Siavahda's Blog, page 8

Must-Have Monday #237

Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.

TWELVE books this week!

(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)

Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Representation: Black MCs
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

The history-bending speculative fiction from Adam Oyebanji, award-winning author of BRAKING DAY.

An impossible death: Detective Ethan Krol has been called to the scene of a baffling murder: a man and his son, who appear to have been drowned in sea-water. But the nearest ocean is a thousand miles away.

An improbable story: Hollie Rogers doesn’t want to ask too many questions of her new friend, Abi Eniola. Abi claims to be an ordinary woman from Nigeria, but her high-tech gadgets and extraordinary physical abilities suggest she’s not telling the whole truth.

An incredible quest: As Ethan’s investigation begins to point towards Abi, Hollie’s fears mount. For Abi is very much not who she seems. And it won’t be long before Ethan and Hollie find themselves playing a part in a story that spans cultures, continents… and centuries.

An extraordinary speculative thriller about the scars left by the Atlantic slave-trade, by a master of the genre.

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I’ve been hearing increasingly interesting things about this one, and I’m very very excited to get to pounce on it tomorrow!

You can read an excerpt here (where it says ‘look inside’ beneath the cover image)!

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MCs
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.

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I didn’t get along with this one, but most other early readers did so hopefully I’ll be the exception!

You can read an excerpt here (where it says ‘read a sample’ beneath the cover image)!

My review!

Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

What if you could have one last meal with someone you’ve loved, someone you’ve lost? Combining the magic of Under the Whispering Door with the high-stakes culinary world of Sweetbitter, Aftertaste is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synesthetic adventure through food and grief.

Konstantin Duhovny is a haunted man. His father died when he was ten, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes.

Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.
Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction.

Lavelle’s debut is a multi-course tasting menu of a book that will sate, delight, excite, comfort, and inspire even the pickiest of readers.

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I love foodie stories, and this is an interestingly oddball premise! Been seeing tons of love for it from early readers, too.

Don't Let Me Go by Kevin Christopher Snipes
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: M/M
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

From acclaimed author Kevin Christopher Snipes comes a moving romance about two star-crossed boys trapped in a millennium-spanning cycle of reincarnation whose only hope of escape may be a price that neither is willing to pay. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Eliot Shrefer!

Out and proud, Riley Iverson knows there’s nothing more cringe than crushing on a straight boy. But from the moment that the handsome, sporty, and painfully heterosexual Jackson Haines walks into his life, Riley can’t help but feel an instant and undeniable connection. Mainly because, as impossible as it seems, Jackson is the spitting image of the boy who’s recently appeared in Riley’s dreams—dreams set in another time and another place where he and Jackson were desperately in love.

At first Riley tries to dismiss the coincidence as a product of his hormone-fueled, overactive imagination, but as his friendship with Jackson deepens into something more, the dreams prove harder to ignore. Especially when Jackson begins having them too. Plunged into increasingly vivid visions of the past, the boys find themselves in various eras scattered throughout history. No matter where or when their dreams take them, though, two things remain Riley and Jackson are always together, and they always die at the end.

As it becomes increasingly difficult to view their dreams as anything but warnings, the boys are forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending. But is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied not only time and space but even death itself?

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Reincarnation stories are very hit and miss in my experience, but here’s hoping this’ll be a hit!

Salvación by Sandra Proudman
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, YA
Representation: Mexican MC
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

In this Latinx YA fantasy inspired by El Zorro, Lola de La Peña becomes the masked heroine Salvación in order to save her family and town from a man who would destroy it for the magic it contains...if she doesn't fall in love with one of his men first.

Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja, a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with and the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. And when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn't seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust, but can’t help but fall in love with.

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Zorro retelling? Zorro retelling!!!

The Web of Time by Flavia Brunetti
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

Far beneath the ground, a web quietly spins. The threads are keeping time, marking history. What's done is done. Until now.

Protected by the gods and powering the three Great Portals of Kindness, Art, and Language, The Web of Time re-arranges itself as humans change their minds, fall in love, or cause empires to rise and fall. When the Great Portals close from the world, time begins erasing itself, histories start to disappear, Earth falls into chaos, and the gods don't know how to stop it-until Jack meets Anna.

Anna is a passionate and solitary writer who is protected by her companion, Nafusa of Libya, the cat god. When Jack, a young painter harboring a traumatic past, falls through the Great Portal of Art in Tunis, he stumbles into Anna, and his fate.

Helped and hindered by a rotating cast of deities, the two embark on a journey that connects three ancient cities in different times: Rome, Tunis, and Tripoli. They realize that it is Anna's gift for healing words and Jack's natural talent for drawing places as they were that can reinstate the Great Portals and restore the world's balance, but some of the darker gods who thrive on chaos will stop at nothing to derail their quest. As time tears faster than they can heal it, Anna and Jack must come together in time to save history, and the possibility of a future.

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I love the idea of having a cat god as a companion!

Those Who Burn The Brightest by Kayla Morton
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: F/F
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

“It is not the intensity of the flame, but whom you burn it for, that matters…”

Eira Isolde is one of the nine fae heiresses of The New Reign, burdened by a constant fear of their own inexplicable powers. But when she’s sent to live in a mortal kingdom because of it, it seems that The Fates have a different plan for her in mind—one that involves fellow heiress Meilin Azelie, a dagger-wielding pianist with whom she is suddenly, and indescribably, consumed by.

When a nefarious king reveals the dark web of deceit he has Eira and Meilin ensnared in, the pair find themselves stripped of their powers, forced to become pawns in the Demir Trials; a twisted game pinning them against the rest of The New Reign. The price of victory is a heavy thing, and with nine heiresses fighting for survival, the path to conquest is one carved out in blood. In the midst of it all, with their thrones and lives on the line, Eira and Meilin know that one wrong move could see everything they know and love reduced to ash—including one another.

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Probably not for me, but wow, that cover!

The Garden Just Beyond by Lindsey Leavitt
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, MG
Published on: 20th May 2025
Goodreads

For fourteen-year-old Maggie Gartner, nothing is more magical than family dinner. She’s not unique in that—anyone lucky enough to purchase a meal ticket at the Gartner’s estate in the New Jersey Pine Barrens claims the food changed their life. That’s a given when you harvest crops that purposefully alter emotions. Add in the sparkling company of an eccentric family who has hidden a centuries-old agricultural secret and you’re guaranteed a rollicking night.

Except... Maggie’s different. She’s not great at conversation. Or… human interactions. That’s all going to change when Maggie cooks her first dinner and proves she’s just as Gartner as everyone else. But in the shadow of her growth, a mysterious stranger moves to Humble Hollow, buying up land and overtaking Humble Hollow’s biggest holiday—Factory Day. The stranger’s nefarious dealings put the Gartners at risk of losing much more than their business. With the help of new kid, Graham, as well as trusty townsfolk and family folklore, Maggie must dig deep to see what others can’t, especially those truths that feel just beyond her reach.

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The reviews have been glowing for this, and I love the sound of the garden!

The Silence of Storms (Three Realms, Nine Monarchs) by Nico Silver
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC, Black queer love interest
Published on: 21st May 2025
Goodreads

Everyone knows that a seer must never take life, but no one seems to know what happens if they do.

Stígandr Tovarsson never dreamed they would learn the answer to that puzzle, but one night a prophetic state leads them into the forest where they stumble upon a pair of spies. Still half-caught between reality and the spirit world, Stíga accidentally kills the men and finds out first-hand what it means when a seer takes a life.

Now, stripped of their family name and their inheritance, faced with a life without hearing, and plagued by visions of being pulled into the ocean’s depths by a Sea Folk man, Stíga chooses to follow the magic that constantly pulls at them. It leads towards the sea, but when they get there, will they find a cold death by drowning, or a chance for mutual healing in a pair of deep brown eyes full of hate and desire?

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Honestly just here for the Black merman, we NEVER see those!

A Study in Black Brew by Marie Howalt
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Neurodivergent nonbinary MC (with chronic illness?)
Published on: 22nd May 2025
Goodreads

“They say life is a string of chances held together with grit and guided by passion, and who am I to disagree?”

Kellieth ReinAraneinth was headed for a career as a field chemist on a newly settled planet when their dreams and ambitions were crushed by coincidences and chronic illness.

They return broke to the wendek homeworld, Ganmak, where everyone’s basic needs are covered, but import luxuries like Kellieth’s favorite human-made beverage, black brew, is costly.

While piecing together a new life and recovering from their ordeals, Kellieth ends up sharing lodgings with the attractive, enigmatic, and infuriating Raithan WeinZalneinth.

When a human is found dead next to an alarming message on the wall in an empty house, Kellieth gets caught up in a gruesome mystery involving Raithan and the local peace corps.

Who is the human? How did he die? What is Raithan hiding? And when will Kellieth have the time to catch their breath?

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I have been promised banter and space elves and chronic illness rep, all of which has me VERY INTRIGUED!

Shade Spells with Strangers (Fae & Human Relations, #3) by Sarah Wallace, S.O. Callahan
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay Black MC, queer MC, M/M
Published on: 22nd May 2025
Goodreads

I don’t think I’ll ever find a light that shines as bright as you.

London, 1814: hopelessly romantic fae Keelan Cricket has grown listless since returning to town. He agrees to help the Council study fae-human magic, eager to erase the memory of his passionate encounter in the country.

But the man he can’t forget is now in London and, even worse, joining the project too.

Silas Rook-Worth hates London. His magic won’t behave and he’s weary of the prejudice he faces against fae-humans like himself. He’s counting down the days until he can return to his hard-working, close-knit family — but he can’t ignore the pull he feels toward Keelan Cricket, the man he slept with, and unkindly dismissed, a month ago.

As the two men gradually reunite, their mutual attraction blossoms into romance. But even a powerful magical connection cannot change Keelan’s duty to his family or Silas’ impending departure — and falling in love on borrowed time will force both of them to decide what truly matters.

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I’ve been meaning to take a peek at this series for a while, because I’ve really liked Wallace’s historical fantasy series. By all accounts it’s not a great idea to start reading here – which makes sense, it’s book three! – but I’m hoping this’ll nudge me into checking out book one!

Demon Engine by Marten Norr
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MCs
Published on: 25th May 2025
Goodreads

Sally Delavega, the best demon-binder the world has ever seen, would do anything to banish the two hundred ghosts trapped in his head—even if it means swimming up from the bottom of his tankard. When the Navy that destroyed his life comes sailing back to offer enough coin to get the job done, Sally agrees. All he has to do is help the crew of the Steadfast track down the ancient abyssal that lies sleeping at the heart of their drowned world. Why the Navy wants the demon isn’t Sally’s problem. But as they sail on, Sally begins to dredge up disturbing truths about how the world flooded and their ancient eldritch quarry that might just want to be found…

Imaginative and poignant, funny and bizarre, Demon Engine brings us a bold, queer high-seas adventure that asks how deep we might venture for what we aren’t willing to lose.

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I think this is the release I’m most excited for this week! Love how deeply weird it sounds, and very hopeful because it’s coming out from the same micropress that published Darknesses!

Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #237 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Left Me Hungry: The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MCs
PoV: Third-person, present-tense; multiple PoVs
Published on: 20th May 2025
ISBN: B0CWJXF9K4
Goodreads

From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself. 

