K.M. Shea's Blog, page 7

Sleeping Beauty Retellings

Note from Kitty: I was performing a cleanup of my old blog posts and I found a few that I had left in draft status for some reason but never published them?!? So for the rest of this month you are getting these “Kitty’s Attic” blog posts – I hope you enjoy them!

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The story of Sleeping Beauty is gradually told throughout the first three books of the Fairy Tale Enchantress series (as well as the single book devoted to her in my Timeless Fairy Tales series). So I figured it is time we look at some of the Sleeping Beauty retellings that are out there!

I’m not going to lie, putting together this blog post made me a little nervous. Because let’s be real for a second and admit that some of the original Sleeping Beauty stories are really, really dark and definitely not safe for you to read to your kids (or to read at work). Most modern writers tend to skip over those aspects of the original story (thank goodness!) and I did work extra hard to scrub the list of books below but let me know if there is a book in the post that you don’t think is clean. Luckily, Sleeping Beauty has been blessed with a Disney movie retelling so it has inspired plenty of stories that focus on the lighter aspects of the original fairy tales!

The Castle Behind Thorns – by Merrie Haskell – Ok, I definitely did not like this book as much as Haskell’s other book, The Princess Curse. But this is still a great book with an interesting spin on the Sleeping Beauty tale (both how she ends up in the situation and what she and the main male character do to fix things).

 

Spindle’s End – by Robin McKinley – I’m assuming you’ve read one of Robin McKinley’s retellings of Beauty and the Beast, but did you know she has written a Sleeping Beauty retelling as well? It has McKinley’s trademark beautiful world building and descriptions combined with some fun twits. I think the best part is the fact that the main heroine is not some passive princess waiting for everything to get solved – she’s a woman of action!

 

The Healer’s Apprentice – by Melanie Dickerson – Melanie Dickerson has written a whole series of fairy tale retellings mixed with historical fiction, and this book is the first one in her series. I personally like books I read to have a touch of magic in them (which these do not) but I have to admire how seamlessly Dickerson can blend the historical aspects with the original fairy tales to come up with a story that is both entertaining and realistic!

 

Sleeping Beauty  – by K.M. Shea – For my retelling of Sleeping Beauty I knew I wanted Briar Rose to be a bit more fiery (she had to be to go through what I had planned for her)! Sometimes she gets a little carried away with herself but that is why Isaia is there to steady her and hold her back when necessary. And even though Briar is a side character in the Fairy Tale Enchantress series,  she still has some adventures of her own in that series!

 

More Sleeping Beauty retellings:

As usual, a big shout-out to everyone who commented on my Facebook post with extra suggestions! Thank you so much everyone, this blog post would be a lot shorter without your help!

Kill Me Softly – by Sarah Cross

Sleeping Beauty’s Daughters – by Diane Zahler

Rose & Thorn – by Sarah Prineas

The Wide-Awake Princess – by E.D. Baker

Princess of Thorns – by Stacey Jay

Curse of the Thirteenth Fey – by Jane Yolen

Once Upon a Dream – by Liz Braswell

The Princess Game – by Melanie Cellier

Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep – by Gail Carson Levine

Mistress of All Evil – by Serena Valentino

Sleeping Beauty – by Jenni James

Beauty Sleep – by Cameron Dokey

Kingdom of Slumber – Deborah Grace White

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Hades and Persephone Retellings

We’ve officially finished all the Gate of Myth and Power material. With that, it’s another retelling is in the books, so that means it’s time for a new list of retellings!

The story of Hades and Persephone is probably the most well known love story in Greek mythology. (As I mentioned, it’s my favorite out of all the Greek myths!)  If you find yourself craving more Hades and Persephone stories, you should take a look at this list of clean/sweet romance retellings of this love story.

I’ll start this list off with my own Hades and Persephone retelling, the Gate of Myth and Power trilogy! This is a funny, urban fantasy retelling in which my version of Persephone disguises herself as a cat, and is unwillingly adopted by Noctus–the elf king of death aka my version of Hades–as his new pet. It’s an unusual start to the story, but you’ll see lots of familiar Greek characters, like Kerberos and Charon!

