Book cover of Summer in Orcus

Book description

When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy…


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Why read it?

1 author picked Summer in Orcus as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

So many portal fantasies take place in settings that are a sort of generic Europe. Summer in Orcus is a delight on many levels, but one of the best is that Orcus, where twelve-year-old Summer finds herself after a completely atypical encounter with Baba Yaga, is odd enough that it makes Alice’s Wonderland seem normal by comparison. By the end of her journey through Orcus, Summer finds her heart’s desire.  However, it’s nothing like the power, glory, romantic love that are more usual, but something much more deceptive and deep. 

From Jane's list on unusual portal fantasies.

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Book cover of Ballad for Jasmine Town

Ballad for Jasmine Town by Molly Ringle,

A human child raised by the fae is an uncommon thing. But Rafi was such a child.

Now grown, half-fae but mortal, he lingers on the edge of human society in Miryoku, a nearby town sharing a border with fae territory. He doesn’t want to join the human world properly;…

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