Mystery

By Andrea Tang

Coming soon on January 30, 2024!

(5 / 5)

These Deadly Prophecies brings us to a modern world where sorcery is a viable career option. Our narrator, Tabatha, loves the occult, and is the apprentice of Sorcerer Solomon, one of the most well-known sorcerers in eastern America who specializes in prophecies. Unfortunately, Sorcerer Solomon prophesized his own death, and the book begins where his life ends. But who murdered Sorcerer Solomon?

I was absolutely enthralled with this book. I loved Tabatha as the narrator of this story, giving her account of what happened. Her narrative is engaging and full of excitement. At times she addresses the reader directly, which makes the story feel even more real. I think the fact that Tabatha is not originally from the sorcery world makes her very relatable to readers, explaining the intricacies of sigils, spells and traditions.

This book really takes on the feel of a murder mystery, as Tabatha teams up with Solomon’s youngest son, Callum, to try to find out who committed the murder. This book had me making my own theories then changing my mind as I learned more, just like the characters did in the book. The book really kept me guessing until the very end when everything was revealed. I enjoyed the interactions between Tabatha and Callum and enjoyed both characters a lot. There’s also a cast of side characters who are diverse and add to the charm of the story.

I felt like this book was very well written. It was nearly impossible to put down, and I ended up staying up until 2am to finish the story – once I got so far into the book, I just couldn’t wait until the morning to find out the solution to the mystery and how things would end. I’ll be seeking out more books by Andrea Tang for sure!

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the free advance copy of These Deadly Prophecies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and all opinions expressed in my review are completely my own.

By Krystal Sutherland

Coming soon on January 30, 2024

(3.5 / 5)

The Invocations is a young adult fantasy story that dives into the occult, witchcraft and demons in the modern world while also trying to solve a murder mystery. It follows three 17-year-old girls, Zara (who is looking for a witch to help her resurrect her sister), Jude (who is suffering from a bad invocation) and Emer (an invocation writer). I was a bit unsure if I would like these characters in the beginning, but I liked them more as I learned more about them and their situations. I found Zara to be the hardest to relate to since I didn’t understand her obsession with raising the raising the dead. Jude turned out to be my favorite character.

I enjoyed the writing style of this author, with great descriptions and a lot of complexity to the characters and occult practices. I don’t typically read horror books, so this one was a bit more gruesome than I’m used it, but I wouldn’t call it scary. At times the story felt a bit slow and drawn out, but I felt like the second half of the book had a better pace and definitely had a lot more action. About halfway through the book, I started to have a hunch about who was behind the murders, and I mostly turned out to be right. I was a little disappointed that I was able to figure it out so early on, though there were still some surprises along the way.

I think that my biggest dislike about the book is that it has a very anti-male feel to it. Men are considered aggressive, abusive, etc, which is why women need the invocations to protect themselves. Given, many of the women in the story faced abusive or terrible situations, but I think the story was a bit too extreme in portraying men as evil and something women had to fear. I’m all for strong female characters, but this book took it farther than I would have preferred.

Thank you to BookishFirst and Penguin Teen for the free copy of The Invocations in return for my honest review.