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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~bees > holy communion
~fealty
~a failed Lionheart
~a voice (and mouth) in the dark
~is it cannibalism if it started as a fingernail

This sounded like everything my weird little heart could desire, but unfortunately it ended up pretty underwhelming.

The first third or so is great: Starling leans into Medieval Weird, replacing the Catholic church with a Lady and bees, and each of our three protagonists – Phosyne, Ser Voyne, and Treila – are deeply imperfect, all sharp, broken edges and contrasting flavours of unlikeable. Tensions are high, no one in charge really ought to be, and the situation is desperate. All of this came through to me beautifully.

Then the supernatural arrives.

Horror, I think, must be one of the hardest genres to write, and I suspect supernatural horror is even more difficult than other kinds. On the one hand, keeping the reader ignorant of what your monster/magic can do can up the fear factor – but if you don’t convince your reader that you know what it can do, the fear factor dissolves completely. You can’t dread something when you don’t know what to fear, and it’s easy for abrupt reveals to come across as random and disjointed rather than shocking.

Which is basically what happened with Saints. Starling makes up her own kind of demony creatures, and because I never knew what they were or what they could do, I stopped being scared of them pretty quickly, and was just left confused instead. I didn’t know what to dread, and I guess in theory that could have turned into dread that they might do anything at all…but it didn’t. Every new reveal of their capabilities just struck me as freaking random, irritatingly so, because none of their powers or goals seemed to fit together, more of the rules that bound them could be inferred from previous ones. It made for a lot of telling-not-showing as the characters ‘deduced’ each new thing and informed the reader of it. Borderline info-dumpy, at times.

The longer the story went on, the more annoying this got, the less impactful each subsequent reveal was – not just about the not-demons but also about the characters and their capabilities. Phosyne in particular becomes a kind of rival to the Lady, and I never understood how that was happening. The alchemy/magic Phosyne has been experimenting with at the beginning of the book, and which she grows more proficient in as we go along…it’s maddeningly vague, and seems to be, and be capable of, whatever the plot requires in the moment. The vagueness would be less maddening if Phosyne’s main arc wasn’t studying the magic, trying to make it make sense. Hand-waving it as ‘not human logic’ isn’t bloody good enough; I was never convinced that Starling knew how it worked or what-all it could do, and the magic ended up playing deus ex machina far too often.

(I had the vague impression Phosyne was meant to be neurodiverse, and that might be why she can grasp the magic at all, but that wasn’t very clear to me so don’t quote me on it.)

The pattern of abrupt reveals ruined pretty much every aspect of the book. Treila especially does a couple of 180s that weren’t the slightest bit convincing, and the magical reveal about her in the final showdown made no sense; I wanted to throw the book across the room and SHRIEK. At another point, a character is brought back from the dead WITH NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER; no one even expresses confusion about it! By the time bits of reality were dissolving up into the sky I had long since stopped caring.

All our protagonists were set up to be extremely interesting, but in the end they were each defined by just one or two traits that never deepened or developped – just flip-flopped like a dying fish. Phosyne went from feral mess to queenly with no transition. Treila discarded everything that made her great (vicious, out for herself, a survivor) for no apparent reason. Voyne…I don’t even know.

The cannibalism, especially the hypnotic feast sequences, was amazing: horrifying on every level, full marks, excuse me while I go throw up. The feverish quality to many scenes: superb. But the moment the book stepped away from that – in its attempt to paint some kind of Big Picture horror – it all fell apart, and kept falling.

(For all that this was trying very hard to be a queer book, none of the queer configurations had any real chemisty, by the way (even if Ser Voyne’s need to serve was delicious) and I remain very confused by a) the Relationship Status of the ending and b) how the m/f dynamic was so much sexier and more interesting than any other set-up. Seriously, what was going on here?)

This is the first Starling book that hasn’t worked for me. I’m disappointed, but it won’t be the last book of hers I try. I’ll cross my fingers for better luck next time – but I really can’t recommend Starving Saints at all.

Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs Photography

The post Left Me Hungry: The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

(The Return Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!

Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs Photography

For the sixth year running, behold my list of brilliant magic powers for Wyrd & Wonder! This is a companion to my annual list of magic systems (of which you can find 2025’s list over here) and I had a lot of fun compiling both!

(What’s the difference between a magic system and a magical ability? Well, I define a magic system as something that allows the practitioner to do many things, whereas an ability lets them do one thing – even if that one thing can be utilised in a lot of different ways!)

And now, here is 2025’s list of some of the very coolest magical abilities!

Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

In this fiercely imaginative Filipino-inspired fantasy debut, a bisexual nun hiding a goddess-given gift is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people's struggle against colonization.

Perfect for fans of lush fantasy full of morally ambiguous characters, including The Poppy War and The Jasmine Throne.

Maria Lunurin has been living a double life for as long as she can remember. To the world, she is Sister Maria, dutiful nun and devoted servant of Aynila's Codicían colonizers. But behind closed doors, she is a stormcaller, chosen daughter of the Aynilan goddess Anitun Tabu. In hiding not only from the Codicíans and their witch hunts, but also from the vengeful eye of her slighted goddess, Lunurin does what she can to protect her fellow Aynilans and the small family she has created in the convent: her lover Catalina, and Cat's younger sister Inez.

Lunurin is determined to keep her head down—until one day she makes a devastating discovery, which threatens to tear her family apart. In desperation, she turns for help to Alon Dakila, heir to Aynila's most powerful family, who has been ardently in love with her for years. But this choice sets in motion a chain of events beyond her control, awakening Anitun Tabu's rage and putting everyone Lunurin loves in terrible danger. Torn between the call of Alon's magic and Catalina's jealousy, her duty to her family and to her people, Lunurin can no longer keep Anitun Tabu's fury at bay.

The goddess of storms demands vengeance. And she will sweep aside anyone who stands in her way.

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Let’s start with a bang – storm magic! Stormcallers can, as you’ll probably guess, create storms – thunder and lightning, but also full on hurricanes. That’s already extremely epic, but then there’s the fact that they can also manipulate the electricity of the human body. Stormcallers are the anesthesiologists of their culture – they use their power over lightning to pinch the nerves of those undergoing surgery, so patients are rendered immobile and unable to feel pain! That’s such an excellent way to utilise that power!

My review of Saints of Storm and Sorrow!

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

"I devoured this."—V. E. Schwab, New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie La RueAn International BestsellerAn NPR Best Sci Fi, Fantasy, & Speculative Fiction Book of 2022A Book Riot Best Book of 2022A Vulture Best Fantasy Novel of 2022A Goodreads Best Fantasy Choice Award NomineeA Library Journal Best Book of 2022Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories.
But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Don’t tell me that you’re not the least bit curious to know what your favourite story would taste like! The titular Book Eaters of Dean’s debut literally eat books – they have special teeth for it and everything! And probably most impressive is that they remember, perfectly and permanently, every word they’ve ever eaten! I AM EXTREMELY JEALOUS!

My review!

Empire of Exiles (Books of the Usurper, #1) by Erin M. Evans
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads

Magic, mystery, and revolution collide in this fantasy epic where an unlikely team of mages, scribes, and archivists must band together to unearth a conspiracy that might topple their empire.

"What makes this book special, even by Erin’s lofty goalposts, is the world she weaves around the characters. Detailed and mysterious, a place to explore and relish. Empire of Exiles is highly recommended!” – R.A. Salvatore, author or “The Legend of Drizzt” and the DemonWars novels

“The beginning of a truly epic tale. Deft worldbuilding and wonderful verbal fencing that is a delight to read. In these pages, you are in the hands of a master.” - Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms and internationally bestselling author

Twenty-seven years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared. 

The empire moved on. 

Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he's on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He's always found his apprenticeship to a lawman to be dull work. But these aren't just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup. 

Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion. With Quill being the main witness to the murder, and no one in power believing his story, he must join the Archivists — a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective — to solve the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire – or destroying it again.

“Empire of Exiles has it all: characters I love, intertwined compelling mysteries in the past and present, plot twists that keep coming, and a unique and fascinating world and magic system!" – Melissa Caruso, author of The Obsidian Tower

“Beautifully wrought and equally ensnaring, this book lived up to and then surpassed all my expectations.” – Cat Rambo, author of You Sexy Thing

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Most of the time, Yinii can only sense things about ink – its presence, its age, what it’s made of, that sort of thing. But a few times a year, her nicely passive magic ‘spirals’ – at which point, she can both control and create ink.

The latter is especially important, because, um… You can make ink out of people, apparently. And within the spiral, that seems like a really great idea.

Evans has said that the magic in this setting is inspired by clinical anxiety and panic attacks, and that is as cool as it sounds – but the ink power? I WOULD NOT HAVE THOUGHT THAT WAS A USEFUL-FOR-COMBAT MAGIC. GOTTA BE HONEST.

Flex ('Mancer, #1) by Ferrett Steinmetz
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

FLEX: Distilled magic in crystal form. The most dangerous drug in the world. Snort it, and you can create incredible coincidences to live the life of your dreams.

FLUX: The backlash from snorting Flex. The universe hates magic and tries to rebalance the odds; maybe you survive the horrendous accidents the Flex inflicts, maybe you don’t.

PAUL TSABO: The obsessed bureaucromancer who’s turned paperwork into a magical Beast that can rewrite rental agreements, conjure rented cars from nowhere, track down anyone who’s ever filled out a form.

But when all of his formulaic magic can’t save his burned daughter, Paul must enter the dangerous world of Flex dealers to heal her. Except he’s never done this before – and the punishment for brewing Flex is army conscription and a total brain-wipe.

File Under: Urban Fantasy
[ Magic Pill | Firestarter | Bureaucramancy | The Flex & the Flux ]

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From ink, to paperwork! Honestly, this one could be argued to be a magic system, but I think ‘manipulating paperwork’ is one ability – albeit one that can have LOTS of different applications! In Flex, a person’s hardcore obsessions can become magic, and Paul is a beaurocromancer, able to control and manipulate paperwork. He can access any information that’s been filed, from CIA reports to a stranger’s taxes, and change or rearrange what he finds – early in the book, he reorganises the shift schedule at a hospital so every nurse is on-call at the best point in their circadian rhythm, so they’re at their best while working. Making things more effecient is so easy it’s hard not do it. But he has to work within the limits of what he understands beurocracy to be; again, early on he temporarily contains a fire, but he can’t snuff it out because ‘beurocracy only delays the inevitable, it doesn’t stop it’. Which I don’t think is necesarily true, meaning some of his limits might be self-imposed…

The White Road of the Moon by Rachel Neumeier
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, YA
Goodreads

Leigh Bardugo meets The Sixth Sense in this story of one girl's perilous journey to restore a lost order. Imagine you live with your aunt, who hates you so much she's going to sell you into a dreadful apprenticeship. Imagine you run away before that can happen. Imagine that you can see ghosts—and talk with the dead. People like you are feared, even shunned.

Now imagine . . . the first people you encounter after your escape are a mysterious stranger and a ghost boy, who seem to need you desperately—though you don't understand who they are or exactly what they want you to do. So you set off on a treacherous journey, with only a ghost dog for company. And you find that what lies before you is a task so monumental that it could change the world.

