Tag: SF/F

Review – Carmilla: The First Vampire

Posted March 26, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Carmilla: The First Vampire

Carmilla: The First Vampire

by Amy Chu, Soo Lee

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Horror
Pages: 109
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Before Dracula, before Nosferatu, there was…CARMILLA.

Inspired by the gothic novel that started the vampire genre and layered with dark Chinese folklore, this queer, feminist murder mystery graphic novel is a tale of identity, obsession and fateful family secrets.

At the height of the Lunar New Year in 1990s New York City, an idealistic social worker turns detective when she discovers young, homeless LGBTQ+ women are being murdered and no one, especially the police, seems to care.

A series of clues points her to Carmilla’s, a mysterious nightclub in the heart of her neighborhood, Chinatown. There she falls for the next likely target, landing her at the center of a real-life horror story—and face-to-face with illusions about herself, her life, and her hidden past.

The first volume of Amy Chu and Soo Lee’s Carmilla: The First Vampire is an interesting attempt to mingle a retelling (or rather, continuation of) Carmilla with Chinese folklore and the idea of hunting dangerous creatures, which… it’s hard to say how well that works, because the main character (Athena) doesn’t know about and has been protected from it.

It all feels a bit rushed, to be honest; Athena taking in Violet feels apt enough, but her breakup with her partner Morgan feels completely skipped over, along with her grandfather’s revelations, and even the deaths of certain characters. It focuses mostly on Violet and Athena, and the obsession Athena develops with Violet, which… didn’t quite manage to evoke the weird longing/repulsion that’s such a feature of the original Carmilla.

Given it’s a first volume, there’s probably more to see, and this is mostly setup — though that feels weird, given the title and the fact that Carmilla is apparently vanquished in this book already? In any case, I’m not super inspired to read more.

The art was okay, not my favourite style, but some fun character designs.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Nightshade & Oak

Posted March 22, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 5 Comments

Review – Nightshade & Oak

Nightshade & Oak

by Molly O'Neill

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 278
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

An Iron Age goddess must grapple with becoming human in this delightful historical fantasy of myth and magic from the author of the instant hit Greenteeth.

When Mallt, the goddess of death, is accidentally turned human by a wayward spell, she finds she’s ill-equipped to deal with the trials of a mortal life. After all, why would a goddess need to know how to gather food or light a fire?

Unable to fend for herself, she teams up with warrior Bellis on a perilous journey to the afterlife to try to restore her powers. Frustrated by her frail human body and beset with blisters, Mallt might not make the best travelling companion.

But as animosity slowly turns to attraction, these two very different women must learn to work together if they are to have any hope of surviving their quest.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I really liked Molly O’Neill’s Greenteeth, so I was definitely interested to give Nightshade & Oak a try as soon as I heard about it. There are definitely certain similarities between the two: Mallt y Nos is otherworldly, while the other main character Belis is a human, one of the daughters of Boudicca. The story’s rooted in the historical moment just after Boudicca’s failed rebellion against the Roman invasion, but also in the Welsh mythology of Mallt-y-Nos (though I know Mallt-y-Nos as a more tragic figure who regrets her choice to become what she is, which we don’t see here).

It’s a bit more of a serious story than most of Greenteeth, given the Roman rebellion that gives us the setting and motivation for some of the action… but there are also funny bits, mainly due to Mallt becoming human and thus dealing with problems she’s never had before, like stubbing her toes and not being able to walk on water. For parts of the journey, it’s quite light-hearted.

Like Greenteeth, something of the “Celtic mythology” background informs the part where Mallt and Belis have to restore the afterworld, with pretty traditional-feeling tasks, though it’s obviously fairly loose, a reimagining of what Celtic myth might have been like for some people more than sticking faithfully only to the scraps we have (at least, as far as I know various bits of it were made up). I liked the part about being able to make time go slower by suffering, since it matches up with how bad times feel — it was a clever solution.

I wasn’t expecting the way things ended for quite a while, but something clicked in my head about two thirds of the way through and I kind of predicted how things would end up for Mallt and Belis. I think that was fairly well done, and made sense for the characters — neither can turn away from what they actually are, even if they’ve grown and changed in one another’s company. It’s a bittersweet ending, but worthwhile, I’d say.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Tied to You, vol 2

Posted March 21, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Tied to You, vol 2

Tied to You

by WHAT, Chelliace

Genres: Fantasy, Manga, Romance
Pages: 320
Series: Tied to You #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

All’s Fair in Love and War

His heart torn from the bittersweet pain of unrequited love, Wooseo turns to Jigeon for solace…and the two of them kiss?! What starts as a natural physical affinity between Ring Partners quickly becomes a comfortable routine of intimacy, and Wooseo soon realizes he might be seeing Jigeon less and less as a “stand-in” for his best friend. But all is not well in paradise…Jiseok has caught on to his brother’s suspicious string pulling, dredging up complicated feelings and possessiveness. And he’s not the only one seeing green— a scorned lover from Jigeon’s past has resurfaced, and he’s dead set on severing his ex’s new Ring connection!

