Emily

The “Wild West” truly earns its name in this sequel to The Thirteenth Child. Finished with school, Eff isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life, but decides to accompany a professor and circuit magician across the Mammoth River (that is, the Mississippi) to document new flora and fauna. While they know that the mission will be dangerous, they don’t expect to find a creature that petrifies even the dreaded ice dragons – literally. As the attacks become more numerous, even Eff’s unique mix of magic might not be enough to save the settlements on Columbia’s frontier. But with so many lives at stake, she knows she has to try.

 

Best described as "Laura Ingalls Wilder meets fantasy" and loaded with Patricia C. Wrede’s typical astounding world-building and realistic dialogue, the story starts out slowly, but soon enough you’ll find yourself unable to stop turning the pages. Across the Great Barrier is released this month!

Violet Willoughby finds it hard to believe in ghosts when she’s helped her mother make a living as a fake medium most of her life. But when the ghostly form of a girl with bruises around her neck appears beside her living twin, the supernatural becomes hard to deny. Violet must uncover the mystery of Rowena’s murder, labeled a tragic accident, before her prickly sister Tabitha meets the same fate. With a country manor house filled with guests – nearly all of them, including the host, suspects – Violet’s task isn’t an easy one, and Rowena becomes ever more persistent.

Filled with a cast of eccentric characters, mystery, and classic 19th century scandal, Haunting Violet is a fast-paced read that will keep you guessing until the last page.

 

This final installment in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling is an adventure fully deserving of being split into two movies (unlike some books I could mention). Filled with mystery, danger, epic battles, and the power of friendship, Rowling wraps up all of the loose ends she created throughout the series in this last chapter of Harry’s adventures. Probably my second favorite Harry Potter book (after Prisoner of Azkaban, of course), this book will keep you on your toes until the very last page.

As some of you may know, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two was released today in theatres. While it is my favorite movie of all eight, remember that the book is always better than the movie!

 

 

Ian Wigby and Theodosia Fields have been raised as siblings in Delphi Keep, a castle-turned-orphanage overlooking the white cliffs of Dover. They are happy in the safety of the keep, until they find a box hidden in a cavern that’s unlike any they’d ever explored. Inside the box is a thousand-year-old prophecy that can’t be ignored. Strange things begin happening to the pair – Theo gets visions, and their mysterious past is slowly uncovered. 

This book contains one fast-paced adventure after another and is sure to please any intermediate reader. Its sequel, The Curse of Deadman’s Forest, is new to paperback.

 

Fire is a young woman of seventeen with gorgeous red hair and part-monster blood. Her monster half allows her to feel, read, and control the minds of humans if she so wishes. Not wanting to be known as a monster, Fire attempts to live her life “as an apology for her father’s” and tries to make up for his misdeeds. But as her abilities draw her in to a mystery of an assassin as well as a political game, it becomes clear that she’s always going to be a monster to someone.

Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce and girls who find most strong female heroes in fantasy more realistic than those found in the YA “realistic fiction” section. Kristin Cashore writes a believable female protagonist who doesn’t wait around moping over boys. In Fire’s own words, “You are neither my husband nor my father; I am a woman of seventeen, I have my own horses and my own money, and I decide for myself where I go and when. This is not yours to forbid.” While this book takes place in the same universe as Cashore’s first book, Graceling, it is not a sequel (but you should buy both anyway!).

In The Mislaid Magician, Kate and Cecelia are ten years older than they were in Sorcery and Cecelia and The Grand Tour. This story follows their families as they deal with magical plights across the country that threaten the security of the realm. It is written in letter format like the first book in the series and has the added intrigue of correspondence between the husbands of these ladies of quality. Though I enjoyed Sorcery and Cecelia more, this book was also enjoyable and can be read as a standalone novel.

Han will do anything to support his mother and sister, even if it means standing up to three powerful wizards who set fire to their hunting grounds. After taking an amulet from one of the wizards with the intention to sell it, he quickly learns that it was a mistake. The amulet once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world with his evil powers. This first novel in a new series by Cinda Williams Chima is a real page-turner!