Highly recommend Gallant by V.E. Schwab! Really fun spooky gothic Jane Eyre vibes - centering around an orphaned heroine exploring a spooky haunted estate and unraveling her familial mystery.
Secret Society of Irregular Witches was a disappointment to me. The way it is presented seems like a bulk of the book will be on the training of magic to the girls from our main witch character, and yet we get so little of that it is basically glossed over to focus on a forced relationship. Some of the best aspects of the book are grossly ignored - made me disappointed
I picked it as my vacation read last year and LOVED it. Then on a re-read this year it fell really flat for me. I love the characters and Howl's Moving Castle feel of the setting, but I think way too much time is spent on exploration of character trauma. To the point that it was bumming me out on the re-read. More high points spent on witchy lessons would have been really great. More pleasant interactions between the love interests. She thinks he hates her for 2/3 of the book lol. Grumpy sunshine is my favorite trope, but give me a little more chemistry.
I also expected more focus on the magic and, without spoilers, found a certain “humorous moment” at the climax extremely callous, all things considered, and not funny. Just morbid.
@@haylierouleau Yes! Wtf. I did not see the twist coming, but it needed a bit more gravitas. I had to suspend my disbelief quite a lot to imagine all of the characters reacting in the ways that they did. I still find the book charming overall and want to read more from this author. I just wish it spent a lot more time on the magic and the kids, and I wish it was more lighthearted.
I recently finished and can endorse *_Mexican Gothic_* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which was recommended quite strongly by Ms. Vernon (T. Kingfisher) in her author's note for _What Moves the Dead._ She said: _" … and then I happened to read the magnificent novel Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and thought, “Oh my God, what can I possibly do with fungi in a collapsing Gothic house that Moreno-Garcia didn’t do ten times better?!” and shoved the whole thing in a virtual drawer and took heavily to the bottle. (Seriously, put down this book and go buy that one. Then pick this one up again, of course, God forbid anyone not finish the Author’s Note, but make sure you’ve put Mexican Gothic on your reading list first.)"_ The two are so similar that I wouldn't recommend reading them close together, but I think they are both well worth reading, make an interesting contrast for one another and are equally good selections for Autumn. For those interested in a bit of comparison and my own pitch for the novel (minor vague spoilers possible): _Mexican Gothic_ is twice as long (a full novel) and much more firmly rooted in the gothic tradition. It lacks the subtle sci-fi element and open moral questions with which T. Kingfisher embues her fungal antagonist. While I thought that was possibly the best part of _What Moves the Dead_ Moreno-Garcia's novel gets on with its own priorities perfectly well without them. _Mexican Gothic's_ protagonist is wonderfully relatable: subtly flawed, in turns both endearingly earnest and frustratingly strident in that way passionate young people so often are. She's easy to root for while still having enough personality to feel like an independent being worth getting to know. Certainly one of the better pov characters I've read this year. The other characters are suitably shrouded and creepy as the genre demands. Offering hints of veiled depths and remaining plausibly either villain or fellow victim right till the end. Ultimately an excellent example of a modern gothic novel. Perhaps not rivaling, but certainly up with Zafón's _The Shadow of the Wind_ as top tier exemplars.
@@JClover2 Folks looking to prune their TBR might find your input more useful if you shared some spoiler light details about why you felt that way! I'm sure more than a few people will agree with you and be able to save themselves the trouble. As it is how could they possibly tell which experience (yours or mine) they're more likely to share?
@@Psittacus_erithacus honestly it's been a while since I've read the book and I've also tried to forget it 😁. I don't remember specifics but my main beef was the book got so hilariously weird that it ruined all the creepy tension that had been built up to that point. I thought the ending was very rushed and I did not find myself rooting for any of the characters or connecting with them in any way either. It was just one of those "what on earth did I just read" books for me. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm finishing Libba Bray's the Diviners series and I must say it's great, especially if you value strong friendships trope. Now I miss this in books, and realistic paranormal abilities trope.
Been loving T. Kingfisher and Alice Hoffman this month. The Practical Magic series never fails to get me. Also, fun random Gothic horror I enjoyed was A Botanical Daughter.
