Supernatural

A modern dark academia urban fantasy story with mysterious hauntings evoked by unsettling moments of déjà vu, Kamilah Cole’s An Arcane Inheritance is a high-concept book that pulls an impressive sleight of hand with its ambitious ideas. A perfect example of a slow burn mystery that is as twisty as it is intelligent, this is a fascinating fantasy book that reads and feels quite different from what its listed genres would suggest. Creative, immersive, and beautifully written, the purposely slow pacing isn’t for everyone nor is its sometimes directionless narrative, but the payoff for those that stick with Cole’s strong storytelling are in for a unique experience and one whose ending suggests a quick re-read on details and clues easily missed. An Arcane Inheritance is a tricky book to talk about and review due to how crucial its major plot twist developments near the end of the story are, requiring the reader to almost fall into its intended sense of familiarity. In a sense, about three quarters of the book is that of its main character Ellory Morgan’s on-campus collegiate school life mixed with mysterious and foreboding paranormal-like occurrences involving familiarity, unknown visions, or conversations that may or may not…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Wednesday Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press. A necromancer priestess in foreign territory, a mysterious corpse that isn’t as dead as they should be, and the quest for qi energy across a tense Kingdom under authoritarian control, Deathly Fates has a lot of strong narrative elements in a story inspired by Chinese Taoist mythology. Featuring strong themes such as familial responsibilities, grief/loss, and the corruption of power, Tesia Tsai’s debut novel is a fast-paced and accessible YA fantasy story that has a good mix of adventure, action, age-appropriate spooks and mild horrors involving the dead carried by a very compelling premise. Well-plotted and generally appealing, I personally found this book to be an underwhelming and juvenile in its execution, but is a book with lots of good ideas that is well-suited for young pre-teen readers. The story follows Kang Siying, a young but skilled ganshi priestess who uses talismans to reanimate the dead to return their corpses to their loved ones or to release their spirits from this world. Given the book’s likely intended YA and younger readership, the book follows its summarized blurb and throws the…

A tired and stiff fallen god and a mischievous gumiho that likes to annoy him form an unlikely buddy cop duo in a paranormal murder investigation involving demons, grim reapers, other gumihos, and more. Throw in the potential for the world to plunge into darkness, immortal sibling god rivalry, coffee culture, and you get the overall gist of the God and the Gumiho. Sophie Kim’s adult novel fantasy debut and the first half of a now finished duology, this book is an entertaining urban fantasy story perfectly suited for fans of paranormal kdrama series that deftly weaves together its fantasy romance with a well-plotted serial murder mystery that perfectly walks the line between being lighthearted and fun vs more serious and grave. Heavily inspired by Korean mythological folklore and legend, one of the best elements of this book is Kim’s clever use of these elements within the book’s mostly original story. While this book is sometimes classified as a retelling due to its use of preexisting folklore around Seokga the Trickster god (plus other numerous deities included) and the legend of the Gumiho, the book’s specific paranormal mystery story is largely an original work. I will be the first to…

A queer M/M take on the classic haunted mansion with a historical forbidden love premise, Ben Alderson’s the Haunting of William Thorn is a paranormal romance book that has a lot of great ideas and concepts. Featuring a gothic and eerie setting, a layered multi-generational mystery, and light horror elements that aren’t overly graphic, with its attractive cast of male characters and pining attraction, by all accounts this book should be an appealing and accessible read. Unfortunately, like its hallmark mansion, despite its good bones and a promising start, the execution leaves a lot to be desired across the board and despite giving it my best effort, I struggled to finish this book only to arrive at an eyebrow-raising ending. Set in a rural small-town village of Stonewall, the story follows William Thorn who has been gifted the decrepit Hanbury Manor by his late boyfriend Archie. Not long after arriving, what was meant to be a weeklong stay of isolation is intruded upon by an overly friendly man named Edward who has his own connection to the Hanbury Manor and its past. The book’s strongest element for me was the intrigue behind the manor’s history and presumed death of Robert…

What if it was just you and me, in an eerie library, with a demon haunting our hopes and dreams, not two but three? More successful than my poor excuse for poetry, the Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino is a YA fantasy book that mixes and matches a variety of inspirations from across various genres. Part dark academia fantasy, part psychological suspense thriller, part paranormal horror, this book blends together its different elements to tell a story about two private academy lone wolves who accidentally unleash a demonic presence while navigating the challenges of their family life. Set at a prestigious private academy, the overall story revolves around the unexpected release of a demon-like entity from the depths of an academy library that Tess and Eliot work and study at respectively. When taken at face value, the Devil Makes Three sounds like it’s going to be about occultic research and evading said devil. While the book certainly follows this expected storyline to a certain extent, the rest of the book revolves around Tess and Eliot’s personal struggles, conflicted home environment, and familial difficulties that had led to their attendance at the school. For Tess, her story is about her…