Partway through volume two of WHAT/Chelliace’s Tied to You, I decided that Jigeon’s behaviour is meant to be creepy and pushing out beyond the pale, which helped me decide how this was landing with me. It’s easier to be all-in on it when you’re sure it’s meant to be messy and not just romantic (though I think there is an amount of romanticisation of Jigeon’s behaviour).

The whole situation gets more complicated, with Jiseok seeming to be jealous of Jigeon and Wooseo’s growing closeness, and a friend of Jigeon’s joining in to help him pull strings. Wooseo’s unrequited love and his confusion are really well portrayed here — you can feel his pain, and the strength of the bond between him and Jiseok.

It’s an interesting exploration of obsession, of someone who wants someone else so badly they’ll manipulate them this way and that, even with the reassurance of a fated bond.

And of course there’s some drama with Jigeon’s ex, and the tantalising possibility that the rings can be removed…

I’ve already read volumes three and four as I write this, I got really into the series from this point. And the art remains really consistently beautiful.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Nobody’s Baby

Posted March 18, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Review – Nobody’s Baby

Nobody's Baby

by Olivia Waite

Genres: Mystery, Science Fiction
Pages: 136
Series: Dorothy Gentleman #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in the second entry of this cozy sci-fi mystery series, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective...

Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty's most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.

A wild baby appears! Dorothy Gentleman, ship detective, is put to the test once again when an infant is mysteriously left on her nephew's doorstep. Fertility is supposed to be on pause during the Fairweather’s journey across the stars—but humans have a way of breaking any rule you set them. Who produced this child, and why did they then abandon him? And as her nephew and his partner get more and more attached, how can Dorothy prevent her colleague and rival detective, Leloup, a stickler for law and order, from classifying the baby as a stowaway or a piece of luggage?

Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, this novella series is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the next installment.

I think maybe I should’ve reread Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory before reading the new book, Nobody’s Baby; I had the broad details still in mind, but — perhaps because I didn’t find it that compelling in the first place — Dorothy’s relationship with Violet and the ins-and-outs of their awkwardness with one another hadn’t really stuck in my mind. The strongest element in both books with the relationship between Dorothy and her nephew Ruthie (and by extension his husband), and that stood out here as well.

I love the way that this one shows us a bit more to Ruthie: impractical, yes, but he’s a good guy, and that shines through in the way he instantly takes to the concept of fatherhood. I liked that it’s so natural and perfect for him, and that his husband isn’t perfectly on board with it but willing to join in for Ruthie’s sake — and has his own fondness for the kid, without being as natural a parent. They just seem really nice.

We see a bit more of the ship and the procecures around the passengers, learning about skimmers (devices which people can use to project memories) and flickers (movies made out of people’s thoughts/memories), and a bit of the culture around that. Everything’s relevant to the mystery, which is pretty fun, though not entirely fair-play because the technology is invented, so… you can make anything up, there.

Overall, a fun addition to the series which fleshes the world out some more, and really lets Ruthie shine too. I’m curious if there’s going to be more development of Dorothy’s relationship with Violet, though.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Stay for a Spell

Posted March 17, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Review – Stay for a Spell

Stay for a Spell

by Amy Coombe

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 384
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

A joyful, cosy fantasy romance for anyone who's ever wished they could live in a bookshop.

One curse, seven princes, and a bookshop that you’ll never want to leave…

Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar longs to build a life of her own making. During a royal visit to the cosy town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy’s dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she finds her heart’s desire.

More than a little thrilled, she hires a new assistant, teenage goth Sasha, and settles into life among the stacks. Despite the infuriatingly handsome pirate, Bash, who keeps showing up at the shop with his good looks and his own curse to figure out, Tandy’s new life might just make her happy.

There are just seven, minor, problems. With her royal duties unfulfilled, the frantic King and Queen send the seven princes of the realms to bestow upon Tandy a kiss, each one hoping to break the curse.

