The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths and Magic

The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths and Magic.  F. T. Lukens.  Interlude, 2019.   300p.   978-1945053245.

Bridger needs to go to college, but he and his single mom just do not have enough money.  True, he could go to college in town, but if he went out of state, he could begin again as himself, a boy far too interested in Leo, the local football hero.  Where to find a job?  Craigslist?  Bridger finds an ad that advises the applicant to come in through the Blue Door, not the front door.  Bridger finds the blue door around the back, on the attic, with no ladder.  And a girl obviously looking to apply for the job too.

When Bridger makes it in the room, there is no one waiting.  He hears voices, murmurings.

His second day on the job, he meets a werewolf.  And pixies. 

This is jut a really fun novel, the beginning of a series, which finds Bridger as the assistant of an intermediary, Pavel, whose job it is to find “myths” out of place and send them back where they belong.  Bridger must approach a unicorn and ask her to leave.  It’s a good thing he can, because, you know….

Bridger and Pavel must find why the myths are suddenly attracted to Lake Michigan and eliminate the problem before the real world collides with the myth world. 

Bridger’s best friend is Astrid… so grab your Bullfinch’s Mythology and a book on cryptozology, and play along!  If you are in eighth grade, reading Hero Stories, this is for you!

Recommended 14 up

drinking, gay friends, homosexuality, magic, prejudice, sexual questioning, straight friends, vampires, and violence.

The Winter of the Witch

The Winter of the Witch  by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy #3)

In book #1 The Bear and the Nightingale, Vasilisa (Vasya) is a child in a small Russian village, listening to her nurse's stories of Vasilisa the Brave, one of the most famous heroes in northern folklore.  Things go terribly wrong, but at least she got a magical talking horse in the process.

In book #2 The Girl in the Tower, the action moves to Moscow, where Vasya and the horse Solovey try to protect the royal family and citizens of the city from evil magic.  Things go terribly wrong again, but at least the winter-demon teaches Vasya some useful magic in the process.

In book #3, The Winter of the Witch, things go terribly wrong and get terribly wrong-er.  Vasya loses her allies, she loses her family, and Russia itself is nearly lost to the invading Tatar army.  But Vasya is stubborn, clever, and just a little bit lucky, so with the help of magical friends (mostly familiar figures from Russian fairy tales), she brings new power to the decisive Battle of Kulikovo.  

The author twines historical Russian events with traditional Russian folklore to create a fabulous, magical series of novels, perfect for reading on cold winter nights.  Highly recommended for readers who enjoy fairy tale retellings with a strong female character.  

The Girl in the Tower

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale, this story takes up where the first book ended: Vasya has left her family and her village. Together, she and her marvelous horse (with some help from Morozko, the frost demon) journey towards Moscow, and (of course) things go terribly wrong along the way.

Familiarity with Russian folklore will definitely aid in understanding and enjoying this dense, dark tale. Vasilisa and Morozko figure in many traditional stories, as do...oh, but that would be a spoiler.

If you know the stories, you may recognize characters along the way; otherwise, you will be as surprised as Vasya herself when true identities are revealed.

Some kissing, some bloodshed, some nekkidness, some demons and devils, and quite a lot of magic. This is second in a trilogy, but does not end on a cliffhanger.

Highly recommended reading for cold, blustery nights when the fire is ticking in the stove, and winter is just on the other side of the wall. Ages 12 to adult.

Carry On

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

• A boy magician, identified at age 11 as "the Chosen One" and taken away to a magical British school
• A series of books about the boy and his friends as they battle the enemy of all Wizard-kind
• Lots of magic, magical creatures, action, adventure, mystery, and good vs evil

You know the boy I'm talking about, right?  Yes!  It's Simon Snow!

Wait.  What?

Simon Snow's evil roommate Baz says that Simon is probably the worst Chosen One ever chosen, and he's probably right.  Most of the time Simon doesn't know what his magic is going to do...if it does anything.  His magic wand is a hand-me-down, his spell casting is capricious, and although the Sword of Mages comes to his hand sometimes when he needs it, it's never reliable.

And then there's Baz:  rich.  pale.  mysterious.  wicked.  and a vampire.

Wait.  What?

The reader joins Simon and Baz mid-story, after they have already survived adventures in six other books fighting chimeras, goblins, bone-teeth hunters...and each other.  Unlike that other series of books about a boy magician in a magical school, this series has never been written.  And Carry On isn't the series itself either, it's a fan-fiction novel.

