Genre: Magic

After the Forest by Kell Woods Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Low Fantasy, Magic, Historical Fiction, Retelling, Young Adult Published by Titan Books on September 25, 2023 Format: Hardcover, Special Edition Pages: 463 Source: Illumicrate Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour. A drop of blood to bind its power.  1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg.  Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war. Greta has a secret, the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious – and addictive – gingerbread.  As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat. But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating gingerbread is a source of ever-growing suspicion and vicious gossip.  And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta’s own powers – magic she is still trying to understand – may be the only thing that can save her … If it doesn’t kill …

Lightfall by Ed Crocker Series: The Everlands Trilogy #1 Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic, Mystery Published by St. Martin’s Press on January 13, 2025 Format: eBook Pages: 396 An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.  No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.  For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.  Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, …

A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Low Fantasy, Magic, LGBTQ+, Retelling, Young Adult Published by Penguin Format: Hardcover, Special Edition Pages: 390 Source: Illumicrate Magic has long been outlawed in Auréal. Odile has always know she’d be the one to restore it.  Raised by a sorcerer, Odile has spent years preparing for the heist of a lifetime. It’s perfectly simple: impersonate a princess, infiltrate the palace, steal the enchanted crown and restore magic to the kingdom.  But when the king is unexpectedly murdered, she’s forced to recruit the help of Marie, the real princess, and the two begin to unravel a web of lies and deceit that leaves Odile uncertain of whom to trust.  Soon though Odile must decide — her mission or the girl she’s falling for?  The fate of the kingdom depends on her making the right choice.. An ambitiously creative and well-rounded sapphic retelling of Swan Lake, A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek is a wonderful low fantasy story featuring a great mix of storylines and elements. While many retellings either struggle with adhering to their source material or end up predictable given their well-known general plots, A Treachery of Swans …

The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown Genres: Adult, British Literature, Fantasy, Magic, Urban Fantasy, Magical Realism Published by Bantam on August 11, 2025 Format: Hardcover, Special Edition Pages: 352 Source: Goldsboro Books The world of unknowable objects – magical items that most people have no idea possess powers – has been quiet for decades . . .  But three current members of a secret society have remained watchful, meeting every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London. They are pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world – and keep the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artefact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends the Society’s newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.  Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger, confronted by a professional killer who seems to know all about unknowable objects, specifically one that was stolen from him a decade before. Magda is forced to flee, using an artefact that not even the rest of the Society knows about.  Returning to London, Magda …

The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino Series: The Hand and the Heart #1 Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, High Fantasy, Magic, Romantasy Published by Orbit on September 22, 2025 Format: ARC, eBook, Hardcover, Special Edition Pages: 480 Source: Illumicrate, Netgalley Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.  Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier. She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier’s to wield. They are bound together by blood and magic, but there is one truth Grey dare not reveal . . . not even to Kier.  When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into a dangerous mission, Grey will need to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice to protect her secret.  For Grey is no ordinary magical well, and if she dies, all magic dies with her. This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence. The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Forever, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. A powerful female knight and …