After all, what more could a princess want, than a prince?

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I saw other people talking about being interested in Amy Coombe’s Stay for a Spell, and I couldn’t resist: a princess ends up trapped in a rickety old bookshop, cursed to remain until she achieves her heart’s desire? You had me at “bookshop”, even if books set in and around bookshops often forget about the reading part and just treat books as purely magical in and of themselves. Admittedly, there is a bit of that here — Tandy’s love of reading draws her to the bookshop, and leads her to sell particular books, but sometimes the reading part still gets lost amid the selling of books and the handling of books as physical objects.

The premise is very wish fulfillment-y, and I feel like there’s a fair bit of the world that isn’t fully thought out and is a fairly generic fantasy world, but I had a lot of fun all the same. The obvious way to break the curse on a princess would be a kiss from a prince, is what her parents figure, so they send along the various princes of the realms…  But things don’t work in the obvious way here all the time.

For a start, it’s not quite as heteronormative as it might sound: one of the princes who shows up, Calla, is female (and Tandy’s sister is also a prince) — the rank is “prince”, regardless of the gender of the person occupying it. There are two prominent queer kisses in the book, albeit neither of them is romantic: one of the male princes kisses the also-cursed pirate, Bash, while Calla kisses Tandy (and it’s arguably one of the best kisses in the story).

The princes are neither all wonderful people nor all slugs: they all stick around and all offer their help to Tandy, even when their kisses fail to cure her, and even when they’re a bit personally unbearable at times. I really liked that Driz turns out to be a pretty cool guy. Kinda ended up wishing they’d all get together, with Bash too; life would be interesting, to say the least.

The way things play out felt a bit… conventional, I suppose? Compared to the stuff I hadn’t expected, like Bash’s kiss from Driz, and Calla’s kiss with Tandy. It feels very wish fulfillment-y, since Tandy gets to just stop being a working princess and lay aside her duties to stay in the shop with Bash. Still, there are things that still defy expectation (Bash’s curse isn’t broken), and I did ultimately like how Tandy and Bash (inevitably) got together, and thought there was pretty good chemistry there.

You do discover at the end that there’s a bit of an insta-love trope, which I’d sort of suspected and sort of hoped was subverted in some way… but Tandy herself mostly experience instant attraction, along with some annoyance, so it’s not too irritating.

Overall, I’ve said a lot about this compared to normal because it genuinely surprised me at times, and was a delight. I wonder if there’ll be any other romances in this world? Maybe kissing Bash awakened something in Driz…?

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, vol 4

Posted March 11, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, vol 4

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish

by Xue Shan Fei Hu

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novels, Romance
Pages: 443
Series: The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish #4
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

With their union blessed by the emperor and four baby heirs in tow, Prince Jing is well on his way to clinching the position of crown prince. But Li Yu can’t pat himself on the back for a job well done just yet! Prince Jing’s crafty brother still lurks in the shadows plotting against him.

As Li Yu dives deeper into the sixth prince’s schemes, he uncovers a dastardly conspiracy that ripples from Prince Jing’s childhood, forming a tsunami poised to plunge the imperial palace (and its allies) into total chaos! Li Yu will have to use all the fishy tricks at his disposal if he wants to keep his new family safe!

The fourth volume of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish brings the whole thing to an end and wraps it up neatly with a bow, but dang, there’s a lot that happens in this volume still. After all, Prince Jing isn’t the crown prince yet, Li Yu still wants to have another baby, and there are those mysterious secrets that the fish-scamming system keeps showing him.

In general, I loved it. The babies are adorable, Li Yu and Mu Tianchi’s bond has become really strong (if sometimes in need of a tad more communication), and the political plot all works out and some of the secrets start to make sense.

I did want to address one thing, though: in this volume, the disabled tyrant is cured, in fact. Mu Tianchi’s mutism isn’t genetic, but has been caused by a low-dose poison he was given at birth. Once the poison is discovered and cured, he begins to be able to speak. You could argue that this is plot-necessary because otherwise he couldn’t become the emperor (at least not without becoming a tyrant), and also that Chinese culture isn’t in quite the same place about stuff like disability — but it’s still worth knowing, and worth knowing as well that there’s a brief mention of Li Yu telling the children that Mu Tianchi isn’t “different”, he’s “just sick”, implying it would be bad if he was disabled.

