Book Jacket:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrew comes an enthralling new trilogy set in the Hidden Legacy world, where magic means power, and family bloodlines are the new currency of society.

In a world where magic is the key to power and wealth, Catalina Baylor is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, and the Head of her House. Catalina has always been afraid to use her unique powers, but when her friend’s mother and sister are murdered, Catalina risks her reputation and safety to unravel the mystery.

But behind the scenes powerful forces are at work, and one of them is Alessandro Sagredo, the Italian Prime who was once Catalina’s teenage crush. Dangerous and unpredictable, Alessandro’s true motives are unclear, but he’s drawn to Catalina like a moth to a flame.

To help her friend, Catalina must test the limits of her extraordinary powers, but doing so may cost her both her House – and her heart.

You can read an excerpt here.

Review:

The Hidden Legacy series continues, with a new narrator stepping into the spotlight – Catalina Baylor, the eldest of Nevada’s younger sisters. Now I’ll admit, I’m always a bit wary when it comes to narrator shifts, but in Ilona Andrews I trust – and as always, they delivered. It also helped that they released a novella, Diamond Fire, to serve as an introduction to Catalina’s POV, which helped ease me in. And while it’s not strictly necessary to read Diamond Fire before Sapphire Flames, I would highly recommend it, both just for a general primer on the characters/situation, and also so you can appreciate how far Catalina has come, over the three year gap between the end of that story and the start of this one, as she matures from an insecure teenager to powerful, self-aware adult (and frankly, given I was a tad, a hair, worried that Catalina’s insecurities would be a bit grating at novel-length, I was vastly reassured by that evolution). And Sapphire Flames rip-roars into action, with the signature Ilona Andrews blend of world-building, kinetic battles, and argumentative romance with a cocky Alpha male type – so really, what’s not to like? I was happy to return to this world, happy to see Catalina step up, and enjoyed reading this book very much.

Also, can I just say how much I loved that Catalina was a smart nerd – one of those people whose brain never stops going. I do so love a blatantly smart female protagonist.

But admittedly, with this book, I did have a few quibbles.

Such as how, at times, I found myself wondering if this series was getting just a tad over-powered. Frankly, Alessandro’s power set, while wildly original and visually very fun to imagine, felt at times, well, just a bit too much. Like, mecha-magical-anime-too-much, much. Now don’t get me wrong, I adore anime/manga, and yes, I fully realize that on some level it’s totally ridiculous, in a series chock full of people leveling buildings and summoning chains and creating killer storms and magically animating objects, to have this particular set of powers feel like it was stretching my credulity a bit, but, well, that was just how I felt. As I was reading, I would just kind of feel one of my eyebrows start to creep up. I also had a similar reaction to Linus’ power set, once it was revealed, which all in all makes me wonder if Team Andrews is feeling some kind of, level-up, bigger-badder-bolder, pressure, where they feel like they need to keep topping themselves with the power sets each book. But as a repeat reader, and one with very high mileage in comics/manga/the superhero genre, I found myself wishing everyone was a bit less powered up. Honestly, if Alessandro had shown up in this book packing no more magical heat than revealed in the last book, I would have been totally down with that. For me, the ride is more than enough fun. I don’t need the supreme razzle-dazzle.

As for my second big overall quibble, I did find I had a sense of, coming-back-around-again, with this story, that itched me a bit. Now admittedly, I’m a big re-reader, and die-hard Ilona Andrews fan, so it makes sense that I’d catch some echoes of familiarity across their oeuvre, but with this book, and particularly within the Hidden Legacy series itself, I just felt like we were passing some familiar mile markers. The friend with nowhere else to turn, the law enforcement run-in, the running-solo attack, the Cinderella moment to attend the big ole richy-rich shindig, the attack on the warehouse, the storming of a compound at the end – even the 90’s cop show jokes (which I do love, but…). And again, look, I do totally get the genre paradigms – I read romance and UF, I’m totally down with well-done tropes and well-loved patterns of stories, and I even enjoy a comfortable sense of familiarity, but it’s just that here, I noticed it more than I wanted to. And like I said, I did still enjoy the story very much, I just found it a bit, for lack of a better word, itchy.

But in the end, Ilona Andrews is Ilona Anrews, and you really can’t go wrong with their unique style of wild magical danger-adventure. And I am very much looking forward to the next book.

Byrt Grade: A-

Book Jacket:

Ten minutes in the future, the world runs on an economy of job shares and apps — like Reaper, a platform for legal assassination. When the apparently average Charlie Ellison wakes up one day to find out she’s the target of a million dollar Reapr campaign, she hires Vita, the lowest rated bodyguard on the Dfend app. Now, with all of Los Angeles hunting Charlie, she and Vita will have to figure out who wants her dead, and why, before the campaign’s 30 day — or their lives — are over.

Review:

Now that’s what I call a killer hook.