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We’re all encountered fictional people who can see ghosts. Most of them can also talk to ghosts. But the witches of White Road of the Moon can make ghosts tangible. Which can be utilised in so many different ways: need a bodyguard? Here, have a ghost swordsman – his sword will cut your enemies, but theirs won’t cut him! A spy? Invisible ghost walking through walls to to tell you all about the rooms or buildings you can’t enter. How about a ride? Ghost horse that can’t tire! DO YOU BEGIN TO SEE WHAT A COOL POWER THIS IS?

The Uses of Illicit Art by Wendy Palmer
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

'Your ridiculous Art. It’s as twisty as you are, and that’s saying something.'

It’s twenty years into the reign of Queen Victoria. The Agency for the Benefit of Registered Artisans has been established to help and protect magic-users and regulate their Artworks. The use of illicit Art is heavily punished.

The coldly self-possessed Kit Whitely is an Artisan whose specialty is opening doors and locks. That makes him very popular with a certain type of criminal, so he’s hiding out in a remote Somerset village hoping for uninteresting times. He’s starting to feel safe for the first time in his life.

Cheerful bounty hunter Alexander Locke has other ideas. He’s obliviously barging into Kit's peaceful new life to arrest him for the use of illicit Art and drag him back to London. But he's a man of divided loyalties and so he's also intending to use Kit for illicit purposes of his own.

How much trouble could one pissant little thief give him, really?

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The magic here is ultra-specific – Kit’s Art, as it’s known in his world, gives him power over doorways. And sure, that means he can open and close a door, ever lock or unlock it – even walk through one doorway and out another, if the doorways are close enough.

But ‘doorway’ isn’t defined by his magic – but by his own idea of what a doorway is. Early in the book he’s able to use the entrance to a circle of standing stones, and later we see him pass through a mirror. If he can convince himself it’s a doorway – usually by drawing on ideas from stories and folklore – then his magic will work on it.

(There’s a hysterically funny moment where a friend aware of the at-the-time new stories of Santa Claus tries to convince Kit that a chimney ought to count!)

Which suggests such cool things about the nature of magic in this setting!

It also means that, despite being so specific, Kit’s magic is incredibly versatile, limited mostly by his cleverness and imagination – and seeing characters finding creative ways to apply their magic is one of my favourite things!

Prophet by Sin Blaché, Helen Macdonald
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

From the extraordinary minds of award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of H Is for Hawk Helen Macdonald and first time author Sin Blaché, Prophet is their electric debut, a tantalizing adventure fusing noir, sci-fi and a slow burn romance--set in a universe just one perilous step from our own.

Adam Rubenstein and Sunil Rao have been reluctant partners since their Uzbekistan days. Adam is a seemingly unflappable American Intelligence officer and Rao is an ex-MI6 agent, an addict and rudderless pleasure hound, with the uncanny ability to discern the truth of things--about everyone and everything other than Adam. When an American diner turns up in a foggy field in the UK after a mysterious death, Adam and Rao are called in to investigate, setting into motion the most dangerous and otherworldly mission of their lives.

In a surreal, action-packed quest that takes Adam and Rao from secret laboratories in Colorado, to a luxury lodge in Aspen, to the remote Nevada desert, the pair begins to uncover how and why people's fondest memories are being weaponized against them by a spooky, ever-shifting substance called Prophet. As the unlikely twosome battles this strange new reality, Prophet's victims' memories are materializing in increasingly bizarre favorite games, beloved pets, fairground rides, each more malevolent than the next. Prophet is like no enemy Adam and Rao - or the world - have ever come up against.

A tension-shot odd-couple romance, an unflinching send-up of corporate corruption, and a genre-bending tour de force, Prophet is a triumph of storytelling by a new writing duo with a thrilling future.

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This might be in that nebulous space between Fantasy and Scifi, but it feels very much like magic to me, so I’m counting it!

Rao has the ability to detect whether a statement is true or false. Not like the spider-priests from a few years back, who can only tell whether the speaker believes what they’re saying – but the power to know whether something is objectively true or not.

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE IMPLICATIONS? THE POSSIBILITIES?! BECAUSE BLANCHÉ AND MACDONALD DID!

Velveteen vs. The Early Adventures by Seanan McGuire
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

In a world where superhumans are bought and sold by corporate interests and children are pressed into heroism whether they like it or not, it can be difficult to tell the good from the evil. For Velma “Velveteen” Martinez, there was never any real chance for a normal life. Her parents sold her to the Super Patriots, Inc. as soon as her powers manifested, reasoning that the world’s largest superhuman management company would be better suited to care for her...and the money didn’t hurt. Before she knew what was happening, Vel was swept into a world of appearances and expectations, molded to become a hero and manipulated by the people she was meant to trust.

Is it any wonder she walked away as soon as she had the opportunity?

Now an adult, Vel has found herself swept back into the superheroic world, entangled with seasonal powers and fighting the people who were once her friends as she tries to retain her freedom, her independence, and her sense of right and wrong. What’s someone whose only power is bringing toys to life supposed to do? And is there any chance that justice will prevail?

These short stories encompass the first two volumes of Velveteen’s adventures, from the very beginning to her climactic battle against the Super Patriots, Inc.

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I realise we usually classify superheroes as sci fi rather than magic, but most readers I know classify this particular series as urban fantasy due to reveals we get later on. Which means I get to include Velveteen! Her power is the ability to animate toys – or rather, any object fashioned to look like a living thing, even if the depiction is seriously stylised. The official definition of her power is “semi-autonomous animation of totemic representations of persons and animals, most specifically cloth figures, including minor transformation to grant access to species-appropriate weaponry.” (Ignore the bit about cloth figures, she is not limited to plushies.) This means that not only can she bring a teddy bear to life, she can give the teddy bear real claws and teeth – and it will keep doing what she wants even if she’s not paying attention.

That last bit is a huge deal: not having to concentrate on puppeting/controlling each toy gives her so much more freedom, and means animating a whole bunch of toys at once is no big deal (whereas, imagine if you had to consciously direct every moment of every figure you animated – you wouldn’t be able to manage more than a handful at once, if that). But also: wait, what do you mean they’re semi-autonomous? They have their own THOUGHTS? Their own WANTS? They can STRATEGISE? Their motor-control is also apparently very impressive, because the first time Verity’s power ever manifested, she had a teddy bear make toast and butter it. !

Like, being able to control toys sounds like a joke. But think about how common ‘totemic representations of persons and animals’ are in an urban environment! They’re EVERYWHERE. Verity is almost always surrounded by a freaking armoury!

Awakened by A.E. Osworth
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

A coven of trans witches battles an evil AI in the magical coming-of-middle-age romp about love, loss, drag shows, and late capitalism. ​

On a morning much like any other, 30-something queer Brooklynite Wilder makes the miraculous discovery: suddenly, as if by magic, they can understand every language in the world. Dazed and disconnected, Wilder is found and taken in by a small coven of trans witches who have all become Awakened with mystical powers of their own. Quibble, a handsome portal traveler, Artemis, the group’s caretaker and seer, and Mary Margaret, a smart-ass teen with telekinetic powers all work to make the cagey and suspicious Wilder feel comfortable, both within their group and with the knowledge that magic is, in fact, real.  

Just as Wilder is finding their footing, a malicious AI threatens to dismantle the delicate balance of the coven and the world as they know it. Newly assembled and tenuously bound, the group scrambles to stay united as they parse the difference between difficult and dangerous, asking themselves continuously: is any consciousness—be it artificial, material, or magical—too dangerous to exist?

Awakened is an exhilarating, hilarious and thought-provoking reflection on the ways that we are responsible for creating our own realities , a story of finding community, and a meditation on what it means to have a body (and if it might be far worse never to have had one at all).

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When Wilder’s magic capital-A Awakens, they become able to understand – AND speak!!! – all languages. That includes sign languages, region-specific gestures and facial expressions (like shaking your head to mean yes instead of no in Bulgaria), and languages that aren’t human at all. As someone who struggles to a frankly embarassing degree with other languages, this is probably the power on this list I’m most jealous of!

Switchers (Switchers, #1) by Kate Thompson
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, MG, YA
Goodreads

Tess has a secret power—and it just might save the world from disaster
Thirteen-year-old Tess is a Switcher, able to change into any animal at will. No one knows her secret, or so she thinks. But one day a strange, scruffy boy follows her home from her Dublin bus stop. The boy’s name is Kevin, and he’s a Switcher too. Kevin convinces Tess that their powers are needed for something important: stopping the snowstorms that are rapidly advancing from the Arctic. Tess and Kevin will have to stretch their abilities to the very limit in order to save the world from frozen destruction. { "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-05-15T07:43:25+00:00", "description": "10 examples of EXTREMELY COOL magic powers!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/the-return-of-the-coolest-magical-abilities-in-fiction\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Switchers (Switchers, #1)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kate Thompson", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}

When I was little, I always picked ‘shapeshifting’ when asked what power I wanted. The ‘switching’ in this trilogy is one of my very favourites; Tess can turn into any living creature – animal, fish, bird – in an instant, with no painful transformation process. She gets the instincts of the form she’s taken, but she doesn’t lose herself and can remember everything when she turns back.

But what makes this particular kind of shapeshifting incredibly – well, incredible – is…a major spoiler, but it’s also heavily hinted at on the new cover for book one, so I think it’s okay to say. Putting it under a cut though, for anyone who’d rather be surprised!

[View post to see spoiler]

HI YES PLEASE THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF SHAPESHIFTING I ALWAYS WANTED.

That’s 10 for 2025! Looking for more? You can find them in my earlier lists here;

(Some Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Some More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Even More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Yet More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Still More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!

Or go here to start exploring my lists of especially epic magic systems!

The post (The Return Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder by K. Valentin

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

You can find the releases I’m most anticipating this year over on my Unmissable list, but I use Can’t-Wait Wednesday to feature books I’m hopeful about but aren’t as sure of.

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder by K. Valentin!

An Amateur Witch's Guide to Murder: A Novel by K. Valentin
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer Puerto Rican MC, M/M
Published on: 14th October 2025
Goodreads

A wannabe witch tries to break a curse on a clueless client in this laugh-out-loud debut for fans of queer fantasy like TJ Klune and Tamsyn Muir.

Mateo Borrero has ninety-nine problems, and all of them hinge on the fact that his terrifying and currently-missing bruja mother trapped a demon in his body when he was born. His mother forbade him from ever using magic, but now that she’s gone, magic’s his only marketable skill, and he’d really like an exorcism—which costs money he doesn’t have. What’s the harm in making a quick buck by calling himself an Occult Specialist and chanting a few half-remembered spells in his crappy Spanish?

Enter Topher, a naive nepo baby with a curse that keeps killing people around him. Most importantly, he’s rich, and too clueless to clock that Mateo–and his (absolutely-not-the-assistant) astral-projecting best friend Ophelia–have never actually had a client before. Lifting Topher’s bad luck curse should be simple, but as luck would have it, nothing is simple, and Topher–who Mateo sort of, kind of likes–might be at the center of a deadly magical conspiracy. 

To make matters worse, the more magic Mateo does, the stronger the demon inside him grows and the more he wants to eat people. But would caving to the urges of an ancient evil really be that bad if it helps him get a payday?