I personally don't love creepy stories, but I enjoy a witchy plot or subplot (when done tastefully). I gave Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo a chance and liked it. I think it would be a good addition to the list if anyone is interested, specifically for the upcoming spooky season.
Witches Guide to Magical Inkeeping was supposed to be April 24, but it’s been pushed back 3 times, now to April 25. Fingers crossed this is the last time.
Just finished the Belladonna series and while the ending was a touch messy and rushed for my liking, I still enjoyed it greatly. The atmosphere was so perfect for fall and I already miss the world and the characters!
I have about 50 pages left in Belladonna. Absolutely ❤️ it! Luckily, my copy of Foxglove arrived today! (I've heard it must be on hand when Belladonna is finished!)
Belladonna series is so good and absolutely my favorite and I feel connected with the main character and so magical flawless love her writing 🖤📚📚📚📚🖤🤎💛💛🖤📙📙🍁🍁🎃🍁🍂🍂📙👻🎃🍃🍃🤎🖤📚📚📚🤎🍃🍃🤎🖤🖤🤎📙📙👻🎃📖📖🍃🍃💛🖤📚📙📙📙📙🍂📙💛🍁📚📚📚🍁🖤🖤🍁🤎🤎🎃📖📖🎃📙📙🎃📖👻🖤🖤🍁📚👻👻🍃🍃🖤💛📚🍁🖤🖤🍁📚🤎🤎📙📙🤎🤎🎃📖👻🍃🖤📚📚📚💛🖤
Fans of Half A Soul should read The Witchwood Knot for spooky season. All of the books in her series are great and can be read as stand alone. The description of Girl from the Other Side sounds like the anime the Mangas Bride. The first season was great. It took me about 100 pages to get into City Of Nightmares. I'm glad I did stick it out. It's a good read
some folks in real life don't need or want human companionship, people have a lot of judgment about that. i'd like to read about that, everyone wants to be seen.
*What Moves the Dead* and *What Feasts at Night* are set in our "real" world right? I ask because, while I have read "real world" books before, it's not really my thing these days. But it's by T. Kingfisher so, yeah... :)
They're techically set in the 19 century but the main character is from a country that doesn't exist. It's a fictional Eastern European country. The second book takes place there. To me, neither books' setting felt very real world like.
Manga~ *Shiryou Jutsushi no Otetsudai or The Necromancer Maid - A young lady is found in the forest by a cranky alchemist. He hires her to be his housekeeper. Wacky hijinks ensue. It's fun, it's heartwarming, it's a bit spooky. *Gakkougurashi! or School-Live! - A class is living at school, everything is totally normal and fine. The class has to overcome their day-to-day troubles while making the most of their school lives. Everything is *fine*. This was made into an anime! (i love it very very much) *Ibara no Ou or King of Thorn - Two twins, separated by fatal illness and a selective cure. The Medusa virus slowly turns the victim to stone, there is no cure, but one of the twins is selected to go into a cryogenically frozen state until a cure is found. We start the manga (and the anime) properly with the girl waking up and coming to terms with the new world she's in and trying to find out what happened to her sister. Everything is fine. :)
I was curious also. It might be Sanctuary by V.V. James after googling it looks like the author is Vic James, it's part of the dark gifts trilogy. @@francineh.7825
I don’t know if you will see this Elliot, I wanted to mention I just finished a read called “Where The Dark Stands Still” - by A.B Poranek It’s a perfect fall time read I thought, with Beauty & The Beast meets Ancient Magnus Bride vibes! Fantasy Romance mixed with Folktale elements. It just came out this year and I would be curious to hear your opinion on this YA book? 😊
I didn't care for slewfoot that much, it had vibes but it was kind of predictable. The House In The Dark Of The Woods by Laird Hunt is way creepier, in my opinion. Has the witchy New England pilgrim setting too.
