlock power she never thought she had. It's a shame it can only help her so much when she begins to question what she really wants. 

The blurb for this book describes it as "Project Runway meets Mulan" and I would say that's very accurate to the first half of the book, although it doesn't oversell the great fairy tale energy throughout this book. It reminded me quite a bit of the second half of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but it is also strongly inspired by Asian mythology, with Chinese and Korean elements being especially prominent. I found the world very rich and the story compelling. It felt in some ways like a retelling, but also like an original story. The book definitely felt like it ended halfway through the story, so I will likely be picking up the sequel more quickly than I had anticipated. Luckily it's available, so I don't have to hold it against the book and instead get to be excited to read the ending.

Meet Me in Mumbai

 Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan, 352 pages.

This book is written in two acts. The first follows Ayesha, who is completing her last year of high school in America, far from her family in Mumbai. In a whirlwind few months she falls in love, gets pregnant, and finds herself alone and making the most difficult decision of her life. After much agonizing she decides to give the baby up for adoption to preserve both her own reputation and that of her family, and after even more agonizing she chooses to return to Mumbai.

Eighteen years later her daughter, Mira Fuller-Jensen, is feeling increasing tension between her Indian heritage and the white Texas culture that she's been raised in. When she finds a letter from her birth mother asking her to meet her in a certain place in Mumbai on her eighteenth birthday (a few short months away) she is determined to meet her, and hopes desperately this might finally help her figure out who she really is. 

I found the first half of this book very emotionally compelling, and I was deeply invested in Ayesha. Which made it pretty disappointing when I couldn't say the same about the second half, especially since that was the part of the story I was expecting to be more interested in. Too much of Mira's story tonally read more like an after school special about understanding other people, and I found the emotional drive to be pretty flat. It's also interesting that meeting her parents did in face lead to self-understanding, which was a shallow enough development I had a hard time buying it. Overall I would still say this is a fine book, but I enjoyed the author's The Love and Lies of Rukshana Ali much more.

Black Birds in the Sky

 Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre by Brandy Colbert, 224 pages.

This work of young adult nonfiction is about the Tulsa Race Massacre, but it also more broadly covers the history of racism in America, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Being a young adult book, the writing is simple, and breaks the history up into quick to read and easy to understand chunks. It also handles very dark subject matter in a way that neither sensationalizes its darkness nor softens it for the younger audience. My only real complaint is that it sometimes felt a little unfocused and meandering. However, despite feeling a little disorganized, the book gives lots of context on it's subject matter, and is very thorough. Contextual topics that get a lot of focus include lynching, Jim Crow laws, and race riots. Colbert also spends the last chapter discussing the legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre, both in terms of popular culture and academic representations and in terms of how Oklahoma has dealt with this legacy in the present day. Overall I would say this is a very good book for young people about a long hidden tragedy.

Heartstopper vol. 1

 Heartstopper vol. 1 by Alice Oseman, 263 pages.

This sweet and simply colored graphic novel follows Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson as they meet, become friends, and then start developing a different kind of feelings for each other. 

Kara already wrote about these books here, and I'm only sad it took me this long to finally pick up the first one. The story was adorable and classic, and as soon as I finished volume one I was sad I hadn't taken out volume two as well. This story seems to be exactly what it says on the tin, an adorable and easy to read romance.

The Gilded Wolves

 The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi, 388 pages.

It's 1889 in a magical version of our own world, and the upcoming Exposition Universelle is the talk of Paris. Séverin Montagnet-Alarie was meant to be the heir to one of the four powerful magical houses of France, but the results of his bloodline test were forged and he was robbed of his birthright. Now he runs both a successful hotel and a group of very talented teen thieves. Their band specializes in forged (magical) items from the remaining houses, and especially anything Séverin believes should belong to him. But their latest hunt is for a legendary treasure that could help all of them to find the things they have been seeking. Unfortunately, this kind of item comes with attention, and the stakes may be higher than they were prepared for.