But seriously folks, this series has it all – a mismatched buddy(ish) duo, non-stop tension, glorious action sequences, and brilliantly flawed characters. In short, the perfect tonic for your superhero fatigue. 

And the future-world of this book is so spot on, it’s downright scary. Gig economy, app life, fake online friends, the killer version of ‘social media influencers’ – it’s all so, so right, it’s (deliciously) wrong; a perfectly droll lampooning of our modern world. I also particularly enjoyed the fun had at LA-city-life’s expense – I mean, the random chihuahua? Priceless.

But it’s the characters that are the main attraction here – and it’s pretty much impossible not to be intrigued. Vita is pure lovable badass, basically the black, gay, femme version of a classic western Clint Eastwood (the last honest gun in this town!), while Charlie is a hot, selfish, self-destructive mess that rings all too painfully true.

But therein also lies the sticking point – which is Charlie and the likability question. Because in truth, Charlie spends just about the entire first volume acting out in selfish, entitled, bitchy, self-destructive ways, and it is aggravating. Exceedingly. Which is the entire point, I think – the question of her character. And while the story drops enough intriguing hints, about Charlie’s past and present emotional/personal damage, to make her a fascinating puzzle, there definitely is an inevitable, knee-jerk kind of reaction, of what a jerk. And while there’s a lot to unpack in that kind of reflexive judgement – about sexism, and how unlikable male characters are so much more accepted and acceptable than unlikable female characters – honestly, Charlie is at times exceedingly unsympathetic. Yet I was still hooked, in that I do want to see where she goes from here – whether it’s a redemptive arc, or full-on villain turn (and the fun part is, she definitely could go either way). And honestly, that’s just good writing, whether you like Charlie or not.

Besides, Vita is so incredibly easy to love that she alone is well worth wading through Charlie’s messes, so I’m in.

Also, can I just give a quick shout-out to all the delightfully unapologetic gay/bi romance/flirting in this story? I mean, even the club is named BiFurious. Love.

So in the end, the body count is high and murder rife, but this story is still a lot of fun. And between tantalizing hints of a larger conspiracy, a partnership so screwed up you can never quite tell what’s going to happen next, and assassins crawling out of every nook and cranny – this book is a humdinger. So jump on board and buckle up. It’s gonna be a wild ride.

Byrt Grade: A

“Ask yourself, why you’re writing that book, and if you are the best person to write that book.” – Karen Rivers

“You can write outside your own perspective, but you have to do the work.” – Karen Rivers

“My Mom once threatened to sue me over something I wrote in a piece of fiction.” – Cynthia Kadohata

“When I started writing, I did kill off a lot of parents… My Mom was getting upset. ‘Why am I always dead?’ ” – Karen Rivers

“Nothing is really autobiographical. But all of it comes from lived experience, even if it’s not true.” – Gabrielle Bell

“Some times I lose track of the parts of my book I made up, and the parts I didn’t.” – Mimi Pond

“I’m presenting this other version of myself, and it’s the version I’d like to be. It’s my avatar, but it has my name.” – Gabrielle Bell

“At what point does it stop being my story, but their story? But I was there.” – MariNaomi

On writing vs. drawing: “I don’t feel like I’m doing two separate things.” – Tillie Walden

“A comic book lets me be as weird as I really am.” – Pamela Ribon

“That was the big, ah-hah moment. Death will do that.” – Mimi Pond

“Fake deadlines are very helpful. If you believe them.” – Pamela Ribon

“The jenga tower of the mystery.  Will it come crashing down?” – Gretchen McNeil

“You have to know who the killer is before you start.” – Gretchen McNeil

“I have such a hard time, when you’re running for your life, fitting in make-out time.” – Maureen Johnson

Audience question: If you were trapped on a deserted island with one book, which book would you chose? “How to get off a deserted island.” – Maureen Johnson

“It took me twenty years to get Los Angeles.” – Chris Erskine

“Every immigrant community here is virtually the largest in the world outside the capitol of their country.” – Pat Morrison

On what the corporate takeover cost the LA Times: “Staff was at 1,200. Now we’re at 400.” – Chris Erskine

“We are the public intelligence service.” – Pat Morrison

I’ll admit I haven’t read the book yet – but now I definitely want to start. 

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The Miseducation of Cameron Post hits theaters August 3.

Wow. Okay, bring on the awards consideration, because this looks like a cert.

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Boy Erased hits theaters November 2.

And I think they might actually have done the book justice, for once.

The Hate U Give hits theaters October 19.

Book Jacket:

Across the border, the Witch Lords of Vaskandar are preparing for war. But before an invasion can begin, they must call a rare gathering of all seventeen lords to decide a course of action.

Lady Amalia Cornaro knows that this Conclave might be her only chance to smother the growing flames of war, and she is ready to make any sacrifice if it means saving Raverra from destruction.

Amalia and Zaira must go behind enemy lines, using every ounce of wit and cunning they have, to sway Vaskandar from war. Or else it will all come down to swords and fire.