Keep up, will you?

Only Rainbow Rowell could write a fanfic salute to a series that she invented as a "prop" for a different novel...and only Rainbow Rowell would start by writing the end of the story but not the beginning!

And just wait until you get to the romance between Simon and XXXXXXXX    ....oops.  Sorry, no spoilers here.

Fast-paced adventure and a flawed hero with flawed friends, awesome love story and terrific world-building.  

Highly recommended.

Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula

Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula  by Andi Watson (graphic novel)

Princess Decomposia of the Undead is overwhelmed with work.  Ghost papers to sign, alien reports to read, werewolf dignitaries to entertain...and her father the King is no help at all.  But when a vampire with a sweet tooth joins the Royal Staff, some changes are on the wing...and so is a bit of romance.

A cute love story with plenty of unexpected twists.  I've never considered Chocolate Monster Cake as a possible defense strategy for zombies...but maybe I should. 

Recommended for ages 10 to adult.  No cussing or sex, but lots of fun (un-) dead stuff.

(The) Book of Life

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness.  

Book 3 of the Souls Trilogy, this does not stand alone.  However, for fans of the series, it is a great ending.

 In Book 2, (Shadow of  Night) Diana and Matthew returned to present time, pregnant with twins, to find the magical alchemical manuscript Ashmole 782,  The Book of Life, to witches, vampires, and daemons. The new family spurs them to pursue creating a legal marriage out their illegal union of witch and vampire.  To do this, they must create a new family branch, and pull all creatures closer in understanding their possibilities and origins.

Matthew’s blood disease becomes center stage when his son Benjamin Fuchs returns to create havoc, trying to destroy the family. It is this vampire that generates the central problem, suspense, and violence.  And gives us an amazing ending.

I disliked dragging an entire genetics class into Matthew’s research.  It did not make sense for the need for secrecy; it did help the reader to understand genetic background.  Overall, the writing was not as solid as the first two- perhaps she was rushed into the third?  It’s just that we all wanted a satisfying ending and soon that we forgive Harkness.

I did like the change in Diana, even in Book 2, when she became pregnant, and in this book as a mother.  Always a strong character, she shows a bit of  “tiger mom” aspects.

A word to teen readers:  the first in the series is wonderful and accessible for teens.  This book, perhaps, is for older teens.

Wild Things : acts of mischief in children's literature

Wild Things : acts of mischief in children's literature  

by Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson, and Peter D. Sieruta

Reading this book is like spending a few hours in a bar adjacent a library or booksellers conference, learning all kinds of juicy gossip about children and teen books, authors, illustrators, and publishers. From the private life of Maurice Sendak to the steamy journals of Wanda Gag, with snarky tales of celebrity authors and plenty of side-stories about controversial topics and landmark books like Annie on my Mind, Go Ask Alice, and Forever, the authors huddle in tightly to include the reader as they dish up scandal after scandal, with jaunty, conversational buoyancy.

A fun read for librarians, parents, and other lovers of books for kids and teens...but not of interest to teens and kids themselves.

Also, if you've never spent a few hours in the bar adjacent a library or booksellers conference, you should try it sometime.  

Fangirl

Fangirl  by Rainbow Rowell
audiobook read by Rebecca Lowman and Maxwell Caufield

Cath assumed that Wren would always be by her side, no matter what.  After all, the girls are identical twins, and have shared every aspect of their lives together, always.   But when they leave home for their first year of college, Wren wants to try living her life as an individual, leaving Cath feeling abandoned and alone.

The only time Cath doesn't feel pathetic is when she's writing fanfiction.  She takes characters from her favorite book series and writes her own stories about them--and Cath's version, in which the two main guy characters are in love, has thousands of fans of its own!

But Cath is so busy writing fanfiction that she is overlooking some awesome real people.  Like her dad, who loves her.  And like that cute boy who asks her to read out loud, maybe....

For readers who would sometimes rather stay inside a fictional world.  Isn't that all of us, sometimes?

The audiobook is completely engrossing, with Rebecca Lowman reading Cath's world and Maxwell Caufield reading exerpts from books and stories about Simon Snow.

Some cussing, allusions to sex and sexual situations, and a fantasy-world-within-the-real-world.  Highly recommended for ages 14 to adult.

