My main mode of communication is sarcasm so if you relate, this is definitely the book for you. It has a cast of queer badass kids with a variety of talents and flaws, including an elf girl from a fiercely matriarchal culture. It’s another twist on the magic school idea, this time following blunt nerdy bisexual Elliott as he gets drawn into a mysterious magic training program in a second magical dimension that exists alongside our own. Love love love.Īges 14+ | Publisher: jimmy patterson | Novem| ISBN-13: 978-0316561365 In Other Lands Not to mention the prose is wonderfully poetic and transporting. It’s a powerful story of resistance and feminism and survivorship and queerness in the face of patriarchy and I would recommend it to just about everyone.

Girlsis a Malaysian-inspired fantasy about a girl who is taken to be a courtesan to the demon king…and there, falls in love with another courtesan, a girl who is mysterious and vulnerable and dangerous in equal measure. Have you been reading YA fantasy and wishing it was more Asian and more sapphic? Natasha Ngan has you covered. Order a Copy Now: Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes and NobleĪges 14+ | Publisher: Harper Voyager | Novem| ISBN-13: 978-0062694591 Girls of Paper and Fire

I recommend it to anyone who is okay feeling vaguely nauseated throughout the entire read. By the time I finished this book I was left dizzy and discombobulated and entirely unsure how to feel. The fact the book’s characters are all young adults at the age when psychosis and mood disorders often become apparent is likely not a mistake. There, she becomes enmeshed in a series of mind games and thought experiments that may or may not involve very real magic, where speaking up about the dangerous activities of the school might lead to the murder of all your loved ones. I’d be more inclined to call it ‘dark academia’ than anything else-it’s about a girl who is recruited after a series of increasingly bizarre and threatening tests to attend a special, secretive university in the Ukraine. If you’re tired of the same old variations on magic school books, this one turns the trope on its head. Victoria Lee | The Children’s Book Review | MaVita Nostra

Victoria lee the fever king