You can read an excerpt here.

Review:

The Defiant Heir wisely takes a left turn from the first book, with a story that takes us from the urban to the wilds, all the while still maintaining all the complexities we so loved from the first book. Moral ambiguity, hard choices, personal sacrifice, all are still very much in evidence, even as Amalia and Zaira leave all they know far behind, risking everything in hopes of preventing a war.

Now when it comes to the relationships, I have to admit, for the entire length of the first book, I just wanted Amalia and Zaira to have more page time together. Their relationship, prickly and fractious and impossible, was my favorite thing about the first book – which is why I found it so very frustrating when the story chose instead to dwell incessantly on the doe-eyed romance. And where usually I am a girl all in favor of a good romance, I found in this case, all the calf eyes and beating hearts and, well, rather generic vanilla attraction just irritated me. Suffice to say, I was not feeling it – which is why I was so very excited to find in The Defiant Heir, the focus so squarely upon my favorite relationship: Zaira and Amalia. Their stumblings toward a true partnership, fraught with just as much difficultly as ever, are the heart and soul of this book, and I loved every second of it. Caruso doesn’t shy away from moral ambiguities, or political realities, and I loved watching both girls struggle to come to terms with their own power, and what they can and cannot do with it.

Furthermore, on the romance front, this book saw the introduction of a new player, a Witch Lord – and while his and Amalia’s relationship is purely political to start, it’s one Amalia cannot ignore the benefits of. And I loved that about her – how smart she is, reading the angles, playing the game, all the while trying to figure out just how far she’s willing to go. In fact I would say, if this book has an overall theme, it would be that no power comes without steep personal cost – and Amalia faces that reality head on. And as for the new love interest, frankly, as a character, I found him so much more interesting than Marcello that I was perfectly happy to have the new guy take center stage. And while yes, let’s call a spade a spade – and yet another love triangle a love triangle – the thing that saves this book from tiredly familiar territory is how always, always Amalia is smart enough to see all the angles, and strong enough to make her own choices. She owns all of it – and that I loved so very, very much.

And let’s not forget the plot! There’s a heap of danger and adventure in this story, as Amalia and Zaira find themselves lost in enemy territory – and this book really broadens the horizons of this fantasy world, taking us from Venetian style court drama to a world where gods (or close enough as to make no difference) walk among us. It makes for a fascinatingly different landscape to explore, one that is every bit as compelling as the first.

In all, The Defiant Heir is everything you liked about the first book, and more – and I liked this one even better.

Byrt Grade: A-

As Levar Burton likes to say – you don’t have to take my word for it…

The Library Ladies say:

I really loved the first book in this series, so it says a lot that I came away from this one knowing without a doubt that I loved it even more.

For me, Wondercon is always the beginning of The Season – the geekfanfest season, that is. And as always, it brings a first peek at all the goodies awaiting us in the coming months – so here are the particular comics and manga that caught my eye (and incited drool) this past weekend:

I mean, it’s by Gail Simone. For me, that’s really all I needed to hear – but then Gail herself went so far as to say, Domino is the most Birds of Prey-like thing she’s done since Birds of Prey. (Birds of Prey being the gateway drug for so many comics nerds, myself included.) Needless to say, I pre-ordered it .0035 seconds later.

From the author of A Silent Voice, To Your Eternity is a lush fantasy epic about a boy and his wolf – and the adjective I most heard employed was, gorgeous.

A comic described as: “a story about mothers, daughters, frenemies, and fistfights…with Canadian dudes in spaceships.” Sounds kind of like femme Firefly, no?

This one is a puzzle. It’s a series that people keep talking about, but no one ever seems able to describe, exactly – visually stunning, but narratively a bit obtuse, is word on the street. But enough people have brought it up that I’m curious enough to try – plus this one also has a popular anime adaptation (streaming on Amazon prime), if you’re so inclined.

The tagline says it all: Harry Potter meets Riverdale, under the neon lights of Los Angeles. It’s too early to know much more about this one, but color me intrigued.

And last but not least, word from the DC sandbox is, there’s an upcoming title, under the new Black Label imprint, from Kelly Sue DeConnick (she of Bitch Planet and Captain Marvel fame) – Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons. A three book Homeric saga about the lost history of the Amazons, and Queen Hippolyta’s rise to power – with Phil Jimenez on art, no less. Um, HELL yes.

So there you have it! Lots of comic goodness for us to look forward to.

Honestly, for me, this is a hard one – so much of Mievelle is his word-liciousness, and I wonder just how much will translate from page to screen. But worth a try, no?

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The City and the City premieres April 6 on BBC 2 (and I’m sure shortly in the US thereafter).

I’ll admit, I was dubious – mostly because this came around during the post Hunger Games, great dystopian glut – but the casting and X-Men-y vibe has me intrigued. Okay, I’ll bite!

Darkest Minds hits theaters August 3.