A CASE OF POSSESSION is a great sequel, continuing the romance from THE MAGPIE LORD while maintaining a similar body count. Covert lovers solving a murder is a very scintillating combination and it works well. 

The story balance between their relationship and solving the actual murders is artful, so perfectly balanced. I love the rapport between the main characters and it's so great to see both of them in the context of other people they know and/or work with.

This doesn't really wrap up anything left hanging from the first book, the main thing it continues is the ongoing relationship between the main characters but that definitely doesn't end here. The entire storyline starts in this volume and wasn't present previously, and the main plot is introduced and resolved within this book. It doesn't leave anything specific to be picked up later in terms of the specific plot, but since this is a paranormal romance series, the relationship itself is the throughline and definitely has more to be explored. The main characters haven't changed and the POV character is the same. The previous book alternated between Stephen and Crane, but this one is just Crane because it's focused on his perspective on their relationship, and a lot of the tension from that is the uncertainty caused by the way Stephen comes and goes with no notice. Crane's narrative voice is consistent with the previous book. This would mostly make sense if someone read it without the first book, though of course the relationships already in place would lack some of the backstory from before.

This continues the mix of magic, trauma, catharsis, and very steamy sex which made the first book so good, I'll definitely finish reading the trilogy.

SEVEN WAYS WE LIE follows seven high-schoolers as the possibility of a teacher-student romance consumes the school's rumor mill, told in rotating perspectives as they decide what to hide and what to tell when things get complicated.

All seven main characters are messy and flawed in different ways, and it wasn’t until I finish the entire book and then looked at the cover that I realized that each of them embodies one of the seven deadly sins, but it works really well even without that knowledge. I love tracing tracing the thread up an event across the different characters' perspectives, piecing together who knew what and when. It has the vibe of a mystery story, partly because for a long time there is a mystery that people are trying to figure out, but it's driven by all the ways that these seven kids are interacting and how their various problems, traumas, and insecurities collide. I love this book in spite of a few flaws, which feels kind of like the best way to love this particular story. 

The rotating perspectives meant that whenever I was frustrated with how one character handled something the story usually was handed off pretty quickly to a different narrator who was also frustrated with how the character had handled it. They all feel like teens, and I am in awe of how this book has seven perspectives who all feel very distinct and were pretty easy to keep track of it in my head. Their writing styles and word choice are different, and what they did or did not know at each point is usually clear. 

I love the way it handles each of the characters' problems, untangling the difference between what they think is wrong and what's actually going on. Each of the narrators is unreliable individually, but the combination of their biases and assumptions (plus the ways they do or don't find out they were incorrect about someone else) builds together into what feels like a complete picture of what happened (or at least as close as it's possible to get). It gives each character the space to just be really wrong about something (and right about something else) without that tension pulling the book apart. My favorite characters are Lucas, Kat, and Valentine, but my favorite in terms of personal growth and regaining agency is Olivia. Every one of them matters to the story, and even the one I really don't like as a person is integral in ways that make the whole book better. 

 *This series was written and published out of in-universe chronological order. The comments in this review are based on reading the series in publishing order, where THREE PARTS DEAD is read first.* 

THREE PARTS DEAD is a murder mystery where a new Associate must work with a young priest to find out who murdered his god. Well-paced and dripping with contractual language, with a stunning conclusion plucked from the embers of a dying flame.

This handles multiple narrators expertly, with each one feeling very distinct from the others while obviously belonging to the same world. I love murder mystery stories, political wrangling, and precise language, and this is a beautiful blend of those things. 

The world-building is fantastic and very well-handled, it felt so seamless as the various explanations felt so natural that I never felt like it was infodumping, though looking back there were some sections with more intense explanations than others. The few places which were purely informational spiels (I'm thinking of the two examinations of bodies) were some of my favorite sections because they conveyed so much about how the characters thought in addition to the purely informational elements of the scenes. Every character is complex with very different moral compasses from their fellow narrators, and while I do have my favorites, I can see how they got to where they are and why their methods are their own. 

I want Abelard to have all the best things, he's my favorite. I like Tara and I'm very proud of how much she grows here. There's so much really good character development and growth all around, Cat's arc is great as well. I also wish there was a bit more of the vampire in this one, but I'll look out for him in the sequels (this didn't need more of him for its actual plot, I just love vampires). 

THE PALE DREAMER is a nice prequel to THE BONE SEASON, showing Paige's early days with The Seven Seals. I recommend reading this after THE BONE SEASON, it's not the kind of prequel that stands on its own well, but I enjoyed reading immediately afterwards as a way to see Paige as she was before the events of the main story. 

THE BONE SEASON is a slow burn fantasy of capture and escape in magical future England where clairvoyants are hunted for existing, Paige must lend a little trust to her captor if she wants to make it out alive.