In the series as a whole, Li Yu never looks down on Mu Tianchi for being mute, and Mu Tianchi is always very capable — it’s just that it’s unacceptable for the emperor’s heir to be unable to speak. That said, that scene where Li Yu tries to explain away disability so as not to make the children think their dad is “different” suggests the author might treat permanent disability quite differently. So tread with care: there are some not-great attitudes toward disability swimming around the edges of the story and occasionally casting some shadows.

There are a few things that don’t entirely add up, plot-wise — e.g. the babies’ paternity was already confirmed on birth: Mu Tianchi offered his own blood for it rather than disturb Li Yu for his, I remember that scene clearly. Was that never communicated to the emperor? Not that he ever seems to genuinely doubt the children’s paternity anyway, but that whole bit is never mentioned as a reason why.

…But mostly I just loved it, really. It’s very sweet.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (light novel), vol 1

Posted March 10, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (light novel), vol 1

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

by singNsong

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novels
Pages: 250
Series: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (light novel) #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU WILL SURVIVE.

Kill each other within the time limit or die. It’s just another evening commute on the train, until the passengers are given an order they can’t disobey. Utter chaos ensues, but ordinary office worker Dokja Kim only feels an unsettling calm. He knows exactly how this will play out! The subway car, the passengers’ reactions, even the bizarre creature that suddenly appears to oversee this sadistic scenario...everything is straight out of his favorite story, an online novel so obscure he is its sole reader. And as the only one who knows where the plot is headed, Dokja must use his knowledge to survive the oncoming apocalypse!

I didn’t know very much about singNsong’s Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint before picking it up — I’d seen friends be enthusiastic, been recommended it if I liked Solo Leveling (which I did) and it’s mentioned in Tiny Bookshop (though that might be the manhwa adaptation). I ended up burning right through it and really wanting the next volume — there’s something very compulsive about it.

Dokja Kim has spent his whole life reading this one webnovel, reading hundreds of chapters from when he’s being bullied in school to a temp job in his thirties, and then the novel starts coming true and he’s the only one who knows exactly what’s going on: that’s definitely compelling! He’s not always the most sympathetic character (he’s got his eye on survival rather than kindness), but the net result is that he ends up minimising slaughter and saving people. Reminds me indeed of Solo Leveling and the way Jinwoo decides to only rely on himself, and then ends up taking care of the people around him and saving the world. You expect it to take a darker turn.

There’s some interesting game-like mechanics in the world, and I’m very curious where it goes — and how Dokja and the people he’s saved, people who weren’t meant to survive, will change the story.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Tied to You, vol 1

Posted March 9, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Tied to You, vol 1

Tied to You

by WHAT, Chelliace

Genres: Fantasy, Manga, Romance
Pages: 334
Series: Tied to You #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Wooseo Shin was never one to believe in fate...until a ring of red thread appears around his finger, that is! This ring marks a person's meeting of their soulmate, and with it, neither can fall asleep if the other is absent. This development is not a welcome one for Wooseo, who decides to keep it from his close friend and crush Jiseok Kang at all costs. Because as fate would have it, the person with Wooseo's matching set is Jigeon Kang — Jiseok's older brother! When Jigeon proposes that they start sharing a bed, if only to combat their joint insomnia, Wooseo reluctantly accepts... but as the two spend more and more time together, feelings start to get messy. Will Wooseo be able to survive his new life tangled up in between these two brothers?!

The main character of WHAT’s Tied to You (adapted from a story by Chelliace) is Wooseo, who is in love with his best friend Jiseok. In this world, after the age of twenty, if you touch your fated partner, you fall sick for 24 hours, and then a red ring forms — like the red thread of fate — for both you and your partner. After that point, you can’t sleep apart, and when you sleep side by side and touching, you get the best sleep you’ve ever had in your life.

Wooseo’s partner isn’t Jiseok, though… it’s Jiseok’s older brother, Jigeon, who had been close to the pair but pulled back for some reason a while ago. Wooseo’s afraid that Jigeon hates him, but it turns out more complex than that (of course). At first, they treat it as a transaction: I’ll pay you to come and sleep beside me so we can both get some sleep. Then Jigeon pushes for more, getting Wooseo to move in with him — all while the two of them hide the whole thing from Jiseok, who seems to be getting jealous, despite repeatedly saying he’s totally straight and not interested in Wooseo.

It’s all a bit of a tangled mess, and it’s not entirely clear how to take some of Jigeon’s behaviour; is he being creepy? Is it Jiseok being weird? Are the two of them just gonna ride rough-shod over Wooseo and what he needs…?

