book-reviews
-
Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan (Girls of Paper and Fire #2)
Year published: 2019 Category: YA fantasy Representation: F/F, main character and side characters, M/M, side characters Summary: In this mesmerizing sequel to the New York Times bestselling Girls of Paper and Fire, Lei and Wren have escaped their oppressive lives in the Hidden Palace, but soon learn that freedom comes with a terrible cost. Lei, Continue reading
-
Wolfsong by TJ Klune (Green Creek #1)
Year published: 2016 Category: urban fantasy Representation: M/M, main couple and side couples/characters Summary: Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road, the boy who Continue reading
-
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette De Bodard
“You would have given me so much, in exchange for me giving up everything.” Year published: 2021 Category: Fantasy novella Representation: F/F, main couple and side character Summary: Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial Continue reading
-
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (Strange the Dreamer #1)
“And that’s how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.” Year published: 2017 Category: YA fantasy Representation: F/F and M/M, side characters Summary: The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way Continue reading
-
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
“To join the realities. To make sense of it all.” Year published: 2019 Category: Fantasy novella Representation: F/F, main couple Summary: Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten Continue reading
-
The Pattern Scars by Caitlin Sweet
Please note that this review covers the ending of the book in detail. Nola, o Nola,So lovely, so boldWhen will your eyes fall on me? Year published: 2011 Category: Fantasy Summary: Nola is born into poverty in Sarsenay City. When her mother realizes that Nola has the Othersight and can foretell the future, she sells Continue reading
-
Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno
“Because there was nothing in a girl’s history that might negate her right to choose what happens to her body.” Year published: 2018 Category: YA, magical realism Representation: F/F, main character and side character, aroace side character Summary: A magic passed down through generations . . .Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle Continue reading
-
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells (Books of the Raksura #1)
Year published: 2011 Category: Fantasy Representation: Bisexual society Summary: Moon has spent his life hiding what he is — a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed Continue reading
-
Historically Accurate and Miserable for the Sake of Misery: Common Arguments About and Critiques of Sexual Assault in Speculative Fiction
A while ago, I posted a version of this essay on r/fantasy and it got a lot of conversations started. Here is the original essay/post if you’re interested in checking it out. I decided to refine some thoughts, add on, and repost the essay now. If you spend any amount of time lurking in online Continue reading
Charlotte Kersten 