Legends and Lattes meets A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer in this hilarious and charming contemporary fantasy readers won’t want to miss.

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I was browsing Edelweiss, as one does if one is an unhealthily obsessed bookwyrm, when the cover caught my attention – because the MC on the front looked very queer-coded to me – and then I saw the GIDEON THE NINTH MEETS LEGENDS AND LATTES bit on the Edelweiss listing.

…Okay. All right. I actually didn’t enjoy Legends and Lattes that much, but I suspect you don’t mean that the lack of plot-beats are going to be the same as L&L, so sure, I’m listening!

I immediately want to know whether Mateo’s mom stuck a demon in him on purpose, or was it an accident? I really can’t tell from the blurb. And what do we think the chances are of her disappearance being unrelated to the conspiracy Topher’s caught up in? I wouldn’t bet on it…!

But power up the demon inside you to make ends meet sounds like a painfully on-point metaphor for capitalism, welp! That alone has me convinced I’m going to enjoy Valentin’s sense of humour. The Millennial vibes are strong with this one!

We don’t get this one until October, but I’m hopeful it’ll be worth the wait!

The post I Can’t Wait For…An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder by K. Valentin appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

The New Definitory Magic School Book: Incandescent by Emily Tesh

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, sapphic love interest, secondary BIPOC characters
Published on: 13th May 2025
ISBN: 125083502X
Goodreads

Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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~the BEST reason for no-phones-in-class
~a possessed photocopier
~swords > guns
~teachers as paladins
~never trust a dude who’s not peer-reviewed!

INSTANT new fave, EASILY a best-of-the-year, and I am officially declaring Incandescent the definitory example of the magic school trope!

Incandescent is very obviously in conversation with other big-name magic school books, and with the readers who fell in love with the trope (sub-genre?) as children. But those readers have since grown up, and so this is a book for adults; written with, not just an adult’s perspective on the school and students of this particular story, but with an adult’s perspective on the concept of magic school. And by choosing to set the book in England, firmly within the institution that is British Private Education, Incandescent stands as a very self-aware foil to the-series-that-must-not-be-named, specifically.

Plus, the use of magic as a not-too-subtle metaphor for wealth and or privilege??? With natural sorcerers as stand-ins for those one-in-a-gazillion ‘normal’ people who make it by ‘pulling themselves up by the bootstraps’ (aka freak luck)??? My gods, I can’t believe how simply, elegantly, and perfectly well-done that was! *chef’s kiss* Tesh is a GENIUS.

And that would be enough to make it a really excellent book, but there’s a whole ‘nother level of excellence to the fact that Tesh manages to rip apart this fantasy without ripping apart those who love it. Is the whole concept of British boarding schools deeply problematic? Yep! In a whole lot of ways! Are there very dodgy elements and connotations to most aspects of the magic school trope? Ohhh yes. But Tesh leaves room to acknowledge that these facts do not negate what people love about these schools, British or magical (or both); to explore how people can love them, how these things can be deeply meaningful to individuals, flaws and all. This is not a book that browbeats you for enjoying something problematic; it is, instead, a book that asks you to look at the thing you love straight-on, to see it wholly and unbiasedly, to know what it is you love.

If you still love it after that? That’s your business. Incandescent did not seem, to me, to be pushing an agenda, to be guiding readers to a specific conclusion. It just wants you to see, and to be honest about what you see. Don’t love blindly. That’s all.

Which is all very High Brow and philosophical, but Incandescent isn’t just a deeply clever, incisive book: it’s also a genuinely entertaining novel, a freaking BLAST of a read that I could not put down and did not want to! So much of it made me laugh; more than one moment had me kicking my feet; there were a lot of happy-rambles to the hubby about the cleverness of the writing and the very neat worldbuilding; and there was a great deal of flailing, both the delighted kind and the very anxious kind!

“Oh shit,” said Nikki, staring at the streaks of black and yellow paint.

Will paused.

“Language,” said Aneeta, with a glance in Walden’s direction.

“Actually,” Walden said serenely, “‘Oh shit’ is the correct reaction to finding an error in an incursion ward.”

Walden is the deputy headmistress and Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, responsible not just for teaching high-level magic, but for the magical protections of the school. And – this is really important – she loves her job. She loves magic, and she loves teaching, and she loves Chetwood, and all that love just emanates from the pages. Incandescent reads very much like a love letter to teaching and teachers; it gives the book an occasionally bizarrely wholesome feel, almost cosy at times. All of the staff at Chetwood seem to love what they do – even when things are hard, when students are badly misbehaving or suffering or having to fight off being eaten by their phones, there’s a joy and satisfaction to all of it. It’s almost enough to tempt me to go into teaching!

Teaching wasn’t about being right, or being clever, or being in charge. It was about making them believe.

You manipulate his perceptions, the [spoiler!] said, to make him stronger.

And again – in the same way that Incandescent is a conversation with all of us as adults who were kids reading the-series-that-must-not-be-named…it’s also talking to all of us as adults who were kids in school. Any school. If you went back to high school and talked to your favourite teacher now, as an adult, it might feel a bit like reading Incandescent does: like we’re getting a tour behind the curtain that is/was our childhood schooling, and wow is there a lot we never imagined existed back there! It feels like a teacher addressing you adult-to-adult, revelatory and mundane at once; there is something fascinating in learning a little of how teachers perform a role when in the presence of their students, or in the realisation that oh yes, they feel awkward and silly and uncool too, all those things you thought teachers were somehow immune to.

Which all means that even the most banal bits of Walden’s day feel like we’re being let in on mysterious, magical secrets. Tesh’s prose is so readable, quick and compelling and precise, always giving us exactly the right amount of detail about exactly the right things, perfectly balancing moments of introspection with wonderfully human dialogue and heart-pounding action – though maybe ‘activity’ would be a better word, because it’s not all action-thriller stuff, but even the littler moments feel vital and meaningful.

“No blood,” said Walden firmly. A meal of human bodily fluids was the fastest possible way ot turn a minor demonic possession into a major demonic problem. “Would you accept a digestive biscuit?”

The fiery flecks of the purple eyes in the depths of the multipurpose tray flickered. The imp said, with an air of deep cunning, Chocolate.

And fun. Incandescent is so much fun! I loved the teenagers and their shenanigans; I loved the surprises embedded in the worldbuilding; and I was surprised at how much I loved the English setting. Clearly I’ve been reading too many books set in the US! I’m not saying it made me nostalgic (gods forbid) but it did make me some strange kind of delighted to see all the familiar Briticisms, the school system I grew up in, the terminology I remember and still default to; Year Nines, A-Levels, digestive biscuits!

But it also made me really happy to see that setting called out.

Mark was exactly the kind of person that Chetwood School existed to create: powerful, free, capable of anything, capable of getting away with anything.

This is not a cosy fantasy, even if parts of it are heart-warming. Incandescent is a book about power and who has it, who can have it, what it costs (what it costs different people). It’s an incisive, merciless vivisection of capitalist power structures, of buying power via buying schooling, of a rancid, rotting system of education that was built to support and feed into the British Empire and is still deeply imperfect. It’s about arrogance and wealth and privilege, and how people without any of those things mortgage their souls to get their children a chance at them–

Chetwood’s school fees were insurance money, a policy taken out against the future. Let my child be safe. Let my child be happy. Let my child have every single chance at freedom, joy, hope, power.

Incandescent is condemnation and sympathy: for those who built the system on one hand, and for those who beggar themselves to get their children a better place in that system. It’s an acknowledgement that even once we realise how fucked up this all is, we can’t necessarily get ourselves free of it. We should burn it all down and start over – but we can’t.

the sheer weight of institution carving patterns into the world, stronger than blood or bone.

There is a deep well of something like cynicism in Incandescent, an awareness of a great and toxic ugliness at the heart of what Walden loves so much. There were times when it seemed to me that Tesh was even pointing out how messed up schools are, not as a fundamental part of the institutions of power but as a way of teaching at all. Exams are a terrible way to gauge a child’s intelligence! Boarding schools are functionally prisons for minors! We constantly undervalue people who are geniuses at their Things just because they never went to school for it! All of it dressed up in elaborate ritual and civility, when really, the simple, savage brutality the demons in this setting constantly enact on each other is only a more honest mirror of the machinations amongst humans – amongst the worst humans, anyway. Which is probably a big part of why Incandescent has been called dark academia in so many corners…

But it’s not, really. Because Incandescent is also about believing in something much bigger than you, greater than you. It’s about dedicating yourself to an ideal, and spending your entire life working to live up to it, to manifest it, to remake the world in its image, one student at a time. It’s about teachers as paladins, about teaching as – as something holy. Which is not quite the right word, but is so close.

What else can you call being willing to die to protect the children in your charge – children who are not your flesh and blood, even? (But maybe have more of you in them than they do their parents, after spending most of their lives in your classrooms.)

And a certainty: this is what I have done. Here is power, and here are power’s consequences. I can point to them. I can name them. Here is the child who knows today what she did not know yesterday. She will take her knowledge away into adulthood and find her own terrible strength there. Those are her choices. These, circumscribed, limited by ancient stone and crumbling concrete, by time and tradition and school bells and school boundaries–these are mine.

I feel like I could go on and on endlessly: this is a book I would love to offer to a classroom of English Lit enthusiasts, because there is so much to it, so many layers, and all of them fitted so perfectly together, like the gears of the world’s tiniest clock. It’s the kind of book that rewards analysis, that delights in you thinking deeply about it, that encourages you to. I want to write you an essay about the worldbuilding (simple at first glance, so freaking clever when you pause to think about it) or the foursome that are Walden’s top students (they each represent a different perspective/experience on/of modern schooling) or how amazingly complicated, multi-faceted, and believably contradictory a character Walden is (I straight-up love her and there’s nothing straight about it) – but you should really just READ THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF!

Incandescent is, simply, incandescent.

It’s out today. Go read it!

Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs Photography

The post The New Definitory Magic School Book: Incandescent by Emily Tesh appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Must-Have Monday #236

Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.

EIGHT books this week!

(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, sapphic love interest, secondary BIPOC characters
Published on: 13th May 2025
Goodreads

Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.

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EASILY one of the best books of the year; INSTANT new fave! Every page of this made me so happy; every detail was *chef’s kiss* Yes yes YES!

You can read an excerpt here!

Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 13th May 2025
Goodreads

A hilarious and surprisingly moving cozy fantasy novel from the best-selling author of Once Upon a Tome.

This debut novel by beloved rare bookseller and memoirist Oliver Darkshire reimagines the Decameron heroine Isabella (with her creepy pot of basil) in a world of sentient animals, talking plants, and shape-shifting wizards.

In a tiny farm on the edge of the miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is just trying to get on with her tiny, miserable existence. Dividing her time between tolerating a feckless husband, fending off snide neighbors, and cooking up “scrunge,” Isabella can’t help but think that there might be something more to life. When Mr. Nagg returns home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she What harm could a little magic do?

As Isabella embarks on a journey of self-discovery with a grouchy cat-like companion, Darkshire’s imagination runs wild, plunging readers into a delightfully deranged world full of enchantment and folklore—as well as goblins, capitalism, and sorcery.