Next up is my personal favorite, which also single-handedly is responsible for turning me into a fantasy romance nut, and that is:

Keturah and Lord Death– Martine Leavitt

I love this book. You NEED to read it! It’s so fun, and twisty, but so cute! (The publisher put a darker cover on it right now–I have no idea why. It’s the quintessential fantasy romance, so don’t be scared off by it!) If you’re buying books on a budget you should be able to get this one through your local library system, but it’s so cute you’ll want to buy it!

The rest of the recommendations on our list were put together by the Champions from our community (thanks to Vin for organizing these). And as another reminder, this isn’t an exhaustive list as we focused on clean/sweet retellings!

Seeking Persephone– Sarah M. EdenOf Earth and Shadows– Kimberly A. RogersDark King and the Eternal Dance– Alesha AdamsonThe Concord Coalition– Kenley DavidsonThe Hollow Kingdom– Clare B. DunkleLinnet and the Prince– Alydia RackhamPhone Home, Persephone– Kate McMullanThe Goddess Girls (series)– Joan HolubThe Darkest Summer– Rebecca GreenwoodPeaceweaver – Everly Haywood

Are there any sweet/clean Hades and Persephone stories that we missed? Share them in the comments down below!

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What Projects Are Next?

So I recently told you guys what was coming for Magiford, but what about the rest of the year?

Audio Books

You might have missed it in all of the release fun, but Pack of Dawn and Destiny–aka, Pip’s trilogy–is now available in audio format!

Later this year, The MBRC will also be making its audio début. (No release dates yet, sorry!) It will be a complete boxset release (just like Snow Queen) so it will be a great deal for your Audible credit if you are part of that membership program! Gate of Myth and Power will also be turned into an audiobook, but we haven’t even started auditions yet so I’m not yet certain if it will be out this year or next year.

To make it easier for everyone to track which books are available in audio I create a new Audiobooks page as part of the Books menu. Go there if you ever want to double check what has been released!

Sheacon 2023

SheaCon is a weekend of K.M. Shea themed fun held on a Discord server, and is free to attend! There will be panels with myself and guest authors, plus games and activities all weekend. SheaCon 2023 will be on July 28th-30th in the US Central timezone.

 

What Books are Next?

As mentioned in a previous post, Jade’s unnamed Magiford trilogy will be launching in December 2023. And I’ll also be devoting a lot of time this year to Second Age of Retha book #4!

Sadly, I’m not going to be able to publish Retha this year. Chloe’s series took me way longer than expected to write so I’m already off to a two/three month late start than I was planning for this year–which is a lot when you’re doing with big projects like books. I’m also still dealing with some leftover health problems so my writing speed is down, but the other big thing is…. Retha books are SO LONG. Seriously, the only other books that are longer are Angelique’s and that is saying something!

Another slow down is that Retha books also need more editing than usual because I have to double check all the skill names, levels–of characters and skills–and make sure I was consistent with things like character classes. But the extra editing is worth it to make the story good for you Champions!

And there is still some good news attached tot his! While there is no possible way I’ll be able to publish Retha #4 this year, I’m optimistic that I will be able to finish writing it this year, so that’s still a plus! (I’ve been working on it all May, and I’ve got a good 30,000 words done. Which…isn’t much if it decides to be another 100,000+ word book, but at least it’s a great start!)

Important for other upcoming projects:

One of the best parts about being a reader is the anticipation for the next book, so the team and I have decided to switch our focus to the book/series that are coming next! We’re changing from a lot of future planning, to focusing on one project one at a time. This means right now for new/upcoming books we’re focusing on Jade’s series in Magiford and the fourth Retha book since I’m writing them at the same time. For audio books we’re focused on the MBRC trilogy!