I always like a good heist book, and this is a perfectly fine example of the genre. I thought the setting was pretty interesting, and the characters all have cool concepts.Unfortunately, I also found the characters to be a little two dimensional, and the end of this book put me off reading the sequels. It did remind me quite a lot of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and I think fans of that book will definitely enjoy this one as well.

The Poet X

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (2018) 361 pages

This audiobook on Libby is less than four hours and narrated by the author. It is full of powerful slam poetry. It is a novel, but it feels like it could be a memoir. It has been reviewed on this blog a couple times before. We follow Xiomara Batista, a child of Dominican Republic immigrant parents in Harlem, through her 10th grade year of high school. One of her poems introducing herself repeats the phrase "Pero, tu no eres facil." The first words to describe Xiomara were "You sure ain't an easy one." Through her diary and poetry we get to know her mother, father, twin brother, best friend, boyfriend, and English teacher. I love that she questions her parents' religion. She struggles with the way boys and men treat her now that she has developed curves. She deals with strict parental rules on dating like many teens. Ms. Galiano, the English teacher, encourages her to join poetry club and perform at NYC wide poetry slams. She finds her voice by keeping a diary and writing poetry. The climactic scene with her mother, who goes through her diary and considers the thoughts expressed in her poetry as sinful, gave me a strongly visceral feeling. Thankfully she continues to be empowered by voicing her words through poetry for everyone at the big spring poetry slam to hear.
 

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway

 The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway by Amy Schumacher, 320 pages. 

Madeline Hathaway hasn't been doing very well since her mom died. The renaissance festival circuit she grew up on hasn't been the same, she and her dad aren't really communicating, and she is compulsively tracking almost every aspect of her life as part of her grieving process. She's been nervous to arrive at her mom's favorite festival, and when she get there she hardly recognizes it. The festival is under new management, and the new owners' son is determined to pull her into the action. He also won't stop calling her Gwen. 

Arthur is determined to be her friend, which includes roping her into playing the princess and going on road trip adventures during the week. And despite the fact that Madeline is determined not to let herself care about anyone else she could one day lose, she finds herself caring about him anyway. 

This was a pretty cute young adult novel. Both Madeline and Arthur are determined that nobody could actually find them attractive, and I found that added an interesting dynamic to their relationship. It also fed into the biggest problem I had with the book, which is that a lot of characters made a lot of wildly unfounded assumptions, usually based on nothing, and acted as if they were inarguable fact. It was sweet however, and a pretty good portrayal of grief for younger audiences.

Everything Within and In Between

 Everything Within and In Between by Nikki Barthelmess, 336 pages.

Ri Fernández’s grandmother has been very strict her whole life that she should be "American." Nevermind that her grandmother's definition of American is very narrow and means that Ri isn't allowed to speak Spanish, or hang out with the people in her neighborhood, or really engage at all with her grandmother's Mexican culture. Ri thinks things might have been different if her mom hadn't left, and when she finds a letter from her that her grandmother was hiding she is determined not only to see her, but to embrace every part of her identity. This means finally addressing a lot of things that she had never been willing to deal with, with her white friends, her grandmother, and herself. 

This was a really sweet book. I have a few criticisms (everyone seems to be very lacking in emotional intelligence only until the big confrontations when they convey their feelings perfectly), but overall I really enjoyed it. It's a pretty wholesome, introspective young adult novel that has a fair bit to say about identity.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath

 To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, 511 pages.

There have been no dragons on Masquapaug for generations, so it is a cause for celebration in the community when a dragon egg hatches and bonds a member of the tribe. But times have changed since her people worked with dragons; they have been colonized, and the Anglish have laws about how a dragon (and their companion) are to be trained. So Anequs goes off to the Anglish boarding school with all of it's rich Anglish pupils and quickly learns that their attitude towards dragons are very different than her people's. For example, they kill dragons that are deemed too dangerous or unmanageable. So if she wants to save her dragon and learn enough of managing her magic to help her people she has to endure the Anglish school, and the polarizing political effect of her enrollment.

