Books Read 2025

Summing up a year in a couple of paragraphs is always one hell of a challenge, but here we go: We hit and passed the one year mark on owning our own house, and honestly it's been pretty good. We're looking to put on a new roof this spring just because of the age alone, but truly there have been zero major repair issues. We picked a house with good bones, I guess, but not like the T. Kingfisher book because that would be less good.

There were the usual ups and downs, I took a shot at an opening for full time at the library, and it went to somebody with the same credentials and work history who'd been waiting for a full time position longer. I was told that was literally the only determining factor in the end, so keep applying and it's a matter of when not if. Apparently I was one of a very small handful of interviewees though, and it was a tough choice, so that's at least nice to hear.

I'm not going to talk about politics or the state of the world too much right here, but most of the bad in our lives this past year comes from that. We've all been stressed a lot, in this household. I have nightmares. We contribute where we can but we're also leery of getting directly into the protests just because I am increasingly afraid of being arrested just for existing as it is. We did paint protest signs for others. And we worry. We worry a lot. An additional form of stress came to us at 4am on Black Friday in feline form, and we ended up with an unexpected foster cat over Christmas- very sweet, but she also loathed our 16 yr old cat with a violent rage, so she was incompatible with our household. She has now gone off to be fostered by a guy involved in returning a missing local shop cat that was a big thing in the local news earlier this year. She was stressful while she was here, but we do miss her a little now that she's gone. On the note of missing someone, one of my favorite co-workers is leaving to move several hours away and work in a library there. Her last day was last week, and I spent much of the week out sick with the flu, so that was kind of dismal. I am now recovering, albeit still with an ugly cough. And of course, I got books for Christmas! My to-read pile waxes and wanes, but it's always pretty high after the holidays so I have a lot to look forward to reading in the new year!

But here's the recap of 2025:

