4 stars Delightfully spooky. An unexpectedly sweet story featuring an old house in the woods, a skull, and a brave girl looking for a place to stay. After running away from home, Otilla comes across a house whose sole occupant is a kindly skull. Little does she know, the skull has a secret and that…
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5 stars Beautiful and unsettling. A mermaid in human form and a plague doctor travel together after the mermaid’s daughters devour the kingdom. On their journey, they come across a village of ageless children ruled by three “saints” with mystifying abilities to bring back the dead. As the pair investigate, they uncover the saint’s dark…
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Illustrated by Emily Gravett 3 stars Dealing with her own chronic illness and feelings of inadequacy, Lily is not looking forward to the addition of a new baby in the house. But when she returns home to find a mom who is not quite her mother and a dad who is not quite her father,…
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4 stars A wonderful reimagining of the City of Ys, revamping the legend of King Gradlon and his daughter, Dahut. Anderson’s tale intermixes other Breton themes and stories such as Saint Corentin and his miraculous fish. The city of pleasure hides dark secrets, seeped in grief, greed, and sin. Filled with sea monsters, murder, seduction,…
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3 stars A dark coming-of-age story featuring a manipulative main character and a troll set on eating his life. Weaving together fairy tale themes, the punk scene, and the hauntings of fear and regret, Gaiman creates a memorable tale of coming to turns with life. Good fit for those who enjoy the odd side of…
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As the Halloween season approaches, I finally found time to read this delightfully wicked collection from Fantasia Divinity. Featuring a variety of talented authors, the book is split into two sections: the spooky, creepy, at times disturbing Halloween Frights, and the calmer, soothing, but sometimes still spooky Autumn Delights. The book contains over 130 drabbles,…
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Another fantastic drabble collection from Eerie River Publishing. Featuring a variety of tales that explore the dark corners of fantasy, there’s a bit of something for everyone. Magic spells, evil sorcerers, curses, revenge, summonings, sacrifices, fairy tales, mythical creatures, and more. Packed with over 200 hundred stories, each reader is sure to find something that…
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A collection of tales featuring witches in all their shades. Some are wicked, some are sweet, and some lie somewhere in between. This is the first in Iron Faerie’s 500 series, stories told in exactly 500 words. This created a nice reading format as all of the tales are the same length, spanning about three…
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