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This sounds like it’s going to be an absolute DELIGHT, and I’m so looking forward to it!

You can read an excerpt here!

The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story by Brandy Schillace
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MCs
Published on: 13th May 2025
Goodreads

The fascinating history of a daring team of sexologists who built the first trans clinic in the shadow of the Third Reich.

Set in interwar Germany, The Intermediaries tells the forgotten story of the Institute for Sexual Science, the world’s first center for homosexual and transgender rights. Headed by a gay Jewish man, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the institute aided in the first gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments, acting as a rebellious base of operations in the face of rising prejudice, nationalism, and Nazi propaganda.

An expert in medical history, Brandy Schillace tells the story of the Institute through the eyes of Dora Richter, an Institute patient whom we follow in her quest to transition and live as a woman. While the colorful but ultimately tragic arc of Weimar Berlin is well documented, The Intermediaries is the first book to assert the inseparable, interdependent relationship of sex science to both the queer rights movement and the permissive Weimar culture, tracking how political factions perverted that same science to suit their own ends.

This riveting book brings together forgotten scientific and surgical discoveries (including previously untranslated archival material from Berlin) with the politics and social history that galvanized the first stirrings of the trans rights movement. Through its unforgettable characters and immersive, urgent storytelling, The Intermediaries charts the relationships between nascent sexual science, queer civil rights, and the fight against fascism. It tells riveting stories of LGBTQ pioneers—a surprising, long-suppressed history—and offers a cautionary tale in the face of today’s oppressive anti-trans legislation.

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Might be interesting to read this alongside Lilac People, which was out a week or two ago!

So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro De Robertis
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists
Representation: QBIPOC cast
Published on: 13th May 2025
Goodreads

Award-winning novelist Caro De Robertis offers a first-of-its-kind, deeply personal, and moving oral history of a generation of queer and trans elders of color, from leading activists to artists to ordinary citizens to tell their stories of breathtaking courage, cultural innovations, and acts of resistance, all in their own words.

So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer and two spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world, how they pursued their passions, and how they continue to be at the vanguard of social change. This singular project collects the testimonies of over a dozen elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations—who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very voices.

Award-winning novelist De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify and to describe life beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new. Young trans and nonbinary people of color today belong to a long lineage.   The anecdotes in these pages are riveting, joyful, heartbreaking—so full of life and personality and wisdom, and artfully woven together into one immersive narrative. In De Robertis’s words, So Many Stars shares “behind-the-scenes tales of what it meant—and still means—to create an authentic life, against the odds.”

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Extremely timely, and I suspect this will also be very powerful. Really, really want to read this (though I think I’ll need to be in the right headspace when I pick it up).

Call of the Owl Woman by K.M. Huber
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Representation: Peruvian cast and setting
Published on: 13th May 2025
Goodreads

In a tale inspired by Peru’s Andean cosmovision and earth-centered spirituality, Call of the Owl Woman is a gripping coming-of-age story for people who like to immerse themselves in other times, places, and cultures, people who love adventure, and those who are drawn to the mystical and magical.

In sixth-century Peru, the Nasca people have flourished for centuries, their faith and ingenuity keeping the desert valleys green in a land where water is scarce. But a prolonged drought now fuels dangerous unrest. Cunning sorcerers and brutal priests vie for control, and Water Guardians like Patya’s father, who refuse to favor the powerful, are under attack.

Devastated by her grandmother’s sudden death, fifteen-year-old Patya retreats into dance and music. She does not want to become a healer like the long lineage of women in her family before her. Even her grandmother had hinted she was born for something else. But, in the wake of a deadly earthquake, Patya must not only help the healers, she must do things she never thought possible. As she begins to conquer her self-doubts and trust her own sense of justice, she will also have to outwit men of power to keep her little brother from being sacrificed by religious extremists at the coming solstice.

As Patya begins to realize and grow into her own power, she also discovers her grandmother’s secret legacy and prepares to step into an unexpected destiny.

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I’ve not heard much about this one, but what I HAVE heard is very promising!

You can read an excerpt here!

The Duke Steals Hearts & Other Body Parts by Elias Cold
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, YA
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 13th May 2025
Goodreads

Wielding a magic that allows him to pop off limbs, con-artist Phyllis ransoms body parts to make a living. At least until his cold heart is moved when a mark claims his sister, Adeline, was taken.

Adeline is not the only missing girl in their seedy city, and
Phyllis’ best chance to unravel the mystery is to become Lord Phillip of Rabbiton and strike a deal with the ambitious madame, Adeline’s former employer, for info on his leads. As a duke, Phillip finds the girls who are not dead—but undead. And when the madame finds out, she twists Phillip into helping her with her plans to rule the city.

To cement his future as a duke, save his new family of mostly-dead girls, and earn Adeline’s affection, Phillip will have to stop the madame and discover the depths of his magic—before his own lies destroy him.

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This sounds bizarre in the best way!

You can listen to an excerpt from the audiobook here!

The Divide that Binds Us by Michelle J.
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, YA
Representation: Asexual MC, demisexual MC
Published on: 16th May 2025
Goodreads

In a world where dragons are the life source, their sudden mysterious deaths slowly push Zeala into peril. When nineteen-year-old Alice Reid investigates the cause, she runs into members of a rival paramilitary organization for the first time. The encounter takes a violent turn, igniting Commander Rio Shackler’s curiosity for two reasons: Alice can summon a mythical being, and clues about the deaths conveniently point to her. With Rio's mission to enforce dragon safety, he pursues Alice to eliminate a potential threat. The two clash, unaware of the other’s agenda, and unknowingly fueling their divided organizations.

As more dragons perish, the world withers from the depletion of its life force. Trees die, fires lose oxygen, grass dries out, plants wilt into black rot, and the water supply dwindles. Alice and Rio find themselves on opposite sides of the truth but with a common enemy that binds them. In order to work together, they must set aside their bickering, scheming, and contrasting personalities, but mutual loathing won’t be their only obstacle. Questionable deities, a nefarious cult, and corruption brewing in the heart of the monarchy threaten each step they take toward saving their world. If Alice and Rio can’t unravel the mystery in time, the feud between their organizations will be the least of their worries.

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Dragons as life source??? That’s all I need to hear; I’m sold!

The Lady of the Lake by Jean Menzies
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 15th May 2025
Goodreads

When Lady Viviane leaves the lakes of the far North for the splendour of Camelot, she knows the destiny her father has planned for her. To capture the heart and hand of the young prince, Arthur. To bring her family richness and glory.

But it is Arthur’s sister Morgan who captures Viviane’s eye. Fierce and headstrong, Morgan sees another path – one she and Viviane can carve for themselves in this world built for knights and kings.

Now everything has shifted and changed. Under the guidance of the court sorcerer Merlin, she discovers magical powers within herself. And before long, she finds her friendship with Morgan deepening to the first flush of love.

But in Camelot eyes are everywhere and no one is as they seem. The quest for power breeds darkness and danger, and when Arthur pulls the legendary sword from the stone and rises to King, his closest allies will ask terrible things of Viviane and Morgan – striving to tear them apart for their own ends.

And if they cannot find their way back to each other, Camelot itself could fall . . .

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Arthurian isn’t really my genre – unless it’s done capital-w Weird, like Blackheart Knights or The Winter Knight – but I wanted to include this one in today’s post!

Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!

The post Must-Have Monday #236 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

(The Return Of) Ten Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!

Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs Photography

It’s Wyrd & Wonder, which means it’s time for another list featuring cool magic systems! (I mean, your mileage may vary, but I find them all very cool!)

My annual list of interesting magical abilities will be up later in the month; and you can find links to previous years lists of magic systems at the end of this post.

Enjoy!

The House of Shattered Wings (Dominion of the Fallen, #1) by Aliette de Bodard
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy…

In the late twentieth century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins, the aftermath of a Great War between arcane powers. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.
Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.

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There are a few different ways to do magic in this series, but the main one is powering your spells with bits of angel.

‘Free range’ angel parts: breath, eyelashes, nail or hair clippings.

‘Factory farming’ angel parts: blood, bone, flesh, wings.

Enough said!!!

The Tensorate Series (Tensorate #1-4) by Neon Yang
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

The Tensorate Series, which has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, and Lambda Literary Awards, is an incomparable treasure of modern epic fantasy.

Across four novellas, Neon Yang established themself as a fantasist in bold defiance of the limitations of their genre. Available now in a single volume, these four novellas trace the generational decline of an empire and unfurl a world that is rich and strange beyond anything you've dreamed.

In the Tensorate Series you will find: rebellious nonbinary scions of empire, sky-spanning nagas with experimental souls, revolutionary engineers bent on bringing power to the people, pugilist monks, packs of loyal raptors, and much, much more.

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‘Magic’, aka slackcraft, works by manipulating various forces or ‘natures’ that exist within the Slack – not the ‘team communication platform’ but a layer of reality beyond the mundane everyday one. In Black Tides of Heaven, the forces are described to us thusly

Earth, for gravity;
Water, for motion;
Fire, for hot and cold;
Forest, for flesh and blood;
Metal, for electricity.

So one uses forest-nature, or manipulates forest force, to heal, for example. Every spell you learn makes a connection between you and the Slack; other slackcraft users (called Tensors) can see these connections. Most people only have a handful of basic ones; a fully-trained Tensor might have hundreds or thousands. And since these connections look like light, the perception of someone who knows a lot of slackcraft is honestly deeply eerie.

Slackcraft is an interesting magic system (at least to me!) for a few reasons, the first being that gravity/motion/heat/flesh/electricity are not common fundamental forces in Fantasy magic! It almost feels rooted in physics, or something like physics. The Slack is everywhere all of the time; you don’t need to gather, summon, or create earth-nature, just manipulate what already exists all around you. It’s almost reality-warping.

But the most interesting aspects are how versatile it is – the ways Yang/their Tensors mix the different natures to create specific functions is wonderfully outside-the-box and creative – and how woven into society it is. Slackcraft purifies water, electrifies fences, powers lights; there are even slackcraft ‘phones’ and ‘cameras’. HI, IF MAGIC EXISTS IN YOUR WORLD, IT SHOULD DEFINITELY BE EVERYWHERE. It’s so useful, why wouldn’t society embrace it? And then in many ways depend on it? (This is, in fact, one of the major themes and conflicts of the series!)

Sparrow Hill Road (Ghost Roads, #1) by Seanan McGuire
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads

Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross—a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn’t ask Rose what she thought of the idea.

It’s been more than sixty years since that night, and she’s still sixteen, and she’s still running.

They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her.

You can’t kill what’s already dead.

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It plays a bigger role in book two – I think it’s only worldbuilding trivia in book one – but I adore the roadwitchery in this series! The more you’ve travelled in your life, the stronger a roadwitch you are – which is especially interesting in the context of the North American setting, since most Americans never travel abroad, but you have a very different cultural approach to extremely long car journeys. And car journeys are very plot-relevant in a series about a hitchhiking ghost!

The roads are also alive, and one of a roadwitch’s most important roles is taking care of them – which also means, putting them down when they go bad.

