A short, beautifully drawn comic about a teen's journey into fairyland and what can be found there. 

The first book in this series was devastating, with enough content warnings and upsetting aspects that I was genuinely unsure if I'd go back for more. But my book club decided to continue with the series, so here we are. This installment is challenging in a different way. Originally, this book was just the first part of a 360,000 word manuscript that had to get chopped into two volumes. It suffers from middle-book problems; no distinct beginning and no conclusive ending. The majority of the story is a long drawn out chase scene, which is a story structure that works for some but not so well for me. 

I remain deeply impressed by the breadth of Seth Dickinson's world building. I enjoyed the new POV characters, especially the nonbinary Tau-Indi, who lives in a society that recognizes a third gender. Dickinson can craft a devastating turn of phrase, designed with precision to emotionally injure the reader. But overall I struggled with the pacing of this book, and the constant violence and confusion. 

Grace lives on a space station with one of her moms, while the other is gone for long stretches of time working on a cargo ship. Grace longs to travel, to visit planets, to see trees and lakes. Finally she gets the chance to go with her space fairing mom on a trip to the inhabited moon Titan, but her mom barely has time for her, constantly delaying her requests for games, attention, or adventure. So Grace sets out on her own for the day on Titan with a group of kids she met the day before. This gentle family drama is resolved when engineering mom swoops in to remind Grace and cargo ship mom that working together and being honest is the best way to move forward. I loved the artwork; all of the characters had a cuddly quality and the space ship and station interiors were simple but very effect, especially with the lovely colors. 

I listened to the abridged version of the audiobook, which is read by the author, and only runs for 2.5 hours (the full book is 9 hours). This turns the full length novel into a much more concise novella of interlocking short stories, each one quite poetic and moving. I love reading books set in and around San Francisco, as are the scenes from this book which aren't set in China. The stories focus on four women, friends and mahjong partners, who met after immigrating to the Bay Area, and their daughters. The daughters are mostly in their mid-30s, at various stages of their careers and marriages, and at varying levels of close with their families and Chinese heritage. The mothers recount stories from their childhoods and their flight from war in the 1940s. I know I watched part of the movie adaption once, and maybe also read part of the full length novel in high school, because a few scenes felt so familiar while others sounded unfamiliar and new. I would like to pick up the full novel at some point, but I also really enjoyed hearing the dialogue in the author's own voice. 

Mar is transmasc nonbinary, a pirate, and a magic user who can control fire and ice. On their 16th birthday, disaster strikes the ship they live and work on with their father and a crew as close as family-a storm takes the crew, and El Diablo comes for Mar's father's soul. Somehow, Mar is spared and wakes up on a different ship, also crewed by pirates who steal from the Spanish and give food, weapons, and other supplies to those in the Caribbean islands fighting Spanish control. Mar strikes up a somewhat reluctant friendship with a boy their age on the ship, and refuses to the negotiate with a demonio who says they can help Mar free their father's soul. This story has a lot of fun elements, and the audiobook is expertly read by Vico Ortiz. But I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to. I found the first half quite slow, and overall felt like not quite enough happened to justify the length. I loved the nonbinary rep and the Spanish phrases in the dialogue, but wanted faster pacing and quicker reveals, especially of the demonio's motivations. 

What an ambitious and satisfying follow up to Seraphina! This book is much longer than the first one, and adds a ton of new elements and so many twists and turns. It opens with Seraphina, court musician of Goredd, setting out on a journey to find and recruit her fellow half-dragons to the war effort. The dragon society is being torn part by civil war, and some of the dragons will be coming to south to attack human settlements soon. Seraphina finds many new friends, but also encounters her oldest enemy- a half dragon who invaded her mind and attempted to control her as a girl. I really loved the way this book expanded the world and the various societies who live in it. It did a wonderful job of maintaining the pace and rising stakes over more than 600 pages; it also has a hinted at queer/poly relationship in the ending that really delighted me. I will definitely be reading more! 

This comic is more visually beautiful than it is actually interesting to read. Eniale and Dewiela fight with each other over the soul of a child with a sick mother, then over a priest who feel in love with a criminal. One chapter is set in Japan and shows a conflict in which Japanese gods and spirits prove more powerful than Christian ones. I don't really have any emotional investment in any character or any story line but I'll probably read the last book in the series anyway. 

This series was pitched to me as "Good Omens with lesbians" but sadly I wouldn't say it lives up to that claim. It's by the same author as "Witch Hat Atelier" and it is just a beautifully drawn, but it's missing an emotional core to really hold the plot together. Each chapter is essentially a standalone story about a demon and angel who have been in petty conflict for millennia; the theft of a tube of lipstick or pair of earring will set of a battle that destroys half a city. One fun element is that the leads can both magically change their outfits, as well as grow and shrink their wings, at will; the looks are all so fun. 

Human Cooper Dayton and his werewolf boyfriend Oliver Park are engaged and beginning to plan their wedding, which is stressing Cooper out- not least because his family, who he didn't talk to much for a couple years, are being very supportive and it's weirding him out. Also, the chaotic scientist who threatened to expose the werewolf community and then turned herself in to werewolf government asking for a deal is making vague threats about enemies Cooper doesn't even know about. Then a body is discovered at the DC zoo, a werewolf killed and frozen in a half transformed state- nothing that the werewolves have ever seen before. I am still very entertained by this series as a whole and glad I listened to all of them, but I did want a little more than this book delivered on mysterious enemy front. There was a conspiracy, but it wasn't as far reaching as I was lead to believe by the cliffhanger ending of book 4. However, if you are reading these books more for the spicy scenes and romantic plot line, you won't be disappointed. 

I listened to this 2 hour novella all in one afternoon. It's another spooky little fairy tale from a master of the genre, but if I tell you which one it's a remix of that would spoil the surprise. This wasn't deep or as original as some of Valente's work, but her writing is so vivid with flavors, sensations, smells, and rich colors that I was thoroughly engaged the whole time.