Coldest Girl in Coldtown

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

“Every night, in every Coldtown, people die.  People are fragile.  They die of mistakes, of overdoses, of sickness.  But mostly they die of Death.  Death drinks down their warms until their veins are dry.  Death forgets restraint.  The older vampires might grow dusty and careful, but those freshly made want to glut themselves and sometimes, foolishly, they give in to Death and do.”

As the story opens, our heroine, Tana, wakes the morning after a particularly long night of partying…to find everyone dead.  Sucked dry by vampires.  Finally, she finds her friend (and ex boyfriend) Aiden alive, but having been bitten by a vampire, chained to the bed. Another vampire, Gavriel,  is also chained.   

Of course she helps her friend escape, but what about the vampire?  Escape they do, and all head off to the closest “Coldtown,” picking up Midnight and her brother Winter, hitchhiking to Coldtown to become vampires and film the process for their ongoing blog.

This is a dystopia where vampires exist, sometimes admired, sometimes hunted. They are required to stay in “Coldtowns” where vampire parties are televised as the ultimate reality tv:  where vampire “wannabees” place shunts in their arms so they can be used as food.  Killing is often and very bloody.  Humans are attacked; vampires are killed, all in very many violent ways.

The fact that we stay tuned in through all the gore for the end of this mystery says a lot for Holly Black’s gorgeous writing.  That and the romance:  kissing can be so very hot.  Tana is a wonderfully witty and resourceful, if way too  impulsive, heroine.

Drink, Slay, Love

Drink Slay Love by  Sarah Beth Durst

Of course this is a vampire romance.  Of course you don’t need another gutsy-comedic-teenage heroine.  Except you do.  Pearl is truly a unique find.  

Pearl comes from a long line of vampires.  She is a “born,” not “made” vampire.  Her parents expect a lot from her.  They don’t expect her to claim that she was stabbed by a unicorn as she was about to “snack” on her favorite ice-cream guy.   

Except it did happen.   

Now she can apparently cope with daylight.  This is not a desired trait in the vampire world; it seems more than a little traitorous.  

Pearl uses her new skill to her advantage to set up a “feast” for the incoming vampire king:  a whole horde of teenagers during prom night.  

Except that the closer they get to prom, the more she feels that she is beginning to “care” for other people, which is also not a desirable vampire trait. And she still sees “Mr. Sparkly-and-Pointy”- what does he want and why can’t she catch him?

Of course there are stereotypes;  of course Evan is too good to be true (we ARE reading about vampires…) 

Of course you see the plot twists coming.  That may just have been planned.  

The geek connection, while formula,  is hilarious.

The story is fresh, fun, and full of great lines.  Say yes to this vampire/unicorn/romance, and then go read Durst’s more serious books.

Ages 12 and up.

Blud and Magick

Blud and Magick  by Preston Norton

Edwin the Educated, one of the surviving Sages of Hazirrez Tower, is given the responsibility of raising a baby girl created from the ashes of the ultra-evil wizard Remmus Alrad.  He takes her away from the magickal realm of Trivaesia into the mundane world of Oklahoma, calls her his "niece" and pretends to everyone that she is completely normal.  But on the first day in a new school, 14-year-old Darla ("Alrad" spelled backwards--get it?) learns that her teacher isn't really her teacher, that her uncle isn't really her uncle, and that she is...not human at all.

The writing is rife with clichés (a hunchback guarding the castle and a vampire seeking revenge?  Really?) and many of the settings and themes seem copycatted from Harry Potter.   Not recommended for discerning readers, but teens seeking fast-moving paranormal  fiction with minimal originality or character development will enjoy the action and not worry about the lack of depth. 

No sex, no drugs.  Some magickal bloodshed, a potentially deadly virtual-reality game that is a dead ringer for Quiddich, and a dragon.  Sequels are clearly planned, and the sequels will probably include some romancing.

Eternal

Eternal
by Cynthia Smith

What we wanted was a sequel to Tantalize.

What we get is a companion novel- same quirky world of strange beings. This addition shows us Miranda, who wants to be a star. She is watched over by her guardian angel, Zachary, who has fallen in love with her and tries to prevent her death. That’s a real no-no in the angel world and not only does Miranda die anyway, she rises as the daughter of a vampire. Never fear, she meets Zachary again, and he is really intent on saving her soul now!

Not the romance we wanted, and not as much fun as Tantalize, but still a good ending. If you can conquer the first page, then anyone 8th grade and up would not have a problem with this one!