Blood of the Old Kings (The Bleeding Empire, #1) by Sung-Il Kim, Anton Hur
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads

Blood of the Old Kings begins an epic adventure in which three strangers journey through a vast Empire that uses the power of dead wizards to conquer and subdue, from award-winning author Sung-il Kim and translated by the highly-acclaimed Anton Hur.

Powered by the corpses of sorcerers, the Empire has conquered the world. It claims to have brought peace and stability to its conquered lands, but some see that peace for what it is—a lie—and will give everything in the fight against it.

Loran is desperate for revenge after the Empire killed her family, so much so that the swordswoman climbs the volcano where the legends say an ancient dragon slumbers and leaps in. She finds that the legends are true, and Loran leaves the mountain with a sword made of dragon’s fang and a great purpose before her.

Cain arrived in the Imperial Capital lost and orphaned, and it’s only thanks to the kindness of a stranger-turned-mentor that he survived on the city’s streets. When his friend is found murdered, he will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible, even if it means starting a war.

Arienne’s future has never been in question—born a sorcerer, she’ll be a Power Generator for the Empire upon her death. But when she starts to hear the voice of a powerful necromancer in her head, she realizes the only thing more terrifying than dying for the Empire is never getting to truly live in the first place.

When peace is a lie, there is power in truth—and as Loran, Cain, and Arienne hunt for answers in their own lives, any one of their small rebellions could be the stone that brings the Empire toppling down.

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It’s not exactly a secret that in this book, the ruling empire has found an alternative to electricity: the bodies of dead sorcerers! (Which I guess is technically a renewable resource, since sorcerers keep being born? Neat, environmentally friendly power source!) That’s already a very cool idea, and I was fascinated to see how it shaped the empire’s approach to sorcerers and sorcery (basically sorcerers belong to the state, who teach them very little magic because it’s safer not to, and sorcerers get state stipends and can do pretty much what they want within certain limits, because no one cares about them till they’re dead).

But! It is not the only cool-magic-thing here! Because pre-empire, every nation had its own magic. As in, the sorcerers of each place used it in completely different ways for completely different things than their neighbours. They each had a unique magic system. ! That’s not something we see very often! Usually magic is magic and there’s only one way to use it – or very occasionally there might be different schools or disciplines of magic, but usually everyone understands that it’s the same magic underneath relatively superficial differences. This is not that!

Yes I did absolutely nerd out over a world that has/had dozens and dozens of magic systems, won’t you join me???

Winter of Ice and Iron by Rachel Neumeier
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

In this gorgeous, dark fantasy in the spirit of Jacqueline Carey, a princess and a duke must protect the people of their nations when a terrible threat leaves everyone in danger.

With the Mad King of Emmer in the north and the vicious King of Pohorir in the east, Kehara Raehema knows her country is in a vulnerable position. She never expected to give up everything she loves to save her people, but when the Mad King’s fury leaves her land in danger, she has no choice but to try any stratagem that might buy time for her people to prepare for war—no matter the personal cost.

Hundreds of miles away, the pitiless Wolf Duke of Pohorir, Innisth Eanete, dreams of breaking his people and his province free of the king he despises. But he has no way to make that happen—until chance unexpectedly leaves Kehara on his doorstep and at his mercy.

Yet in a land where immanent spirits inhabit the earth, political disaster is not the greatest peril one can face. Now, as the year rushes toward the dangerous midwinter, Kehera and Innisth find themselves unwilling allies, and their joined strength is all that stands between the peoples of the Four Kingdoms and utter catastrophe.

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In this setting, anywhere humans live eventually develops a spirit called an Immanent Power. Everyone has a connection to the Immanent Power of where they live, but when an Immanent Power is just getting started, ‘strong and ambitious’ people can make a stronger, special bond to it, called a ruling tie. This is how monarchs get made, by being the person with this tie. Immanent Powers learn from the people they have a ruling tie with, so the personalities of the royal line can have a lot of influence on the nature of the land they rule, especially over time.

(It also influences whether the Immanent Power becomes a Fortunate or Unfortunate God, when it eventually undergoes apotheosis, so it’s quite a big deal!)

Littler Immanent Powers ‘belong’ to Great Powers, so a duchy’s Immanent Power is bonded to the Immanent Power of the nation the duchy is in. The older and bigger an Immanent Power is, the stronger it is; it also gets stronger if smaller Immanent Powers are bonded to it.

One of the big things a healthy, strong Immanent Power does is heal the humans within its territory; not just from normal everyday injuries and illnesses, but also after battles and things. The other big thing is mitigating the effects of things like drought: even if the rain doesn’t come, a strong Immanent Power can make the plants grow anyway. Unlike the healing, things like keeping blizzards away or making grain grow without rain requires power an Immanent Power draws from its deep tie; so, the local monarch.

In theory, an Immanent Power can do quite a lot, if it’s strong enough – but the human with the deep tie has to convince the Immanent Power to want to. And since Immanent Powers are most concerned with the natural world, they’re rarely useful in a cinematic way – but when they are, it’s things like throwing back a tsunami, so, you know, I think that makes up for it not happening often! In the more usual run of things, humans with a deep tie can do things with it like track anyone within their Power’s territory, and minor stuff like protecting your land from multi-headed monster dragons. The deep tie with a Power is great for that too.

This isn’t a small part of the book, either; the whole plot is about connections between the continent’s Great Powers and those who hold their deep ties, and the politics of those connections.

Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, #1) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads

An epic fantasy of devotion, destiny, and perilous magic from one of the most honored writers in the field--multiple Hugo Award-winning author Lois McMaster Bujold

Young, pregnant Fawn Bluefield has just fled her family's farm to the city of Glassforge, where she encounters a patrol of the enigmatic soldier-sorcerers known as Lakewalkers. Fawn has heard stories about the Lakewalkers, wandering necromancers with no permanent homes and no possessions but the clothes they wear and the mysterious knives they carry. What she does not know is that the Lakewalkers are engaged in a perilous campaign against inhuman and immortal magical entities known as "malices."

When Fawn is kidnapped by one of these creatures, it is up to Dag, an older Lakewalker heavy with sorrows and responsibilities, to rescue her. But in the ensuing struggle, it is not Dag but Fawn who kills the creature--at dire cost--and an uncanny accident befalls Dag's sharing knife, which unexpectedly binds their two fates together.

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The magic of the Lakewalkers is a very subtle, unflashy thing, but they’ve found all kinds of creative uses for it. Lakewalkers can ‘see’ what they call ‘ground’, basically the life force of everything from humans to animals to rocks. And they can influence the ground of other things; putting a thought in a horse’s mind to make it stay put, for example, or ‘bouncing’ mosquitoes away, or summoning fish into a net. These are the kind of things most Lakewalkers can learn how to do fairly easily.

But there are also Lakewalker Makers – we’d call them artisans – who use groundwork to ‘make a thing more itself’. By strengthening or reinforcing a quality the material you’re working with already has, a talented Maker can make leather – already naturally tough – impossible to cut (so, functionally a kind of armour!) The other form of Making takes the ground of multiple pieces and makes them one, and while you need a lot of talent and power to turn leather into armour, all Makers can blend the ground of what they’re making this way. So you get boots which never leak because all the parts of the boot have been convinced they are one thing, one piece, and so don’t part along their seams. Not flashy, but super useful, and the many – and sometimes very strange – applications the Lakewalkers come up with for this are great.

Domesticated Magic by Wendy Palmer
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Mateo Taurasi and his family fled their island home when their people turned to sorcery. Mateo’s own magic is tame but it’s still banned in the Vaeringan Empire...and his family still use it every day in their cosy teahouse. The last thing they need is an Imperial barging in to catch them at it.

Luckily, Jonas just wants to offer them a trade deal too good to resist. As hard as he tries, Mateo begins to find the cheerfully charming Jonas too good to resist, too.

But an unfairly attractive Imperial is not Mateo’s only problem. Rumours of sorcery loose in the city mean trouble for the Taurasi. With Jonas caught up in the mess, Mateo must investigate.

His family already lost their world once. Mateo can’t let them lose again. Not even if it costs him the man he really wishes he didn't have feelings for.

c/ explicit transm/m sex scenes

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Another less-flashy magic system, the one in Domesticated Magic delights me because it’s so elegantly simple – ‘neat’ as in ‘cool’, yes, but also ‘neat’ in the sense of ‘perfectly arranged’.

All Ystherans can use magic, but whether they do or not isn’t entirely up to them – because being able to use it doesn’t mean they have it. Only certain individuals, called Souls, actually have their own magic – and, usually in a daily ritual, they give magic to their clan-members. If a Soul doesn’t give you magic – or cuts you off if you’re in the process of receiving it – then too bad, no magic for you.

To make things even more interesting, the amount of magic a person can contain varies a lot – some have a much larger or smaller inner ‘receptacle’ than others, meaning that when they’re ‘full’, not everyone has the same amount of magic to work with.

But the size of your receptacle does not determine how much magic you can actually use. Many people with smaller receptacles can ‘channel’ much more magic than they can contain – so, if their Soul is passing magic to them, and that person is using the magic for something (say, creating a magic shield) as it’s being passed to them, they can potentially use quite a lot. Basically, the size of your tank has little bearing on the size of the pipe feeding the tank; and if your tank is in active use, you can receive a lot more magic than your tank could hold if no magic was going out.

(Or, if you have a huge tank but a small pipe, a lot less.)

It’s so simple but so elegant!

Sorcery and Small Magics (The Wildersongs Trilogy, #1) by Maiga Doocy
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads

Desperate to undo the curse binding them to each other, an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell—only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.

Leovander Loveage is a master of small magics.

He can summon butterflies with a song, or turn someone’s hair pink by snapping his fingers. Such minor charms don’t earn him much admiration from other sorcerers (or his father), but anything more elaborate always blows up in his face. Which is why Leo vowed years ago to never again write powerful magic.

That is, until a mix-up involving a forbidden spell binds Leo to obey the commands of his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Grimm. Grimm is Leo’s complete opposite—respected, exceptionally talented, and an absolutely insufferable curmudgeon. The only thing they agree on is that getting caught using forbidden magic would mean the end of their careers. They need a counterspell, and fast. But Grimm casts spells, he doesn’t undo them, and Leo doesn’t mess with powerful magic.

Chasing rumors of a powerful sorcerer with a knack for undoing curses, Leo and Grimm enter the Unquiet Wood, a forest infested with murderous monsters and dangerous outlaws alike. To dissolve the curse, they’ll have to uncover the true depths of Leo’s magic, set aside their long-standing rivalry, and—much to their horror—work together.

Even as an odd spark of attraction flares between them.

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What if you could write spells or cast spells, but not both? And to be clear, if you are a caster – you can’t cast anything until a writer prepares it for you. Not even if you’ve cast the same spell hundreds of times before! Which means that it doesn’t matter which you are – if you want magic, you’re entirely dependent on the kind of sorcerer you’re not. Magic is communal – even if you’re using a spell prepared ages ago by a writer you’ve never met, the fact is that magic can’t exist in this setting without community. It’s the exact opposite of the traditional Wizard Who Walks Alone.

It’s such a superficially simple but fascinating set-up!

The Gossamer Mage by Julie E. Czerneda
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads

From an Aurora Award-winning author comes a new fantasy epic in which one mage must stand against a Deathless Goddess who controls all magic.