We won’t have updates for any projects besides these, but if you keep an eye on the coming soon page we’ll be updating the page with new info about these projects–like when the MBRC moves from the recording to editing phase of audiobook production.

I’m so excited, because this switch means we’ll be able to organize more fun for you Champions linked to these projects! I already have plans for you to help me name a few new Retha characters, and the team is talking about new ways to get our community ready for Jade’s series! (And that’s not even touching on everything that’ll go down at Sheacon!)

So that is the update for what projects you’ll see in 2023! This year is a lot of catch up for me, but I’m glad I’m still here to be doing the catch up after the mess that was 2022 and the end of 2021! Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a lovely day!

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What’s Next in Magiford?

It’s been fun covering Gate of Myth and Power, and again I am so grateful for all the support and love you Champions have shown Chloe and her new kingdom, but as we officially wind down the Magiford themed content, it’s time to address what everyone is wondering: What’s coming next in Magiford??

The next trilogy (which will launch December 2023) is about a character we’ve already met, Jade! She is a vampire slayer who was hired during the events of Queen’s Crown (that’s the third book of Leila’s series, Court of Midnight and Deception) to join the Curia Cloister’s task force.

Jade’s series takes place at the same year as Pip’s series, Pack of Dawn and Destiny, so we’ll be traveling back in time. (This also, notably, means her series takes place before Pat joins the task force.)

While we have not directly met Jade’s love interest, he has a history with some of the characters you know and love, and he also happens to be a vampire. (Yeeeeees, a vampire slayer and a vampire, the FUN we’re going to have, Champions! Buwahah!)

Due to the events that happen during this unnamed series, you’ll get to see Hazel and Killian, and more of the Drake vampires and Medeis wizards! So for those of you who were excited to see Josh in King’s Queen, the fun has only just started!

The last notable thing about Jade’s story is that it has nothing to do with the Paragon’s quest to find the missing elf princess. Jade’s series is a spin off series, and is more focused on Magiford as a city, but you’ll still see some of the major themes I’ve placed in all my Magiford books, and it’s going to have the same happy ending with humor and action guaranteed!

Quite a few of you picked up on Shiloh’s importance, and yes, she will be getting her own trilogy–which will finish out the Paragon’s Quest. At this time we don’t have any planned year for when Shiloh’s series will launch.

So that’s it for Magiford–for now, anyway! Thank you again, Champions, for your enthusiasm for Chloe’s series. I knew it was a bit of an odd premise for a story, so thank you for trusting me and giving this oddball Hades and Persephone a try.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

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Character Profile: Noctus

Noctus is pretty tight lipped about himself for most of the series, so today I’m excited to share more of his character with you. Important: character profile posts do contain spoilers!  If you haven’t read King’s Captive or King’s Shadow, I suggest you wait to read all Gate of Myth and Power character profiles until you finish!

Noctus was a unique challenge to me because 1) He was an elf, a supernatural race I had established previously as being Bad 2) I didn’t set out to make him the overly doting pet parent, but holy moly did he go for it. Seriously, King’s Captive is me reigning in his character in that area. Thank goodness for Aristide, that’s all I can say!

I’m joking! (Sort of.) No, the other challenge to Noctus is that I needed to make him a good king, and make it reasonable that other elves are willing to follow him despite knowing that he fought and killed his own family, bringing an end to the era of the elves.

Noctus also needed to inspire fear because of his power and vast abilities. That’s how I set up elves in Magiford, and he needed to follow it. But Chloe is, frankly, a scaredy cat. If Noctus was as icy as Rigel, or as in-your-business as Greyson and Killian tend to be, she would have run, collar or not. So I had to walk the line of letting Chloe see a more gentle side to him underneath all the power and duty. (Gentle because there is nothing soft about Noctus, but he chooses to be gentle with those he trusts.)

This worked out well, because I wanted a Hades and Persephone retelling that didn’t smack of Stockholm syndrome–something that was particularly important to me after I did more research and essentially learned that Hades was probably the best king and husband out of the Greek list of gods as he was somewhat loyal and dutiful. (That is a pretty dubious distinction, though, as most of the Greek gods and goddesses could be source material for soap operas.)

