I read all three books in Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy this year (A Deadly Education is the first). I was drawn in by the wonderfully sarcastic protagonist, Galadriel (El). She's determined to remain good despite her immense aptitude towards becoming a dark and powerful sorceress in the 'all shall love me and despair' vein, but that doesn't mean she has to suffer fools gladly. And I was kept immersed by the Scholomance itself - a school for magical children that kills a good percentage of them - as well as a plot that, as it unfolded over the three books, turned out to be both darker and cleverer than I had realised. An absolutely fantastic read in all senses of the word.
Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered.
There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Once you're inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.
El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school's many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions - never mind easily destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.
Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying…
I read and absolutely adored Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor a long time ago, and I've had The Witness for the Dead sitting in my Kindle account ever since. Somehow I never got round to reading it until this year, and now I'm wondering what took me so long. It follows one of the characters from The Goblin Emperor, Celehar (the titular Witness for the Dead), as he investigates several interconnected deaths in the city of Amalo. As with The Goblin Emperor, Addison doesn't spoonfeed her readers. She's created a world with a large array of naming conventions, customs and social traditions, and it's up to you to keep up. Despite that, I found The Witness for the Dead a calm and oddly comforting read. I loved Celehar and would be happy to spend many days following him around, drinking tea and solving murders. If you enjoyed The Goblin Emperor, you'll enjoy this one as well.
When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead.
Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. Now he lives in the City of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference.
I discovered Lex Croucher at the end of 2023, just too late for my best books of 2023 list! Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is probably my favourite of Lex's books so far. It's a romantic comedy in the best sense, full of both hilarious one-liners and heartwarming relationships. Gwen and Art are betrothed, the one slight snag being that they absolutely hate each other ... and besides, Art likes boys while Gwen's crushes are very much on girls. So they agree to maintain the ruse of their betrothal in order to keep each other's secrets. What unfolds is a lot of fun, as well as a wonderful coming-of-age story that allows every character to remain true to themselves.
'Exactly what I needed right now - a delightful, heartwarming, hilarious historical romp, overflowing with queer panic and terrible jokes. I loved it' - ALICE OSEMAN, bestselling author of HEARTSTOPPER
'Fun and genuinely funny, with lovely friendships and first-rate dialogue. Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I fell for both of them' - RAINBOW ROWELL, #New York Times bestselling author of the SIMON SNOW trilogy
* Winner of the YA Book Prize *
* Winner of the Books Are My Bag Readers' Award for Young Adult Fiction *
* Shortlisted for the Cafe Nero Children's Fiction Award…
Ever since she can remember, Alyssia has seen things: flashes of other people's lives in a world that's not her own. She's always believed they're just her imagination, a way to fill the void left by the accident that killed her parents and took her memories. Yet when she wakes up inside one of her own visions, she's forced to confront the fact that maybe she was seeing the truth all along.