The art and colours are lovely (though some character designs are very similar, partly on purpose), and I’m curious enough about the plot/relationship to read more — especially since it’s a manhwa, so it doesn’t take that long to read a volume. I’m not quite sure how it’ll land with me, but I guess we’ll find out!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Platform Decay

Posted March 4, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

Review – Platform Decay

Platform Decay

by Martha Wells

Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 256
Series: Murderbot Diaries #8
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells' bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.

Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good.

Having volunteered to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realises that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn't know.

Including human children. Ugh.

This may well call for... eye contact!

(Emotion check: Oh, for f—)

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Platform Decay is the latest of Martha Wells’ Murderbot books, and it has the usual ingredients: a Murderbot who’s very done with humans (but not so done it’s actually going to murder them, at least not unless you provoke it), stupid corporates being broadly horrifying, and a bunch of humans who need protecting from the latter by the former. In addition, this one includes a torus station, which Murderbot didn’t know it’d hate so much until it was trying to traverse it.

I have to admit, I’m starting to think if Murderbot needs a break, or the feeling of a tighter narrative arc, or something: this book felt like essentially more of the same. It’s fun because Murderbot’s narrative voice is fun (mostly; caveat below), and because we care about Murderbot, but there’s much that feels like the status quo. Maybe there’s more coming due to Three’s actions in this book? There are some developments (Murderbot’s got a therapy module! and it felt like it was trying way harder to avoid lethal violence than before; Three’s getting itself involved)… but it’s hard to be sure whether we’re going somewhere specific or whether we’re just riding shotgun on Murderbot’s mission of the week, and this felt a bit more like the latter.

In addition, the narrative voice in the first chapter was too Murderbot. There were three or four parenthetical thoughts per paragraph, and it really stuttered the action and made it almost unintelligible to read at times. That’s partly because of how the book starts, and the fact that Wells seems to have wanted to make a certain aspect of the situation unclear until Murderbot’s “oh, by the way” (which failed for me, it was completely obvious).

I did enjoy the story once I got into it, but it has lost some of the freshness, and it feels like maybe it needs a heavier edit or something to rein in some of the inclination toward wordiness: yes, that’s the way Murderbot is, but it still needs to be readable. Or maybe I just need a longer break from Murderbot — that’s possible too.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

Posted March 3, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

Review – Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter

by Heather Fawcett

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 368
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Agnes Aubert is very fond of making lists. These lists kept her afloat when she lost her husband two years ago. And now, as the founder of a cat rescue charity, her meticulous organization skills feel like the only thing standing between her beloved cats - His Majesty, Banshee and sweet elderly Thoreau, to name a few - and utter disaster.

But when Agnes is forced to move the charity, she soon discovers that her new shop is being used as a front; right under her feet is the lair of the decidedly disorganised - not to mention self-absorbed and infuriatingly handsome - Havelock Renard.

Havelock is everything Agnes doesn't want in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers he's more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue, perhaps even romance. After all, second chances aren't just for rescue cats. . .

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I was keen to get hold of Heather Fawcett’s Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter more or less from the word go, based on the title and the fact that I really enjoyed the Emily Wilde books. And indeed, I had a lot of fun: Agnes is an older female character who lost her husband and now focuses just about constantly on the fortunes of her cat shelter, an endeavour which isn’t meeting with a lot of success in her city. She’s struggling to find a new landlord after the destruction of the last shelter, but gets drawn to a particular shop that other businesses seem to avoid.

Naturally that’s the start of the real trouble, since it turns out to be a front for an illicit magic business. Magic is particularly looked down on since a dreadful wizard recently tried to end the world — or at least, that’s what everyone assumed happened. You won’t be surprised to hear that we learn otherwise in the course of the story, though I won’t spoil the details.

There’s also a little touch of romance, and it’s partly that which made me feel like this was veeery reminiscent of Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle (a mixture of the book and the Studio Ghibli film, actually). I don’t mean plagiarism, just that it has certain vibes in common, to be clear. It’s not as humorous, and it’s a bit more clearly aimed at an adult audience (the romance is very light, but the characters aren’t teenagers and don’t have teenage concerns)… but something about the way the characters interact, and the story behind the magic, gives off those vibes.

I didn’t like it as much as the Emily Wilde books, I think, but I feel fondly about it and had a good time reading. And for those who read one of my other reviews lately where I pointed out that the cats got treated as objects for human convenience, I can reassure you that these cats were definitely their own creatures entirely. I felt a little sad about His Majesty here, but at the same time, he’s very much a cat… And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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