Oh. Well. It’s natural, I suppose. But you must be careful. He told me… no, that was about something else.…” Nix, Garth. "Something about Garth Nix". Garth Nix. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008 . Retrieved 14 March 2008. A raven cawed from the rooftop. Susan waved to it. There were ravens in her dream as well, but bigger ones. Much larger than any that actually existed, and they talked as well, though she couldn’t remember what they said. She always remembered the beginning of the dream best; it got confused after the brook creature.

Susan rubbed her temples and looked behind her. There was a trail of mud on the flagstones. From house to brook. But her mother had probably gotten up even earlier and been pottering about, shuffling in her gum boots.… Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case" (2005). A novella produced for World Book Day and originally entitled "The Creature in the Cave". Reprinted under the new title in the collection Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories.) A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet'" (from Swords and Dark Magic anthology edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan) I'm not typically a YA reader and choose these books very selectively, instead preferring middle grade fiction which I found to be more endearing and to contain less aggravating tropes. What I do like about a well-written YA is that it's usually fun, fast-paced and easy to read as there will always be times for books that fit these criteria. This book was a great choice for me after finishing some heavy emotional reads. It definitely fit what I was looking for with the added fun factor of two of my favourite things - books and bookshops.

The police? Don’t you mean Charlie Norton or Ben Bent-Nose or one of Frank’s other charming associates?” As the deafening echoes of the gunshots faded, the woman realized she was screaming, and stopped, since it wasn’t helping. On top of that the main character, Susan, is treated like a 5-year-old who needs to be led around by the hand without being told anything. This is also how the reader is treated. It was almost like a concept of a world without the world actually existing. There were numerous times where something would happen and Susan would be confused (because falling into a magic world IS confusing) and those around her just push her questions aside with an “I’ll tell you later”.

There are also entire paragraphs of nothing but lists of other books or of artists. It just felt like name dropping. Although, now that the world is created, I could see this being the first entry in a fun, light-hearted series. We shall see. He also wasn’t supposed to be able to be surprised by someone like the young woman who had burst into the room, an X-Acto craft knife in her trembling hands. She was neither tall nor short, and moved with a muscular grace that suggested she might be a martial artist or a dancer, though her Clash T-shirt under dark blue overalls, oxblood Doc Martens, and her buzzed-short dyed blond hair suggested more of a punk musician or the like. Pixieltd on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 4 hours ago

Who are you? I mean, sure, go ahead and call the police. But we’ve probably only got about five minutes before… or less, actually—” Anywho, the magic was pretty cool, as it dealt with a lot of earth magic and gods and whatnot of English mythology, was was interesting. And the magic itself was super cool. And I liked Merlin's genderfluidity. I was less intrigued by the whole cauldron premise, mainly because cauldrons have been done to death (thank you SJM for murdering this plot point). Susan looked at the phone, and thought about calling the police. But after a single second more of careful but lightning-fast thought, she followed him. The story gradually grows grander and bigger until it’s nonstop action—confronting monsters, figuring out who’s a traitor, and all that good stuff—like an avalanche. This was a rough one for me to get through, which I am really upset to say because the concept is great. I pictured it being like The Librarians, which I LOVED! But it was nothing like it at all.

My next book, which all being well will be out around November 2021, is Terciel And Elinor, a prequel to my book Sabriel. It takes place some years before that book, and concerns Sabriel’s parents. Eventually, Susan said with some determination, “I think I’ll go up to London early. Get acclimatized. There’s bound to be pub work I can get. And I… I’ll try to find my dad.” A complex ethical substrate that leaves the reader with relatively few fully bad or fully good characters (though there are some) and that poses open-ended questions.

Did we miss something on diversity?

Susan waited for Jassmine to continue, but her mother’s voice trailed off and she was staring at the wall, whatever thought had been about to emerge lost somewhere along the way.