Noctus’s softness towards his pet cat–and eventually Chloe–was a great way to round his character out, too. Without it, he was consumed with what he thought of as his reason for existing: to be the perfect king. He’s dutiful, concerned about his subjects well-being, and is very in tuned to their overall struggles, but because of his background of kingslayer—much less his notoriety from when he was the Crown Prince—Noctus automatically stands back and separates himself from others. Not because he’s paranoid, but because he believes it’s best given his reputation. Additionally, he’s willing to sacrifice anything–including what little shreds of personal happiness he has–for his people.

Ama—Chloe’s cat form—is the first being he’s willing to be selfish with, from expecting her to love him to his stubbornness in trying to pet her belly. Discovering Ama was Chloe was a mind-bender for him as there’s suddenly this person walking around that he previously had an expectation of affection for. Even more shocking for Noctus, Chloe didn’t shy away from him.  That position makes Chloe able to teach Noctus that it’s fine to approach others besides Charon, Aristide, and Ker. Despite everything Chloe knows from being Ama, she still reaches out to Noctus, which goes against everything he’s experienced and assumed.

So that’s Noctus: the perfect king, a take on Hades that reflects his dutiful character, and the crazy pet parent. Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a great day!

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What to read after Gate of Myth and Power series?

Thanks to the Gate of Myth and Power series quite a few new Champions have been added to our forces! I’ve noticed many of you asking on Discord/Facebook what you should read after finishing Noctus + Chloe’s trilogy so I decided to make an official blog post about this topic.

My #1 Recommendation: This isn’t an actual book but make sure you’ve read all the bonus short stories I’ve written for the Gate of Myth and Power characters. The full list is on the Magiford freebies and extra page. I had so much fun writing these shorts as I really had a chance to let the side characters show off their humor. And the Surviving Magiford short story works great as a prequel so it’s perfect to read if you are trying to blackmail convince a friend to try this series. Ok, now I’ll switch to actually recommending books!

My#2 Recommendation: Read all the other Magiford series if you haven’t already as all of them are connected in some way to the Gate of Myth and Power series. Here, I’ll tell you a little about each one:

If you like Vampires or Wizards start with the Hall of Blood and Mercy series where you will meet the scrappy wizard Hazel who is on the run for her life and is taken in by the deadliest vampire (and his family) in the Midwest.If you like stories starring Fae or if you want to see more of the Paragon then make sure to read the Court of Midnight and Deception trilogy. Join the reluctant Fae Queen Leila and her assassin consort (marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes and I got to include it in this series, yay!)And finally, if you’d like more werewolves, or if you really liked the Elves versus Shadows dynamic, then check out Pack of Dawn and Destiny. Pip is an werewolf hunter who teams up with the Alpha of the pack she lives with to take down those who are trying to attack their pack and town.

My #3 Recommendation: I mentioned this earlier, but the Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center series, and go for the complete boxset which is currently on super sale right now! This paranormal series is in a different “world” than the Magiford books but it’s packed with some of the craziest characters I’ve written (and my best Twilight jokes!). The main character is in high school but it’s not a typical YA supernatural story and Morgan strives to keep a level head through as she quickly realizes every paranormal franchise has lied to her! I loved mixing the magical with the mundane in this series and it’s a world of mobster goblins, over-caffeinated hobgoblins, hemophobic vampires, mermaid receptionists, a baby dragon named Doggy, and don’t forget the mysterious and to-handsome-for-his-own-good Pooka named Devin.