I didn't find Marigold (Honey Witch protagonist) unbearable or annoying in the beginning. I totally got where she was coming from, she felt like the family disappointment who didn't fit in. I didn't like how she looked down upon women (and people) who chose the more traditional path and that she saw marriage as wholly bad for everyone because she didn't want it. And I'm glad this perspective was countered and called out as wrong. Contemporary period dramas are very guilty of writing "empowering" female characters this way, where they frown upon anything feminine and think women who don’t rebel against gender roles are stupid (Eloise from Bridgerton is a recent example). It just lacks nuance, there were absolutely women in the past who wanted unconventional lives in various ways and fought to do so. But they weren't modern women dropped in a past era, which is how some of these characters feel. And it's also giving not like other girls.
I agree with all your critiques; but I'm not sure I would throw contemporary writers under the bus quite so forcefully. Poorly written fiction from every age has been stuffed to bursting with shallow takes and overly simplistic assertions. It's precisely those elements that make it poor writing and lest we forget, the vast majority of writing IS poor (including everything I've ever written, incidentally) and that has been true in every time period. The trick has *_always been_* identifying and consuming the good stuff, while not wasting too much time (a little can still be fun for various reasons) on the bad.
@Psittacus_erithacus Oh yeah it absolutely happened in the past too, not just nowadays. I do think this type of "empowered female character" is more common as feminist ideas and themes are more normalised in culture now, so there are more stories about women going against gender roles. And of course not all of them are done well. I'm also personally more likely to come across this trope as I read/watch many stories that are set in the past. And it bothers me when female empowerment is portrayed stereotipically, because it's an important issue outside of fiction too. So I'm glad the Honey Witch didn't do this.
@@violaivy Agree. There's no question that the many shallow examples of "female empowerment" around do some harm to the important project of societal self-reflection and change-not least because they give ammunition to the block-heads opposing it who want to cast it all as unrealistic or frivolous or (more to the point) as an attack on traditional roles. So complaining about them is, of course, completely valid. I'm about 5-10 years older than El though (I think) and amongst my aging friends there's a real trend towards denigrating new media that I feel obliged to push back against. Especially when they cherry pick examples of popular things and hold them up as representative of how all new media is. In reality of course more thoughtful, insightful, high-quality stuff is being produced today than ever before (largely due to increased population, but also broad exchange of ideas & reduced barriers to production through technology, etc.). At the same time there's also more tropey, popcorn fair that's intentionally frivolous and, indeed, more thoughtless, low-quality garbage too. So I just meant to point out that contemporary is an impossibly broad category that, while full of drivel is also full of gems and just as worthwhile as media of the past … but it seems clear you already knew all that, lol. So now I'm just killing the rest of my lunch hour with gratuitous typing. Hope you don't mind! All the best.
Highly recommend Gallant by V.E. Schwab! Really fun spooky gothic Jane Eyre vibes - centering around an orphaned heroine exploring a spooky haunted estate and unraveling her familial mystery.
The first volume of Witch Hat Atelier is on Kindle Unlimited. I’ve never read manga but you have me intrigued haha. 🍁🍂
Even if you typically you have no interest in comics I would still recommend it. It’s really a beautiful piece of work, both the writing and the art.
Secret Society of Irregular Witches was a disappointment to me. The way it is presented seems like a bulk of the book will be on the training of magic to the girls from our main witch character, and yet we get so little of that it is basically glossed over to focus on a forced relationship. Some of the best aspects of the book are grossly ignored - made me disappointed
I picked it as my vacation read last year and LOVED it. Then on a re-read this year it fell really flat for me. I love the characters and Howl's Moving Castle feel of the setting, but I think way too much time is spent on exploration of character trauma. To the point that it was bumming me out on the re-read. More high points spent on witchy lessons would have been really great. More pleasant interactions between the love interests. She thinks he hates her for 2/3 of the book lol. Grumpy sunshine is my favorite trope, but give me a little more chemistry.
I also expected more focus on the magic and, without spoilers, found a certain “humorous moment” at the climax extremely callous, all things considered, and not funny. Just morbid.
@@haylierouleau Yes! Wtf. I did not see the twist coming, but it needed a bit more gravitas. I had to suspend my disbelief quite a lot to imagine all of the characters reacting in the ways that they did. I still find the book charming overall and want to read more from this author. I just wish it spent a lot more time on the magic and the kids, and I wish it was more lighthearted.