Only in Tananen do people worship a single the Deathless Goddess. Only in this small, forbidden realm are there those haunted by words of no language known to woman or man. The words are Her Gift, and they summon magic.

Mage scribes learn to write Her words as spells to make beasts or plants, designed to any purpose. If an intention is flawed, what the mage creates is a a magical creature as wild and free as it is costly for the mage.

For Her Gift comes at a steep price. Each successful intention ages a mage until they dare no more. But her magic demands to be used; the Deathless Goddess will take her fee, and mages will die.

To end this terrible toll, the greatest mage in Tananen vows to find and destroy Her. He has yet to learn She is all that protects Tananen from what waits outside. And all that keeps magic alive.

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The idea of magic being done via writing or marking some kinds of symbols isn’t new, sure. But how it’s written – and what it is and isn’t able to do – makes the one here very cool.

Writing magic costs a mage some of their lifeforce, causing them to age physically. But it costs less lifeforce with high-quality ink, pens, and paper – and still less if the ink, pen and paper have been made by the mage himself. This creates an odd situation, because older mages are more experienced, and therefore better at magic. But creating ink and paper especially (pens might be easier? at least if we’re talking quills?) are very demanding physical tasks – older mages, who have bodies maybe three or four times older than their real age, are not up to making their own materials from scratch.

Another detail I really like is that the magic ‘words’ are written not left to right or up to down, but one word written directly over the previous one. So you don’t end with anything that looks like a sentence, but something more like a Rorschach test.

This is not a magic system where anything is possible; in this world, magic can create life and nothing else. Which gets utilised in all sorts of ways: creating horses who can see in the dark are very popular for couriers, and anyone who has to deal with ploughing really appreciates oxen who don’t get tired! Statues and things can also be animated – though like most of the flesh-and-blood creations of magic, they don’t last indefinitely. (Permanent creations are possible, but the spells to make them are so expensive in lifeforce that few mages are willing to do that.)

And one you should preorder immediately…The Mercy Makers (The Moon Heresies, #1) by Tessa Gratton
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Published on: 17th June 2025
Goodreads

A talented heretic must decide between the pursuit of forbidden magic, or the ecstasy of forbidden love—either way, her choice will upend the world, in the start of a sweeping, romantic epic fantasy trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton.

Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk?

Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.

Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She'll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.

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The Mercy Makers isn’t out for another month, but my friends, not including it wasn’t an option. I loved everything about this when I got to read it early, and the magic system is SPECTACULARLY awesome!

Architecture is the magic of manipulating four forces: Falling, Flow, Ecstatic, and Rising, each of which have their own properties. (Which force a person has more or less of either determines their personality or is determined by their personality; I’m not sure which direction the causality flows in.) But Architecture is extremely localised: outside the bounds of the empire, it doesn’t work at all.

Haven’t seen that very often, but okay, sure.

Except: when the empire’s borders expand, so does the area where architecture works.

??????????? What??? Magic is something that either exists or it doesn’t! What do you MEAN it only exists in this one area? And if it only exists in one area, how is it that that area isn’t, you know, geographic, but is instead tied to the human hallucination that is a nation’s borders??? The handful of times I’ve seen magic localised like this, it wasn’t possible to make the area where magic exists bigger or smaller. Because that means that the magic isn’t – natural? Is that the word I want? It’s not a fundamental part of the reality in this world, it’s artificial, imposed.

*FLAILS*

As a magic system, architecture is extremely versatile and incredibly powerful – it can be used for magical graffiti, to create otherwise-impossible bridges, and even to unmake a person. But one branch of architecture is completely forbidden, and of course, it’s easily the most interesting: human architecture, that is, magically manipulating the human body. Which covers everything from most healing, to sex changes, to the completely Out There stuff like giving people cat eyes, or wings, or scales.

TELL ME THAT IS NOT RIDICULOUSLY COOL, AND I’LL CALL YOU A LIAR.

That’s my 10 for 2025! Looking for more? You can find them in my earlier lists here;

Ten Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (Even More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (Yet More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (Still More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!

Or you can check out my lists featuring unique magical abilities – start here, and keep an eye out for this year’s!

What are some of your favourite magic systems?

The post (The Return Of) Ten Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

I Can’t Wait For…Starstruck by Aimee Ogden

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

You can find the releases I’m most anticipating this year over on my Unmissable list, but I use Can’t-Wait Wednesday to feature books I’m hopeful about but aren’t as sure of.

Okay, usually I don’t feature books from my Unmissable list in these Wednesday posts – but indie releases are an exception, they need more boosting!

Thus, this week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Starstruck by Aimee Ogden!

Starstruck by Aimee Ogden
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 17th June 2025
Goodreads

Prish has always been a radish who knows what she’s about; chiefly, her wife, Alsing, a literal and figurative fox. They’ve woven together a cozy life organized around welcoming other starstruck beings into the world—plants and animals ensouled by a falling star—but when the stars stop falling, all of that unravels. Prish gives in to Alsing’s longing to move on, and their new path leads them to two unlikely companions: an abandoned human child, and, impossibly, a brand-new starstruck who is neither a plant nor an animal, but rather a chunk of anthropomorphized granite with delusions of destiny.

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I have been following Ogden’s career MOST ATTENTIVELY since her debut Sun Daughters, Sea Daughters, which is a vaguely-Little-Mermaid-inspired sci fi novella that made me go heart-eyes – especially because the prose itself is just GORGEOUS!

I cannot for the life of me remember where I first heard about Starstruck, but I know it was a WHILE back because at the time, I couldn’t find any details about it anywhere (beyond, LESBIAN RADISH which, obviously, was more than enough to sell me on it). I set up google alerts and everything!

AND NOW WE HAVE A COVER AND CAN PREORDER IT AND HELLS YES, I HAVE MINE PREORDERED, WHY DON’T YOU YET???

We already know the prose will be great, because it’s Ogden. Then there is STAR MAGIC, with everything that gets touched by a fallen star being GIVEN A SOUL. Which is the origin for the aforementioned LESBIAN RADISH. Who is married to a FOX. And they are going to find a HUMAN CHILD and a DELUDED ROCK.

YES. YES. OH MY FREAKING GODS, SO MUCH YES!!!

You can preorder it in print or ebook here!

The post I Can’t Wait For…Starstruck by Aimee Ogden appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Dive Deep With Mer & Selkie Recs!

Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs Photography

This year’s Wyrd & Wonder theme is all things ocean-worthy, so of course I had to put together a rec list of mer and selkie stories! Behold a mix of my favourites and others I consider noteworthy examples of the type!

When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, New Adult, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay Boricua MC with asthma, M/M, secondary Desi character with dwarfism
Goodreads

In Coney Island, true love rises to the surface. With lush illustrations and buoyant prose, Venessa Vida Kelley forges an unforgettable New York fairytale.

Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds the eccentric sideshow proprietor who commissioned it. He invites Benny to join the show’s eclectic cast and share in their shocking secret: the tank will cage their newest exhibit, a live merman stolen from the salty banks of the East River.

More than a mythic marvel, Benny soon comes to know the merman Río as a kindred spirit, wise and more compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.

Releasing Río could mean losing his found family, his new home, and his soulmate forever. Yet Benny’s courageous choice may just reveal a love strong enough to free them both.

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The most recent release first: published just at the end of last month, Kelley’s queer merman love story is not only beautifully written, it’s also stunningly illustrated – by Kelley themself! (Seriously, buy yourself the hardback, the art is so worth it!)

My review!

Tides by Betsy Cornwell
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, YA
Representation: Adopted Chinese MC recovering from bulimia, secondary F/F
Goodreads

When high-school senior Noah Gallagher and his adopted teenage sister, Lo, go to live with their grandmother in her island cottage for the summer, they don’t expect much in the way of adventure. Noah has landed a marine biology internship, and Lo wants to draw and paint, perhaps even to vanquish her struggles with bulimia. But then things take a dramatic turn for them both when Noah mistakenly tries to save a mysterious girl from drowning. This dreamlike, suspenseful story—deftly told from multiple points of view—dives deeply into selkie folklore while examining the fluid nature of love and family.

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Probably my very favourite selkie book, Tides manages to feel soft despite having some teeth. It’s been a bunch of years since I last read it – content warning for eating disorders – but it still has a very special place on my shelf!

In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

During a time of great upheaval, the citizens of Venice make a pact that will change the world. The landsmen of the city broker a treaty with a water-dwelling tribe of deepsmen, cementing the alliance through marriage. The mingling of the two races produces a fresh, peerless strain of royal blood. To protect their shores, other nations make their own partnerships with this new breed–and then, jealous of their power, ban any further unions between the two peoples. Dalliance with a deepswoman becomes punishable by death. Any “bastard” child must be destroyed.

This is an Earth where the legends of the deep are true–where the people of the ocean are as real and as dangerous as the people of the land. This is the world of intrigue and betrayal that Kit Whitfield brings to life in an unforgettable alternate history: the tale of Anne, the youngest princess of a faltering England, struggling to survive in a troubled court, and Henry, a bastard abandoned on the shore to face his bewildering destiny, finding himself a pawn in a game he does not understand.Yet even a pawn may checkmate a king.

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The fact that Whitfield is not a household name makes me want to gnaw a fence, because my gods, folx, her freaking worldlbuilding!!! Her take on mermaids is a masterpiece (though do be sure to look up her werewolf and faerie books too), wherein she asks: what if the royal heads of Europe were all part-mer for excellent political reasons? The answer is phenomenally well-done!!!

The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M. Harris
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads

An earthly nourris sits and sings

And aye she sings, "Ba lilly wean,

Little ken I my bairn's father,

Far less the land that he staps in
.

(Child Ballad, no. 113)

So begins a stunning tale of love, loss and revenge, against a powerful backdrop of adventure on the high seas, and drama on the land. The Blue Salt Road balances passion and loss, love and violence and draws on nature and folklore to weave a stunning modern mythology around a nameless, wild young man.

Passion drew him to a new world, and trickery has kept him there - without his memories, separated from his own people. But as he finds his way in this dangerous new way of life, so he learns that his notions of home, and your people, might not be as fixed as he believed.

Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, this is a stunning and original modern fairytale.

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Most selkie legends – and novels – focus on selkie women; a book about a male selkie is a rare treasure! Between Harris’ beautiful prose and her masterful storytelling, this is a gorgeous but heartbreaking selkie tale. (The ending is supposed to be a happy one, but I was still devestated, so brace accordingly!)

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black sapphic MC
Goodreads

Yetu holds the memories for her people.

Her people, the wajinru – water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slavers – live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one. Save the historian.

Yetu remembers for all the wajinru, and the memories – painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so she flees to the surface, escaping the memories and the expectations and the responsibilities – and discovers a world the wajinru left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past – and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identities – and own who they really are.

Inspired by the hit song by clipping. (comprised of Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes), The Deep will resonate long after the last page is turned.

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If you love mermaid stories you definitely need to know The Deep, a short, intense book with a take on merpeople origins you probably haven’t seen before. Inspired by the song of the same name by the band clipping. – which in turn drew on the mythos created by another band called Drexciya – I’ve never seen this book fail to move someone.

