I know I keep saying this is the last post 2023, but I always miscount. This is why I write book reviews and not do math. Anyway, I finished up some of these older backlist YA fantasy reads and wanted to share. There’s a big mix here from Greek mythology retellings like Her Dark Wings to ghosts in Here Lies Olive to historical fantasy in The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. Keep reading for these mini book reviews.
(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information you can look at the Policy page. If you’re uncomfortable with that, know you can look up the book on any of the sites below to avoid the link)
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.
After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth has got to be one of my favorite historical fantasy reads this year. The historical fiction setting examines the oppression of queer folks in the 1880s in England, but also the sexism of hysteria. It’s a book which will ignite your rage in the treatment of Silas, the erasure of his feelings, but also leave you with hope in his finding of solidarity, community, and friendship. There’s plenty of action about all the people society wishes to rob of a voice, to smash into rigid boxes, and the fight against the prejudice and oppression made me cry.
It’s an examination of marginalized folks targeted by people and the medical system. Classifications of ‘normalcy’ and inhumane treatments for the sake of the status quo. But in The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is also immense love and bravery. The ambitions and passions of Silas to do what is right when the world is baring down upon him. The ghosts of injustice screaming into the night begging to be heard. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth has it all shining light on the stories the world doesn’t show or believe.
It’s about the people who perpetuate the cruelty, but also those who prop up the system. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is an emotional tour de force. Find The Spirit Bares Its Teeth on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
Her Dark Wings by Melinda Salisbury
Her Dark Wings is a modern-day take on the Persephone myth, infused with the intense potency of teenage passions. The richness of Greek myth is vividly brought to life by the immediacy and originality of a fiery, contemporary drama. And iconic mythic figures crackle and change as a modern girl fills the Underworld with new life.
Exploring the thin line between love and hate, obsession and attraction, friendship and betrayal, this is a breathless and bold story, beautifully told by an exceptional writer. It’s about a girl who realises what she wants and, in getting it, brings soul to a stagnant world, and change to an unyielding god. It’s about life – and hope – blooming in the unlikeliest of places. It’s about being brave enough to release your wings.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I love the Hades and Persephone story. It’s probably my favorite of the Greek Pantheon. But Her Dark Wings did not work for me. There were all elements I enjoyed like a friendship gone sour, Greek mythology, and justice. But everything didn’t come together. The world is one where Greek mythology is alive, it feels tangible and all around. However, it felt like I never really understood the world and the limitations. The ways it departs from ours and also merges with the mythology.
Additionally the pacing felt a bit stop and start to the point where in the middle where I’m expecting more of it to pick up, I found myself getting lost. And because of that I was having trouble getting back into the book even towards the end. Do you ever have those books which kind of lose the thread connecting you? In general I wish this had been a bit more cohesive in the elements I liked, but every time I felt like I was getting closer, it would taper off? Find Her Dark Wings on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
Here Lies Olive by Kate Anderson
Growing up in the dark tourism capital of the United States, sixteen-year-old Olive should be comfortable with death. But ever since an allergic reaction almost sent her to the wrong side of the grass, she’s been terrified that there is no afterlife. And after the death of her surrogate grandmother, Olive has kept everyone at arm’s length because if there’s Nothing after we die, relationships and love can only end in sorrow.
When she summons a spirit to answer her questions about death, Olive meets Jay, a hitchhiking ghost trapped in the woods behind the poorhouse where he died. Olive agrees to help Jay find his unmarked grave in exchange for answers about the other side and what comes next.
Meanwhile, someone―or something―is targeting Olive’s classmates, and the longer Jay lingers, the more serious the attacks become. Blaming herself for having brought Jay back, Olive teams up with maybe-nemesis, maybe-crush Maren, ex-best friend Davis, and new girl Vanessa to free Jay’s spirit before he’s trapped as a malevolent shade and the attacks turn deadly. But in doing so, Olive must face her fear of death and risk losing another person she loves to the Nothing.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
This YA contemporary is full of ghosts and friendship. It’s a story that explores universal themes of being scared to let someone in because they could leave us. But for Olive she finds that to help Jay she will have to make some unlikely allies, and friends. At the same time, Here Lies Olive explores the past which the world would like us to forget specifically the injustice and treatment of the hospitals and how society has treated the mentally ill and those they want to make disappear.
Here Lies Olive unravels the mystery of what happened in the past. How we cannot allow it to become buried. At the same time it has a core of friendship and the bravery of not pushing people away. It asks questions of collective revenge, manipulation, and friendship. Find Here Lies Olive on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.