My #4 Recommendation: If you are willing to try something that isn’t paranormal/urban fantasy then I have several series you could potentially choose from, so I suggest you take my Book Matchmaking Quiz to receive a targeted suggestion for what to read next. But here’s some really quick ideas to get you started:

If you want another fantasy series that has a more modern setting then try my Second Age of Retha series in which hundreds of players are stuck in a video game and need to break their way out before the game crashes. (You do NOT need to know or like video games to enjoy the series. Think of it as if a modern young woman got stuck in Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings with a bunch of her friends, that’s the kind of setting in this story.)If you would rather go for an Epic Fantasy read then I suggest you try The Snow Queen trilogy which has both fairytale romance and magic fueled battles.If you want Epic Fantasy but more romance then go for the Elves of Lessa, which is a series of standalones Epic Fantasy Romance books.If you want more action read King Arthur and Her Knights, which retells the traditional story of King Arthur only my “Arthur” is a time traveling modern woman who Merlin convinces to play the part of the young King. IMPORTANT: There is no love triangle in this series, and on a personal note I HATE LANCELOT. This feeling is reflected deeply in my writing.Of if you like fairy tales I have an 11 book series of standalone (but related) stories that is just what you are looking for! The Timeless Fairy Tales series has everything from Disney favorites (like Beauty and the Beast) to lesser know stories (like The Twelve Dancing Princesses) and many Champions have read them out of order so you can start with your favorite fairytale and go from there.

Whew, that was a lot, but I hope it helped! We still have one last Character Profile to go over (the long awaited Noctus!) and then I’ll be talking about what’s next for Magiford, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!

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Happy Mother’s Day 2023!

Today (May 14th) is Mother’s Day in the USA, so Happy Mother’s Day, Champions! On behalf of children everywhere: I hope you mothers have a lovely day, thank you for all you do and all the sacrifices you have made, and we love you so much! Also, huge thank you to all the women who have influenced, taught, and loved us even if we aren’t their kid(s)! Mother or mother-figure, the love and support you show others is world changing.

In the spirit of the day, I thought this was a perfect time to remind you Timeless Fairy Tale/Fairy Tale Enchantress Champions about my mother-themed short, “A Mother’s Responsibility” (Click here for the PDF!)

A Mother’s Responsibility is a companion short story to Snow White, the last book in my Timeless Fairy Tale series. It does contain spoilers for the series, so you won’t want to read it if you haven’t read Snow White yet!

Snow White’s relationship with her step mother, Faina, was the driving force behind my retelling of the fairy tale, but it always struck me as slightly unfair that I didn’t actually get to show you Champions much of their relationship due to the events of the story. This little short story was a delight to write because it let you see that just as Snow White deeply adores Faina, Faina is fiercely protective of Snow White.

But the Mother’s day fun doesn’t end there! If you’re a Magiford fan, I have a vaguely mother-themed short story for you, too!

We have “Parents’ Night,” (Click here for the PDF) which is a companion short story to the Court of Midnight and Deception series, so if you haven’t read Leila’s books you’ll want to skip this!

I’ll confess, I love this short mostly because it has some Lord Linus antics, and Linus is one of my favorite Magiford characters to write, but it was also nice to be able to tie up a few lose ends I didn’t get a chance to address in Leila’s series, specifically regarding her relationship with her very adorably midwestern and very supportive mother.

 

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The Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center: The Complete Series SALE!

Hey Champions! Have you finished all the Magiford series and you’re looking for something to try next? Or are you in the mood for a laugh out loud humorous book that doesn’t take itself too seriously?

Then I have great news for you! For a limited time the Magical Beings Rehabilitation Center complete series boxset is on sale for .99 cents! This boxset usually sells for $5.99, so this is a big price cut making it a great chance to give this series a try. The sale is only scheduled for a week, so get it while you can! (It is also available to borrow via Kindle Unlimited.)

Click here for the US Amazon link | All other Amazon stores

As for why you should try this series, it is famous among the Champions for its humor–especially if you can handle jokes about Twilight. Whenever I ask the Champions to tell me what they like about this series the humor is always the #1 thing they bring up. Come for the paranormal romance tropes, stay for Morgan’s quick wit and epic one-liners! 