@@haylierouleau that's been my problem with it too, couldn't stand the 'reveal' it left such a bad imprint on me
I was bored with that book.
I recently finished and can endorse *_Mexican Gothic_* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which was recommended quite strongly by Ms. Vernon (T. Kingfisher) in her author's note for _What Moves the Dead._ She said:
_" … and then I happened to read the magnificent novel Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and thought, “Oh my God, what can I possibly do with fungi in a collapsing Gothic house that Moreno-Garcia didn’t do ten times better?!” and shoved the whole thing in a virtual drawer and took heavily to the bottle. (Seriously, put down this book and go buy that one. Then pick this one up again, of course, God forbid anyone not finish the Author’s Note, but make sure you’ve put Mexican Gothic on your reading list first.)"_
The two are so similar that I wouldn't recommend reading them close together, but I think they are both well worth reading, make an interesting contrast for one another and are equally good selections for Autumn.
For those interested in a bit of comparison and my own pitch for the novel (minor vague spoilers possible):
_Mexican Gothic_ is twice as long (a full novel) and much more firmly rooted in the gothic tradition. It lacks the subtle sci-fi element and open moral questions with which T. Kingfisher embues her fungal antagonist. While I thought that was possibly the best part of _What Moves the Dead_ Moreno-Garcia's novel gets on with its own priorities perfectly well without them. _Mexican Gothic's_ protagonist is wonderfully relatable: subtly flawed, in turns both endearingly earnest and frustratingly strident in that way passionate young people so often are. She's easy to root for while still having enough personality to feel like an independent being worth getting to know. Certainly one of the better pov characters I've read this year. The other characters are suitably shrouded and creepy as the genre demands. Offering hints of veiled depths and remaining plausibly either villain or fellow victim right till the end. Ultimately an excellent example of a modern gothic novel. Perhaps not rivaling, but certainly up with Zafón's _The Shadow of the Wind_ as top tier exemplars.
Mexican Gothic was in my "worst book of the year" list when I read it 😂
@@JClover2 Folks looking to prune their TBR might find your input more useful if you shared some spoiler light details about why you felt that way! I'm sure more than a few people will agree with you and be able to save themselves the trouble. As it is how could they possibly tell which experience (yours or mine) they're more likely to share?
@@Psittacus_erithacus honestly it's been a while since I've read the book and I've also tried to forget it 😁. I don't remember specifics but my main beef was the book got so hilariously weird that it ruined all the creepy tension that had been built up to that point. I thought the ending was very rushed and I did not find myself rooting for any of the characters or connecting with them in any way either. It was just one of those "what on earth did I just read" books for me. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm finishing Libba Bray's the Diviners series and I must say it's great, especially if you value strong friendships trope. Now I miss this in books, and realistic paranormal abilities trope.
Just caught up on Witch Hat Atelier! So excited with where it’s going
Hello from the southern hemisphere! Thank you for the spring recommendation!
Been loving T. Kingfisher and Alice Hoffman this month. The Practical Magic series never fails to get me.
Also, fun random Gothic horror I enjoyed was A Botanical Daughter.
you should do more horror books alot of us like that instead.
Just found out your channel through Regan's and can't wait to see other videos as I loved the variety you presented! ❤
I personally don't love creepy stories, but I enjoy a witchy plot or subplot (when done tastefully). I gave Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo a chance and liked it. I think it would be a good addition to the list if anyone is interested, specifically for the upcoming spooky season.
Witches Guide to Magical Inkeeping was supposed to be April 24, but it’s been pushed back 3 times, now to April 25. Fingers crossed this is the last time.
Just finished the Belladonna series and while the ending was a touch messy and rushed for my liking, I still enjoyed it greatly. The atmosphere was so perfect for fall and I already miss the world and the characters!