I wanted to read a slow burn fantasy novel, something I could pick up and put down over the course of at least a month and not worry about getting confused or missing plot points because I'd taken breaks to read other things. This fit my needs perfectly and I loved it! The pacing is excellent, starting by dropping the reader into Paige's world just as everything is upended, tossing her into a setting that's a strange for her as it is for the reader, then watching as tiny pieces shift until things are set for the very dramatic conclusion. I believe every minute of her six months in this strange place, the text perfectly conveyed the kind of sameness that comes from the monotony of always being in danger, but with her concerns and situation changing subtly so that I was never bored as a reader. It took at least a hundred pages to feel like I know this world, but now I feel it in my bones, settling in through a hundred different moments and tense exchanges, held together by Paige's thoughts of home and worries of her captors. The timeframe also meant her magical training and new skill felt realistically hard-won as the book progresses. 

Paige talks so much about the friends she left behind that by the time they're specifically relevant to the plot it feels like I know them already. At first it felt odd to get so much info about people I didn't know if I'd ever see, but how much Paige cares about them and thinks about them informed my understanding of her and how she sees her place in this corner of the world. 

I loved this and I'm planning to read the sequel! 

Given that the main romance teased in the book is between the main character and one of her captors, I'm especially grateful for the slow pace and excellent character work in the long road between her first meeting him and something romantic finally happening in a space free of coercion. It needs that slower pacing in order to feel right, and it definitely worked for me.

THAT AIN'T WITCHCRAFT handles multiple antagonists with aplomb, shifting and settling until strangers become friends, enemies... stay pretty hostile but at least understand each other better, and the crossroads reap what they sowed.

I loved this one, I was giddy with joy when reading and I love how it turns out. It's been amazing seeing Antimony change from resenting her siblings to thinking of herself as her own person in context with them but not dependent on their reactions to her. This happens partially because she literally can't contact them right now, and hasn't been able to for a while, but I love the character growth that's happened with her as narrator. Her relationship with Sam develops in a new context with different stressors and they get a chance to figure some things out. In terms of worldbuilding, this explores and explains facets of this setting which had been unquestioned until now, handed down by Healy's and Price's to the reader. It makes me so happy when new information makes gives a reason for something previously unexplained or unquestioned without invalidating the little bits of information which were available before, and this does that for a bunch of things. This book also changes some major things for the related Ghost Roads series, so I'll be excited to read how future entries there are affected by events in this one. James is great, I like James and I'm very happy with how Antimony handles the mess that was Sam, James, and Returning Antagonist all being in the same space, all with very different expectations for how things are going to go.

This wraps up things left handing from the previous book, and actually handles several threads going at least two books back. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present previously, though the reason for that storyline to appear at all is very embedded in the previous two books. There are several major things introduced and resolved here. The main character is the same as the last two books, and her voice is consistent. It's also very distinct from the other narrators in the series. This wouldn't make a lot of sense if someone started with this book and didn't know about the series, so much so that there's a moment which feels like it bends the fourth wall a bit when someone who is new to the series comments on how much there is to know just to be able to address the current problem. This book exists to handle things which began in MAGIC FOR NOTHING... which itself exists because of the very dramatic finale of CHAOS CHOREOGRAPHY. This series does have landing points where new readers could jump in and be okay, but THAT AIN'T WITCHCRAFT is not one of them. Additionally, the sequence which is MAGIC FOR NOTHING, TRICKS FOR FREE, and THAT AIN'T WITCHCRAFT interacts with the Ghost Roads series, and enjoyment of this book is much enhanced by having at least read SPARROW HILL ROAD. If you liked the description of this book please read the whole series, since this particular volume is not a good starting point (nor is it meant to be). 

I'm personally pleased by the roller derby, getting to see Antimony in the context of other derby girls even if they're far away from their familiar tracks. It matters to the story that she's a skater and two of her current companions play derby, but in a way that I think would be understandable to someone who was introduced to this sport through this series. The emotional core is highlighted, and the specific details of what makes derby different from cheerleading, for example, are used to highlight the strengths of both combined in Antimony's past to set her up for what's happening now.

This is my favorite in the series so far. Antimony is definitely my favorite narrator, followed closely by Alex, then Verity (I do feel like Antimony's opinion of Verity has influenced my own somewhat, at least for now). 

CLOVER HIGHHILL COMES HOME is a beautiful short story about coming home after grim and harrowing adventures, and confessing love to one’s recent traveling companion.

There are brief descriptions of relevant portions of the quest, but the heart of this story is Clover adjusting to life at home after their hand was damaged during the quest, and Jillian working up the nerve to tell Clover how she feels about them (with her fiancée’s help). 

A brief read and very good, definitely check this one out.