This is a young adult paranormal/urban fantasy series, but while Morgan is a teenager the high school drama is pretty nonexistent–this series is more about finding the humor in what every day supernatural creatures would be like if they really existed in our world. (Vampires drink tomato juice, werewolves have fleas, cyclops run multimillion dollar businesses, that sort of thing!) Morgan may be the main character, but her friends steal the show with their zany personalities and hysterical antics.

This series also is a rare case where book two is way better than book one, I say that with a lot of confidence because I was a better writer when I tackled it years after the first book. This is also why I recommend you use this sale as an opportunity to snag book one and two at the same time (book three is a collection of related short stories, one of which features one of my favorite MBRC characters, the Kraken).

So if you need a laugh, snag this series! If you already have it, please pass the news on to a friend who you think would enjoy Morgan’s adventures at the MBRC, and thanks for reading!

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My Take on the Myth

I’ve mentioned before, Gate of Myth and Power is my loose interpretation of the Hades and Persephone myth. (If you want to hear my sarcasm infused summary of the myth, check out this blog post!) So today I thought we could go over some similarities!

To start it out, we have some characters who were inspired by Greek mythology figures frequently associated with Hades and Persephone. Ker is short for Kerberos, the three headed hound of Hades. (As I stated in her character profile, I thought I was sooooooo funny when I decided to make a werewolf Kerberos.) Charon is the name of the ferryman of Hades, which is why he is the group’s designated driver and uses the alias of “Mr. Ferryman”. And then across the street you’ve got the three uncles who were my wink-and-you’ll-miss-it tip of the hat to the three fates.

On Chloe’s side, Ms. Booker was my take on the Greek goddess Hecate, who served as Persephone’s companion once her time-share lifestyle between Demeter and Hades was figured out. Hecate also knew that Persephone had been kidnapped, which was perfect because I wanted Chloe to get support from someone outside of Noctus’s inner circle.

Pat and Joy are my answer to Demeter. I decided to split the familial role into two people and make them siblings instead of her parents because I haven’t had a chance to show a good sibling relationship yet in the Magiford world, and I felt like Leila’s books already covered great parental relationships. I also decided siblings would be better because they could be pushy and bossy, but they’d more easily back down when Chloe grew as a person, whereas a parent as domineering as Demeter was, wouldn’t have. I already knew I had plenty of other tension in the book, so I didn’t want to launch a war between Chloe and her adopted family, so Pat and Joy were the perfect solution.

Chloe and Noctus’s roles are a little more self explanatory. Noctus kidnaps an unwilling Chloe just like Hades snatched Persephone, however, because Noctus believes Chloe is a cat, the relationship starts with a healthier foundation, even though Chloe is still horrified with her unintentional captive-hood like Persephone was, and Noctus is absolutely chuffed much the same way Hades was. (Yes, Noctus was happy about his new pet, not his captive wife, but, hey, same feelings, less toxic relationship!)

Noctus, of course, is a king, and I made him a king over a domain, much the same way Hades was. There are other elven royal families as we now know–CoughSHILOHcough–but Noctus rules over Calor Villa, and his family used their powers in a way that made other elves consider their magic to be a sort of death magic. Moreover, the required secrecy for Calor Villa’s survival was able to give my story the same “trapped” feel as Hades’ underworld kingdom, since it had a strict “no return” policy.

Instead of using food to cement Chloe to Noctus’s side–something that would have been a bit harder considering Chloe, unlike Persephone, HAD to eat–I decided to use the cat collar. Chloe’s collar with its three pomegranate red jewels is my ode to the pomegranate seeds Persephone ate. But making the tie be a physical thing that could be removed had the added bonus of making Chloe’s and Noctus’s relationship truly mutual–something that I think Persephone and Hades also had as the chance that Persephone didn’t know what consuming the pomegranates would do was really, really low.

Jumping ahead in the story, King’s Shadow is also where you really see Pat and Joy’s roles as “Demeter” move front and center. They are the reason why Chloe has to leave, just as Demeter is why Persephone leaves. Though I swapped it from “Demeter refuses to let things grow and people are dying unless Persephone comes back” to “Pat and Joy are in mortal peril, and Chloe cares too much about them to wait any longer.” This was admittedly done just for my personal satisfaction. I like good family relationships, so I didn’t want this issue to fracture Chloe’s relationship with her siblings.