I just bought the witch manga. Excited to try it out
Loved the honey witch one of my favorite books 🎃🤎🤎🎃💛💛🍃🤎🤎🎃💛🖤🖤👻🍃🍃🎃🤎🤎🤎🤎🍁💛📙📚📚📙📚📚📙💛🍃🍃👻🖤💛🎃🤎🤎🎃🍁💛💛📚📚📚💛💛🎃🤎🍁💛🍂🍂🖤🖤
I read The Hacienda by Isabel Canas last October and it scared me a bit. I have Witch Hat Atelier on my TBR because you keep mentioning it.
I loved The Hacienda! Such a great creepy book.
I read witch hat atelier this summer and loved it. The nightmare books are on my list. I love weird creepy fantasy books.
I like your channel because I’m trying to get away from adaptation to tv or movie books and you don’t show too many of those, if at all.
Wisteria is out now which is the third book after Belladonna and Foxglove!
City of Nightmares and Cage of Dreams were so much fun. I liked the dark humor in the books, and it was a little creepy.
this format really suits me
I have about 50 pages left in Belladonna. Absolutely ❤️ it! Luckily, my copy of Foxglove arrived today! (I've heard it must be on hand when Belladonna is finished!)
Belladonna series is so good and absolutely my favorite and I feel connected with the main character and so magical flawless love her writing 🖤📚📚📚📚🖤🤎💛💛🖤📙📙🍁🍁🎃🍁🍂🍂📙👻🎃🍃🍃🤎🖤📚📚📚🤎🍃🍃🤎🖤🖤🤎📙📙👻🎃📖📖🍃🍃💛🖤📚📙📙📙📙🍂📙💛🍁📚📚📚🍁🖤🖤🍁🤎🤎🎃📖📖🎃📙📙🎃📖👻🖤🖤🍁📚👻👻🍃🍃🖤💛📚🍁🖤🖤🍁📚🤎🤎📙📙🤎🤎🎃📖👻🍃🖤📚📚📚💛🖤
I enjoyed City of Nightmares. Still looking for Cage of Dreams.
I loved City of Nightmares. Totally underrated!
Fans of Half A Soul should read The Witchwood Knot for spooky season. All of the books in her series are great and can be read as stand alone.
The description of Girl from the Other Side sounds like the anime the Mangas Bride. The first season was great.
It took me about 100 pages to get into City Of Nightmares. I'm glad I did stick it out. It's a good read
I just saw that the Belladonna series has a third book out now too.
read the forbidden book Magnetic Aura on Borlest, and you'll see the secrets they're keeping from us.
So excited for the Witch Hat Atelier anime.
A Dark and Secret Magic is a witchy new release I’m excited for :)
Yay for fall!! 🍁
I’d love to know your review of Wisteria!
some folks in real life don't need or want human companionship, people have a lot of judgment about that. i'd like to read about that, everyone wants to be seen.
*What Moves the Dead* and *What Feasts at Night* are set in our "real" world right? I ask because, while I have read "real world" books before, it's not really my thing these days. But it's by T. Kingfisher so, yeah... :)
They're techically set in the 19 century but the main character is from a country that doesn't exist. It's a fictional Eastern European country. The second book takes place there. To me, neither books' setting felt very real world like.
@@violaivy Ok, cool. Thanks. :)
I’ve heard such mixed things about the honey witch :(
really liked this video
Have you read wisteria yet? love your channel
Manga~
*Shiryou Jutsushi no Otetsudai or The Necromancer Maid - A young lady is found in the forest by a cranky alchemist. He hires her to be his housekeeper. Wacky hijinks ensue. It's fun, it's heartwarming, it's a bit spooky.
*Gakkougurashi! or School-Live! - A class is living at school, everything is totally normal and fine. The class has to overcome their day-to-day troubles while making the most of their school lives. Everything is *fine*. This was made into an anime! (i love it very very much)
*Ibara no Ou or King of Thorn - Two twins, separated by fatal illness and a selective cure. The Medusa virus slowly turns the victim to stone, there is no cure, but one of the twins is selected to go into a cryogenically frozen state until a cure is found. We start the manga (and the anime) properly with the girl waking up and coming to terms with the new world she's in and trying to find out what happened to her sister. Everything is fine. :)
Great Video!