This is an exceptional novel. The whole thing feels very fresh and original, even while treading old ground (dragons and magic boarding schools are staples for a reason). I was never entirely sure if this was meant to be high fantasy or alternate reality Earth, but ultimately it doesn't matter all that much one way or the other. Most cultures on Earth have their own versions of dragon in folklore, and Blackgoose does a phenomenal job building up the fictional folklore of her world to reflect the same variety. Even more impressive, the stories that many characters tell about their culture's own version of the first dragon story still feel like folklore, rather than history, which isn't a distinction many writers preserve when the stuff of folklore is unarguably real. I also found the way the lines between magic and science were blurred to be very interesting, but it makes total sense in a world where societies developed alongside dragons. This novel is definitely structured around a more indigenous storytelling method, which I also found really interesting. 

My only complaint is that this is very much a first book in a series, so there are a lot of things that feel very unresolved. Related to that the author (necessarily) spends a lot of time on world-building, so this book is sort of plot-light and lacking in a single central conflict. That being said, I suspect the series will really hit it's stride in the next book, and I'm very excited to read it when it is published.

The Lost Girls

 The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl, 197 pages.

Due to the exceptionally cruel rules of vampirism, Holly Liddell hasn't been able to change at all since 1987, when her vampire boyfriend convinced her they would be in love forever. Thirty-four years later he abandoned her at a gas station and she's stuck with her crimped hair and night shift at Taco Bell, magically bound to follow him around. It's even worse when she finds out that she's the THIRD girl he's done this to, and that he's getting ready to do it again. Elton's other exes, Rose and Ida, are determined to kill him to both save this new girl and secure their own freedom, and as soon as Holly meets the new target (and feels some shockingly strong feelings about her) she's on board too. 

This book was interesting, but I'm not sure it entirely worked. It's rare to see a young adult novel about vampires portray them as truly monstrous, and it was definitely interesting that this one did. However, as a romance novel, and especially a romance between a human and a vampire, it made it a little hard to buy-in. There's just a lot of murder and corpse mutilation to feel too sympathetic to the protagonists you are clearly supposed to feel very sympathetic for. This book was sort of fun, but there are a lot of components that just don't feel like they quite come together.

Warrior Girl Unearthed

 Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley, 400 pages.

Perry Firekeeper-Birch was looking forward to a relaxing summer of fishing and hanging out with her dog. Instead, she ends up stuck in the tribe's summer internship program to pay off damages after a minor car accident. Even worse, she ends up assigned to Cooper Turtle, manager of the Sugar Island Cultural Learning Center and local weirdo. However, she soon comes to like and appreciate Cooper Turtle as he draws her into the fight for repatriation of ancestral remains and grave goods, a topic she quickly finds a passion for. Also featuring in Perry's summer is the possibility of romance, illegally obtained Anishinaabe artifacts, and a slew of missing girls. 

I quite liked this book, and Perry in particular. I found the plot engaging, the characters good, and the information about NAGPRA thorough and informative. Unfortunately, I feel like this book was trying to do a bit too much, and it ended up feeling sort of unfocused, and the resolution felt like it only sort of made sense. Still, I consider this a pretty enjoyable book, and a good addition to the growing category of young adult novels by indigenous authors.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

 Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, 404 pages.

1954 is not a very good year to be a Chinese lesbian. Even in San Francisco, historically one of the safer places for people who love differently, there are police raids on gay bars and criminal charges. This is the situation Lily Hu is in. She is seventeen and living in Chinatown during the Red Scare. She's also falling in love with one of her classmates who she thinks (hopes?) might be falling in love with her too. And when they start going together to the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar where a "male impersonator" performs, Lily quickly confirms many things she only suspected about herself. But, in a place and time when discovery would be life-shattering, the stakes of first love are high.

I've been meaning to read this for quite a while, and I'm glad I finally got to it! I actually read the first seed of this novel in a short story in the All Out anthology I wrote about last summer, which I really liked, and which inspired me to pursue this novel. Lo clearly did a lot of research, and I found the whole novel to be a really interesting historical snapshot. I think I tend to prefer my books a little plot heavier than this one is, but I still enjoyed it. The romance was sweet and I liked the characters.