Nine Years of Silver (Love Has Claws, #1) by Parker Foye
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Goodreads

Briar Augustin, a bounty hunter, returns to his hometown on the trail of a killer. There he becomes once more entangled with his first love, Quinn Lawrence, who is as integral to Briar's hunt as he is to the mythology of Lastings. Can Briar find his bounty and return to the city, resisting the call of the sea? Or will he be drawn back into Lastings' secrets—and the arms of Quinn Lawrence?

Lastings: Where some things can only be mined out.
*
Nine Years of Silver is the first story from Love Has Claws, a speculative romance trilogy linked by the town of Lastings.

Content Warnings: mentions of abusive childhood; bloody violence; off-screen murder; drowning (real/dream); claustrophobic scenes.

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One of the first books I ever reviewed for the blog, this was the novella that convinced me Foye was an auto-buy author. (A decision that has served me very well!) The prose is delicious, and Lastings is a fabulously atmospheric setting, exactly the kind of place that might have selkies.

My review!

Rolling in the Deep (Rolling in the Deep, #0.5) by Mira Grant
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs, wheelchair rep, Deaf rep
Goodreads

When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.

They didn't expect actual mermaids.  They certainly didn't expect those mermaids to have teeth.

This is the story of the Atargatis, lost at sea with all hands.  Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.  Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the bathypelagic zone in the Mariana Trench…and the depths are very good at keeping secrets.

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Right, time for some monstrous mermaids! This is flat-out horror, but as usual, Grant elevates it by having researched the bejesus out of what believable real-world mermaids might be like. (The answer: terrifying.) Rolling in the Deep is a novella, and there’s a novel-length sequel to enjoy after it!

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, F/F
Goodreads

Set on the stormy shores of Nova Scotia in 1832, A Sweet Sting of Salt is debut author Rose Sutherland's bold and magical queer retelling of the Celtic folktale The Selkie Wife with a feminist twist.

In 19th century Nova Scotia, village midwife Jean Langille’s first love ended in a quiet her childhood sweetheart married to a man on the far side of the colony, Jean's reputation in tatters. Now, all she wants is to be left alone in her cottage by the shore, to do her work and try to forget she ever knew how to love at all.

Then, a labouring woman appears in the salt marsh behind Jean’s home in the dead of night. Muirin is beautiful, enigmatic . . . and barely speaks a word of English, having come from away to marry the fisherman who lives up on the hill. As Jean picks apart the knot of Muirin's silence and the two women grow ever closer, Jean feels a growing unease. She suspects the marriage between Muirin and her husband Tobias may not be all it seems. 

When Jean’s own past comes calling in the form of an unexpected visitor, stirring up old rumours and drawing her relationship with Muirin into question, she finds herself caught up in a deadly foxhunt with a desperate man in search of a mysterious stolen treasure. Jean must brave the depths of her own heart to save the woman she loves and uncover what Tobias is hiding—a Pandora’s box containing a wave big enough to drown Jean and Muirin both.

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It’s probably cheating a bit to include this one, because the magical elements only become obvious at the very end – and although our main character very much falls in love with one, I don’t remember the word ‘selkie’ ever actually being used. But despite that, Sweet Sting of Salt is the selkie tale I’ve spent my whole life waiting for, a brutal and incisive look at the ‘romance’ of the selkie bride myth. IT’S ACTUALLY PRETTY FUCKED-UP TO KIDNAP AND ENSLAVE A MAGICAL CREATURE, HAROLD, AND DOUBLE-ICK FOR ROMANTICISING IT.

My review!

Mermaid Moon by Susann Cokal
Goodreads

Blood calls to blood; charm calls to charm.It is the way of the world.Come close and tell us your dreams.
Sanna is a mermaid — but she is only half seavish. The night of her birth, a sea-witch cast a spell that made Sanna’s people, including her landish mother, forget how and where she was born. Now Sanna is sixteen and an outsider in the seavish matriarchy, and she is determined to find her mother and learn who she is. She apprentices herself to the witch to learn the magic of making and unmaking, and with a new pair of legs and a quest to complete for her teacher, she follows a clue that leads her ashore on the Thirty-Seven Dark Islands. There, as her fellow mermaids wait in the sea, Sanna stumbles into a wall of white roses thirsty for blood, a hardscrabble people hungry for miracles, and a baroness who will do anything to live forever.

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All right, our mermaid main character spends most of Mermaid Moon with legs instead of a tail – it’s still one of my favourite mer stories! Colkal’s prose is very dreamy and languid, and there’s a strong folklore vibe – the old kind of folklore, the kind with teeth. And I love the worldbuilding done on mermaid culture – matriarchal AND queernorm??? Heart-eyes!

My (mini!) review!

Ascension (Water, #1) by Kara Dalkey
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Goodreads

Nia, a young mermyd of the Bluefin clan, has had one wish all her life—to be an Avatar in her beloved home of Atlantis. The ten Avatars rule the beautiful and peaceful undersea city alongside the ancient Farworlders, whose magic keeps their world alive. To be an Avatar is an honor and a great responsibility, and Nia dreams of taking her place among the noble ten.

Now, at sixteen, Nia has a chance to see her dream come true. Atlantis is choosing its next Avatar, and Nia knows she is supremely qualified.

But there is something Nia doesn’t know—if she gets her heart’s desire, it could mean the end of her treasured world of Atlantis forever.

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Ascension deserves recognition for the amount of thought and care Dalkey put into her worldbuilding – she’s the only author I’ve ever seen consider how something like the oxygen content of the water in a room would affect mermaid furniture needs!

And one to look forward to?Bind Me Tighter Still by Lara Ehrlich
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads

“A gorgeous, playful, thoughtful novel for feminists, for mothers and daughters, for those of us who grew up on the *other* version of mermaids, and who’ve thought from time to time that we might prefer to join the sirens rather than tie ourselves to the mast."
—Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You

The youngest of three siren sisters, Ceto is weary of an existence driven by hunger, no better than a fish. She trades her tail for life on land, marries the first man she meets, and bears a daughter, only to discover that domesticity is just as mundane as sirenhood.

In search of something more, she flees with her daughter Naia to the ocean, where she establishes a mermaid burlesque and recreates herself, performing as a siren in a tank built into the limestone cliffs overlooking the sea. She trains more sirens, expanding Sirenland from a roadside attraction to a national sensation she rules without opposition—until Naia, at 15, begins to push back against the world Ceto has created and the role she performs in her mother’s shows. A death at Sirenland threatens Ceto's authority and leads Naia to question whether this women-ruled kingdom is truly as empowering as her mother would have her believe. Bind Me Tighter Still explores power and hunger, sacrifice and motherhood, and celebrates the fierceness of female strength in a male-dominated world.

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This one’s not out until September, and I’ve not read an early copy or anything, but I want to draw attention to it because that premise is so freaking cool! And I’ve not seen anyone talking about it. Thoughts? It’s on my tbr, anyway.

Have you read any of these? Share your own mer and selkie recs in the comments!

The post Dive Deep With Mer & Selkie Recs! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.

Mini-Review: Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame by Neon Yang

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: East Asian-coded MC and love interest, F/F
Published on: 6th May 2025
Goodreads

With an armored, oath-bound hero reminiscent of The Mandalorian and the Asian-inspired epic fantasy of She Who Became the Sun, Neon Yang’s Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is a stunning q ueer novella about a dragon hunter finding home with a dragon queen.

Few know the true identity of the masked guildknight of Mithrandon.

She barely remembers herself.

The masked guildknight—Yeva—was thirteen when she killed her first dragon. With her gift revealed, she was shipped away to the imperial capital to train in the rare art of dragon-slaying. Now a legendary dragon hunter, she has never truly felt at home—nor removed her armor in public—since that fateful day all those years ago.

Yeva must now go to Quanbao, a fiercely independent and reclusive kingdom. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper, but instead loved and worshipped. It is rumored that there, they harbor a dragon behind their borders.

While Yeva searches for the dreaded beast, she is welcomed into the palace by Quanbao’s monarch, Lady Sookhee. Though wary of each other, Yeva is shocked to find herself slowly opening up to the beautiful, mysterious queen.

As they grow closer, Yeva longs to let Lady Sookhee see the person behind the armor, but she knows she must fulfill her purpose and slay the dragon. Ultimately, she must decide who—or what—she is willing to her own heart, or the sacred duty that she has called home for so long.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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I read Brighter Than Scale a day after rereading The Black Tides of Heaven – which made it pretty clear that the former just doesn’t compare.

Everything about Brighter Than Scale should work – the characters, the dragons, the worldbuilding, Yeva’s character arc. It’s a recipe that seems guaranteed to blow us away, especially from this author!

And the beginning is very strong. Yeva slays a (small!) dragon as a child, and is sent away to a soul-crushing order of knights to be trained. They forge her into a weapon, a machine; by the time the story really gets going, she’s barely a person. It’s heartbreaking and enraging and I wanted the father who sent her to them dropped off a cliff.

But once Yeva gets to Quanbao, all the promise the story had dissolves into dust. The pacing is a mess; simultaneously too slow – in that nothing seems to happen, pages after pages just dragging – and too fast – the gradual undoing of Yeva’s depersonalisation, for example, isn’t shown to us, but told to us. Worse, it’s summarised to us. And the entire book hinges on this! Yeva realising how close Quanbao’s culture and language are to that of her home; her complicated feelings about engaging with them; her first baby-steps in exploring and engaging with these things, trying to find her own through them. Relearning how to be a person. More than anything else, Yeva’s character-arc is the story – and it’s so frustrating, and puzzling, to not see it, to have it skimmed over and kind of handwaved rather than explored.

We don’t see the relationship develop between Yeva and Sookhee, either. Days after finishing the book, I still have no idea what drew them to each other. I can’t even call it instalust; there’s just nothing between them. These are two people who have every reason in the world not to trust each other, to despise each other, even! You’re going to have to be extremely convincing to sell me on their loving each other enough to overcome all the things in their way. And Yang doesn’t do that at all.

I mean, there isn’t much of Yeva to draw anyone. She’s a very one-note character – and that makes perfect sense! For the first chunk of the book, it’s very effective, even: she’s been brutalised into thinking of herself as a tool, an object, so of course there’s not a whole lot of personality there. But I was expecting her to develop a personality, to see her finding local foods she especially liked, learning the names of native flora, stumbling her way through books. It would have been so easy to give her an interest, or pleasure in, clothing, given that it’s a whole Thing that she has pretty much lived in her armour all her adult life, and Sookhee is the one who gets her out of it. (…Not in a sex way! Although that as well, I guess!) Give her some kind of likes and dislikes, interests, thoughts!

As-is…I don’t know what Sookhee saw in Yeva, because there didn’t seem to be anything to see.

I did like that Yang subverted expectations during the climax; Yeva doesn’t do what I think most of us would expect her to do, and Sookhee puts the practical over sentiment at the end of the finale, something I always like to see characters doing in such moments. The final pages were…predictable, but in a satisfying way, so I’m not critiquing them.

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame by Neon Yang falls very flat. The premise is incredible; the execution is shallow. Maybe part of that was the length constraint; maybe this one would have done better as a novel instead of a novella. It’s lacking something, for all that it’s clearly supposed to be very deep and poignant. Alas.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to reread the rest of the Tensorate books.

Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs Photography

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