When it comes to witches I sincerely recommend “Sanctuary” by Vic James. I love both this author and this book.
I tried looking for your recommendation but couldn't find it on Amazon or Kobo.
I was curious also. It might be Sanctuary by V.V. James after googling it looks like the author is Vic James, it's part of the dark gifts trilogy. @@francineh.7825
awesome
Honey Witch was such a disappointment-
Honestly I was so hyped for it but hearing all the reviews... I'm wary now.
best!!!
I don’t know if you will see this Elliot, I wanted to mention I just finished a read called “Where The Dark Stands Still” - by A.B Poranek
It’s a perfect fall time read I thought, with Beauty & The Beast meets Ancient Magnus Bride vibes! Fantasy Romance mixed with Folktale elements.
It just came out this year and I would be curious to hear your opinion on this YA book? 😊
Ooh you might have found a manga I actually want to spend money on.
There needs to be a better term for "adult fantasy".
Some recommendations sound quite cool... But no "Slewfoot"?????? HERESY!!!!!!!!!
I didn't care for slewfoot that much, it had vibes but it was kind of predictable. The House In The Dark Of The Woods by Laird Hunt is way creepier, in my opinion. Has the witchy New England pilgrim setting too.
The Official Fall Flannel Shirt™. "...just wants to make her some pie."
I didn't find Marigold (Honey Witch protagonist) unbearable or annoying in the beginning. I totally got where she was coming from, she felt like the family disappointment who didn't fit in.
I didn't like how she looked down upon women (and people) who chose the more traditional path and that she saw marriage as wholly bad for everyone because she didn't want it. And I'm glad this perspective was countered and called out as wrong. Contemporary period dramas are very guilty of writing "empowering" female characters this way, where they frown upon anything feminine and think women who don’t rebel against gender roles are stupid (Eloise from Bridgerton is a recent example). It just lacks nuance, there were absolutely women in the past who wanted unconventional lives in various ways and fought to do so. But they weren't modern women dropped in a past era, which is how some of these characters feel. And it's also giving not like other girls.
I agree with all your critiques; but I'm not sure I would throw contemporary writers under the bus quite so forcefully. Poorly written fiction from every age has been stuffed to bursting with shallow takes and overly simplistic assertions. It's precisely those elements that make it poor writing and lest we forget, the vast majority of writing IS poor (including everything I've ever written, incidentally) and that has been true in every time period. The trick has *_always been_* identifying and consuming the good stuff, while not wasting too much time (a little can still be fun for various reasons) on the bad.
@Psittacus_erithacus Oh yeah it absolutely happened in the past too, not just nowadays. I do think this type of "empowered female character" is more common as feminist ideas and themes are more normalised in culture now, so there are more stories about women going against gender roles. And of course not all of them are done well.
I'm also personally more likely to come across this trope as I read/watch many stories that are set in the past. And it bothers me when female empowerment is portrayed stereotipically, because it's an important issue outside of fiction too. So I'm glad the Honey Witch didn't do this.
@@violaivy Agree. There's no question that the many shallow examples of "female empowerment" around do some harm to the important project of societal self-reflection and change-not least because they give ammunition to the block-heads opposing it who want to cast it all as unrealistic or frivolous or (more to the point) as an attack on traditional roles. So complaining about them is, of course, completely valid.
I'm about 5-10 years older than El though (I think) and amongst my aging friends there's a real trend towards denigrating new media that I feel obliged to push back against. Especially when they cherry pick examples of popular things and hold them up as representative of how all new media is. In reality of course more thoughtful, insightful, high-quality stuff is being produced today than ever before (largely due to increased population, but also broad exchange of ideas & reduced barriers to production through technology, etc.). At the same time there's also more tropey, popcorn fair that's intentionally frivolous and, indeed, more thoughtless, low-quality garbage too. So I just meant to point out that contemporary is an impossibly broad category that, while full of drivel is also full of gems and just as worthwhile as media of the past … but it seems clear you already knew all that, lol. So now I'm just killing the rest of my lunch hour with gratuitous typing. Hope you don't mind! All the best.