Historical Fiction

The answer arc and part two of Ibañez’s Secrets of the Nile duology, Where the Library Hides is a sequel that many fans of the first book likely didn’t sign up for. While continuing its 19th‑century Egyptian premise on paper, in many ways this book feels like a product of misguided and unfortunate creative and narrative choices. Focusing heavily on familial conflict, betrayals, and character drama rather than its compelling historical fantasy elements, it may not be every reader’s cup of tea. This book picks up right after Where the River Knows ends, following the dramatic events in the backstreets of Cairo. While the first book posed a lot of interesting and mysterious questions about Cleopatra and Whit’s traumatic history in the armed forces, most of those storylines were left unresolved, compelling material for Where the Library Hides to answer. Where book one covered exploration and discovery on the island of Philae, this book sees Inez and Whit drawn to the ancient and war‑torn city of Alexandria with all of its famed history and lore. Starting with the positive points, Ibañez’s casual yet polished prose continues to be well‑suited for YA readership, as does Inez’s character narration, which is fitting…

18th century Egyptian history layered with myths surrounding Cleopatra, Isabel Ibañez’s What the River Knows is part one of her YA historical fantasy duology Secrets of the Nile. Featuring a great balance of mystery storylines, familial relations, romantic banter, and light fantasy elements based on magical objects, this book hits all the right marks and is a well‑crafted YA read. With a solid start and appealing main characters, this book is really fun despite some pacing issues in its back half and a sequel that ultimately does this book no favors. Intended to be a historical fiction book with a fantasy romance story, easily the strongest element of the book for me is the way it successfully captures the sense of adventure reminiscent of stories like Indiana Jones despite having little action. From the moment Inez receives the unfortunate letter in Argentina, the story maintains this great motif of exploration. Whether Inez is exploring cities in Egypt, hiding as a stowaway on a river barge, visiting historic sites, or simply on the run while evading the peeved and exasperated Whitford Hayes, the story has a genuine adventurous spark that makes the book so fun to read. The tone also benefits…

Blending together Japanese samurai culture, time-travel speculative fiction, tense horror ambiance with mystery thriller intrigue, Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker is as ambitious of a novel as it is graphic and violent. One of the most anticipated horror releases of the year, like her inspirations and goals, this book crossovers between genres, storylines, and realities, telling a compelling and gripping story in just over three hundred pages. Steeped in Japanese folklore and culture but presented in a way that’s accessible, Japanese Gothic is an excellent mystery thriller/horror novel that’s powerfully written and creatively conceptualized. There’s a lot that could be said about Japanese Gothic’s story, but this is one book that’s best experienced on its own with minimal overview given the tension, mysterious intrigue, and unexpected narrative elements benefit from the reader being left in the dark. The book features a split POV and timeline perspective that’s similar to Lee’s presentation, a meeting of the East and West. In 2026, Lee Turner escapes to his father’s house in Japan following the murder of his college roommate that he can’t remember how or why he killed. Racked with anxiety and paranoia, his chapters follow his descent into borderline psychosis as…

What do a legendary cryptid, gods, angels and demons, the Hundred Year’s War, an immortal arcanist and his succubus housekeeper have in common? Ordinarily nothing at all unless it’s Cameron Sullivan’s novel The Red Winter. An ambitious book mixing together fantasy and historical fiction elements across the board heightened with touches of paranormal horror, the Red Winter is as entertaining as it is imaginative with a unique and quirky tongue in cheek tone. Unexpectedly humorous and endearing while describing French countrymen being viscously torn apart, Sullivan’s storytelling is an incredible vibe made all the more impressive as a debut novel. While its far-reaching story, slow pacing, and complex split timeline approach can make it a challenging read for some, this is otherwise a really fun and off-beat historical fantasy book. At its core, the story behind the Red Winter is one of French turmoil that cleverly provides plausible fantasy origins to mysterious historical events. Presented as a written recollection or memoir of the events by the immortal arcanist Sebastian Graves, the book follows Sebastian and his demon possession “guest” Sarmodel returning to impoverished province of Gévaudan after the deadly events around the famed beast nearly twenty years ago. In addition…

An abstract exploration around perception and traditional gender roles of young women, Xenobe Purvis’s debut novel the Hounding is an atmospheric story that feels like a grounded and historical fairy tale expanded into a full length book. Featuring a free-flowing 3rd person multiple POV presentation and effective use of unreliable narration, the Hounding is an interesting read conducive to bookclub/literary discussions due to its clever plotting and open-ended nature. While I felt the book’s overall trajectory could’ve been developed further and its abruptly occurring just when it felt like it was hitting its stride, this book is nonetheless an interesting read that matches the unsettling feel and tone of its cover well. “Girls—normal human girls—people could contend with; they were weak and small. And dogs too could be trained. But girls who became dogs, or who let the world believe they were dogs, were either powerful or mad: both monstrous possibilities.” Set in the fictional rural village of Little Nettlebed in an unspecified but clearly historic age, the Hounding follows various residents, their impressions, and thoughts about five sisters referred to as the Mansfield girls. Having lost both parents and living with their ailing grandfather who is going blind, the…