This is Mary Jo's review of Eternal.
To read Aarene's review of the same book, click HERE

Pretty Dead

Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
Charlotte is a vampire. She collects beautiful clothing, shoes and handbags from the greatest designers, witnesses human tragedies all over the world, and now lives in Los Angeles where she befriends Emily, a human girl. When Emily commits suicide, Charlotte finds comfort in spending time with Emily's boyfriend Jared...and discovers that she is gradually returning to mortality.

In a genre that has been worked, re-worked, and over-worked, here is a new--and welcome--twist. The story is surprising and engaging, and told with the author's trademark lushness of language.

Sexual situations are common but mostly off-page; there is some cussing including a few f-bombs. And, of course, there is blood. It just wouldn't be a vampire novel without blood, after all.

Recommended for readers of vampire lit who want something new, ages 14 to adult.

Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

For reasons of her own, 17-year-old Bella chooses to move to her dad's house in the rainy town Forks, Washington, rather than go with her mom to Florida. Bella describes herself as pale, average, and awkward, but that is clearly not how she is viewed by her new classmates--especially Edward Cullen, a gorgeously graceful and handsome senior who seems oddly fascinated by Bella and her tendency towards clumsiness. Then Bella discovers that Edward and his family are vampires--members of a clan which has chosen to hunt only wildlife instead of humans. But just because Edward doesn't want to feed upon humans doesn't mean that Bella is completely safe with him....

This quick-paced, locally-based vamp novel is cool, tense, and scary. We know from the first page that Bella will be confronted with a hunter intending to kill her--but which hunter? And why?

Descriptions of the dreary weather in Forks may be considered exaggeration by non-locals, but native northwesterners will recognize the truth of life on our wet peninsula, and the joy inherent in sunbreaks. And a climate lacking sunshine really would be attractive to vampires, wouldn't it?

Recommended for readers ages 14 and up. No cussing; violence is mostly implied and threatened rather than carried out "onstage", and though sexual tension runs high between the girl and her vampiric boyfriend, their relationship is necessarily cautious!

Peeps

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

When Cal arrived in New York City to attend college, he promptly went out to lose his virginity--which he promptly did. Unfortunately, in the process Cal also picked up something else: a parasite which causes all the symptoms (and strengths) of vampirism. Fortunately, he is partially resistant to the bug--so although he is strong, pale, light-sensitive and hungry for meat, he doesn't (immediately) go crazy and start eating people.

Unfortunately, the Night Watch organization which assists and oversees the control of vampires in NYC seems to be hiding some important information from Cal...and the rest of humanity.

Alternating chapters of Cal's story include scientific, graphic, and tremendously icky information about real parasites: toxoplasma gondii, pigeon mites, various lices, screwworms, and many other really yucky bugs that have plagued (literally) humans and animals throughout history.
The "eewwww" factor is high--and it's absolutely fascinating. Highly recommended for readers with a strong stomach, ages 12 and up.

Tantalize

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Quincie Morris has grown up in the family restaurant business. At age 17, she is the driving force behind opening a new restaurant with a unique image: Sanguini's, the first restaurant in Austin with a vampire theme. The food will be exquisite, the staff will be thematically costumed...and then the chef is murdered. And Quincie's best friend --a hybrid-werewolf -- is the primary suspect.

Werewolves and vampires are just the beginning in this suspenseful and tangled plot. There are also were-alligators. And were-armadillos. And even were-vampires!

Alternately creepy and fun, with lovely (and later, horrible) descriptions of menu items from both the Prey Menu and the accompanying Predator Menu. No cussing; contains a sprinkling of off-stage murders and sexual situations, and a generous portion of sensual wishful thinking. Recommended for ages 14 and up; readers who enjoyed Twilight will pounce on this new vampire offering.

Eternal

Eternal by Cynthia Lietich Smith

Guardian Angel Zachary is attached to his subject, Miranda. He is so attached, in fact, that when she is scheduled for death at age 17, Zachary steps in to block the fall that will kill her...and inadvertently causes her to be transformed into a vampire and thus probably damned for all eternity.

Stripped of his wings and his heavenly power, the angel Zachary seeks redemption not only for himself but also for the vampire Miranda. Is it possible that the newest daughter of Dracula has retained part of her mortal soul?

Quirky character, zing-y one-liners, sweet touches of romance and plenty of vampires. This book will be popular with the vampire-loving crowd and anyone else who enjoys a sweet story with lots of love and blood. Some minor cussing and mostly-off-page sexual situations, recommended for ages 14 to adult.