So if King’s Captive follows the story arc of Persephone’s kidnapping, and King’s Shadow represents the part of the myth where Persephone’s feelings for Hades change before she is forced to leave because of Demeter,  then that leaves us with King’s Queen representing Persephone’s return to Hades and his kingdom as his queen, which is mostly played out through Noctus’s arc with his people where he learns they want him to be happy, and they’re willing to go public for his sake.

Chloe’s arc is the frosting on the cake where she comes to trust in her own abilities, and learns to act despite her fear. She is rewarded for this growth with Destruction, who doesn’t have a tie to the original myth, but I did want to note that I decided to go with a scythe for Destruction as homage to the western idea of the grim reaper, since the Mors elves are considered to be the elves of death.

Whew, that was a lot to cover! What are your favorite parts about the Hades and Persephone myth that you like to see in retellings? Share in the comments down below! Until next time, thanks for reading!

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Character Profile: Chloe

It’s finally time to discuss the character who has made me want to eat donuts the whole time I was writing this series: Chloe! Important: character profile posts do contain spoilers!  If you haven’t read the Gate of Myth and Power trilogy, I suggest you wait to read all character profiles until you finish!

Chloe was a fun Magiford heroine to write because her basic instinct is to avoid conflict and fade into the background. Hazel, Leila, and Pip have much more brash personalities, where as Chloe is cautious and is the most in tune with the general well being of supernaturals in Magiford.

Chloe also provides our first look at what life is like for someone who doesn’t have power or connections. Hazel begins her journey powerless, but she still has her House and wizard family which makes her valuable. Leila is a queen, and Pip is a hunter raised by wolves. All of them are able to have some measure of independence and a base amount of confidence that makes them willing to attempt dangerous things.

Chloe, being entirely alone with only her human family—who she’s terrified of harming—fighting for her, is in a very different spot. She spends most of her life in Magiford afraid and running—from everyone.

She has safe spots, and knows where she can turn into a cat and blend in. She has the entire city scoped out, not because she’s paranoid, but because she’s had to make escaping fae and other supernaturals a part of her life.

Chloe is eternally stressed out, and instead being proactive—like most of my heroines—she’s very reactive in that she’s constantly being forced to react to those who would harm her out of sheer pettiness and spite.

And yet, because Chloe is powerless, she has more compassion and more understanding of how her actions can affect others. She’s more thoughtful, and so when she realizes that her presence is endangering the elves, who—news flash—are elves and would be wholly capable of dealing with the tracker if he had succeeded in breaking in, she still chooses to run in an attempt to save them, because she never wants her mess to harm another.

Chloe’s entire character arc can easily be summed up in a sentence: Bravery in spite of fear. But what was extra fun about her arc is that it effected her entire life, including her relationship with her human family, and the way she handles Destruction at the end of the series.

Noctus is right, Destruction (Aka: Truck) absolutely favors Chloe and is having a blast. However, he was only able to reach her once Chloe had the necessary confidence. Once the relationship was forged, Chloe’s kind temperament took over, and thus began a new era for Destruction, one in which he’s treated more like an eccentric friend than a weapon capable of destroying buildings.

Chloe’s relationship with Truck is something that will continue to grow in future series, but for now we can rest in the hilarious puzzle that Chloe is now the strongest supernatural in the Magiford world thanks to her powers and Truck, and yet no one will ever need to fear her because she’ll never leverage her powers the way she could. Her compassion and sensitive nature go far too deep for that, which is–perhaps–why Destruction loves her so much. Because to her, he’ll always be Truck, and never Destruction.

In conclusion, Chloe was a fun change of pace, a different kind of Persephone, and a unique kind of warrior Magiford didn’t know it needed! Thanks for reading, Champions, enjoy your day!

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