The Chancellor and the Citadel (GN) - Maria Capelle Frantz

How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England - Ruth Goodman

Snapdragon (GN) - Kat Leyh

The Wild Robot - Peter Brown

When Among Crows - Veronica Roth

The Particolored Unicorn - Jon DeCles

Black Unicorn - Tanith Lee

Rainbow! Volume 1 (GN) - Sunny

Paladin's Grace - T. Kingfisher

The Flintstones Vol 1 (GN) - Mark Russell

Paladin's Strength - T. Kingfisher

The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle

Gold Unicorn - Tanith Lee

Red Unicorn - Tanith Lee

Painting with Watercolor, Pen, & Ink - Claudia Nice

No Country for Old Gnomes - Delilah S. Dawson

The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe - Theodore Gray

Redder than Blood - Tanith Lee

Sunhead (GN) - Alex Assan

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear - Seanan McGuire

All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot

Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story (GN) - Sarah Myer

Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story (GN) - Nicole Maines

Eartha (GN) - Cathy Malkasian

The Glass Dragon - Irene Radford

Lockjaw - Matteo L. Cerilli

The Rainbow Goblins (picture book) - Ul De Rico

Paladin's Hope - T. Kingfisher

The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel

The Wonderling - Mira Bartok

The Valley of Horses - Jean M. Auel

Dealing With Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede

Cat Gods, Goddesses, Deities, and Demons - Natalie Bovis

The Electric State - Simon Stålenhag

Over the Garden Wall Vol 2-5 (GN) - Pat McHale

The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M. Auel

Once Was Willem - M.R. Carey

The Middle Ages: A Graphic History (GN) - Eleanor Janega

Gift From the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel

We Shall Be Monsters - Alyssa Wees

Ghost Roast (GN) - Shawnelle Gibbs

Twelfth Grade Night (GN) - Molly Horton Booth

The Library of Ever - Zeno Alexander

Arsène Lupin: Gentleman Thief - Maurice LeBlanc

MASQUERADE (picture book) - Kit Williams

Afternoon of the Elves - Janet Taylor Lisle

Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jannson

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest - Aubrey Hartman

The Crumrin Chronicles Vol 3: The Wild & the Innocent (GN) - Ted Naifeh

Kariba (GN) - Daniel Clarke

The Wild Robot Escapes - Peter Brown

The Shelters of Stone - Jean M. Auel

The Wild Robot Protects - Peter Brown

The Green Children of Woolpit - J. Anderson Coates

Witch for Hire (GN) - Ted Naifeh

Paladin's Faith - T. Kingfisher

Birth of the Firebringer - Meredith Ann Pierce

Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair (GN) - Lucy Knisley

The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R. King

The Door in the Wall - Marguerite de Angeli

Tehanu - Ursula K. Le Guin

Dragon's Blood - Jane Yolen

Dark Moon - Meredith Ann Pierce

The Son of Summer Stars - Meredith Ann Pierce

The Art of Comic Book Writing - Mark Kneece

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 (GN) - David Peterson

Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 (GN) - David Peterson

Mouse Guard: The Black Axe (GN) - David Peterson

And the Trees Crept In - Dawn Kurtagich

Hotel Dare (GN) - Terry Blas

Over My Dead Body (GN) - Sweeney Boo

Forever Home (GN) - Jenna Ayoub

The Grave Issue: The Supernatural Wars - Jesse Stimpson

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law - Mary Roach

Cottons: The Secret of the Wind (GN) - Jim Pascoe

Cottons: The White Carrot (GN) - Jim Pascoe

Dasher (picture book) - Matt Tavares

The Legend of St. Nicholas (picture book) - Dandi Daley Mackall

Pet Sematary - Stephen King

What Stalks the Deep - T. Kingfisher

Watership Down: The Graphic Novel (GN) - James Sturm

The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher

Sleepless Vol 1 (GN) - Sarah Vaughn

The Medieval Imagination: Images in the Margins - Margot McIlwain Nishimura

Sleepless Vol 2 (GN) - Sarah Vaughn

The House with a Clock in its Walls - John Bellairs

Stepsister - Jennifer Donnelly

The Good Neighbors Vol 1-3 (GN) - Holly Black & Ted Naifeh

Searching for Dragons - Patricia C Wrede

Calling on Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede

A Book, Too, Can Be a Star - Charlotte Jones Voiklis

Talking to Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede

Apocalypse Taco (GN) - Nathan Hale

Evil-ish (GN) - Kennedy Tarrell

Silverwing (GN) - Kenneth Oppel

Irrational Fears (GN) - Ursula Vernon

Books Read 2024

This year I only hit 100 books exactly, but I've certainly kept busy, and the photo here shows just one thing that occupied my time and attention! That's right, this winter I put on a red suit (and a lot of padding) and played Santa Claus, with a very lovely Mrs. Claus at my side. I don't know how I would've done it alone, but my wife made the whole experience a delight, and together we talked to a whole lot of kids and I think it was just as magical for us as it was for them.

That's not even the biggest thing that's happened this year, though! We bought our first house. While we weren't exactly planning to move, our landlord decided to sell the house we've been in for years, and yes he did give us the first chance at buying it for a slightly reduced price, but even that was higher than we wanted to pay and in addition the house had some structural issues that we did not want to take on. Instead we ended up moving across the county, some 45 minutes away but approximately 5 minutes drive from the library where I work. My father in law helped immensely with the down payment, bringing the mortgage within our reach. We're still settling in, but it's not much smaller than our old place, our best friend is moving in with us, and I am both intimidated and excited to take on the landscaping of our (incredibly barren) yard.

Honestly the fact that I managed 100 books this year with all of that going on was kind of a miracle.

In an Absent Dream - Seanan McGuire

Misfit City Vol 1 (GN) - Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith

Beneath the Sugar Sky - Seanan McGuire
Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan McGuire
The Buried and the Bound - Rochelle Hassan
Come Tumbling Down - Seanan McGuire
Animal Castle Vol 1 (GN) - Xavier Dorison
The Black Bull of Norroway (GN) - Cat Seaton
The Crumrin Chronicles Vol 2: The Lost and the Lonely (GN) - Ted Naifeh
A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn amongst the Pyrates, written by herself - Katherine Howe
The Fire Never Goes Out (GN) - N.D. Stevenson
The Art of Starving - Sam J. Miller
We Are All So Good at Smiling - Amber McBride
Nettle & Bone - T. Kingfisher
Turtles All the Way Down - John Green
Thirsty Mermaids (GN) - Kat Leyh
The Mysteries (GN) - Bill Watterson
Doll Bones - Holly Black
The Other Wind - Ursula K. Le Guin
Buzzing (GN) - Samuel Sattin
Gender Queer: A Memoir (GN) - Maia Kobabe
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known - Seanan McGuire
Where the Drowned Girls Go - Seanan McGuire
Lost in the Moment and Found - Seanan McGuire
The Ojja-Wojja (GN) - Magdalene Visaggio
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within - Becky Chambers
A House with Good Bones - T. Kingfisher
Bryony and Roses - T. Kingfisher
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed - Dashka Slater
The Twisted Ones - T. Kingfisher
Hope Never Dies - Andrew Shaffer
Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
The Wicked Will Rise - Danielle Paige
Welcome to Night Vale - Joseph Fink
Three Tasks for a Dragon - Eoin Colfer
Yellow Brick War - Danielle Paige
The End of Oz - Danielle Paige
The Man in the Moon (picture book)- William Joyce
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King - William Joyce
E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core! - William Joyce
Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies - William Joyce
The Sandman: The story of Sanderson Mansnoozie (picture book) - William Joyce
The Sandman and the War of Dreams - William Joyce
Jack Frost: The End becomes the Beginning - William Joyce
Mr Wuffles! (picture book) - David Weisner
The Aviary - Kathleen O'Dell
What Moves the Dead - T. Kingfisher
Princess Princess Ever After (GN) - Kay O'Neill
Spill Zone (GN) - Scott Westerfeld
Spill Zone 2: The Broken Vow (GN) - Scott Westerfeld
Seven Endless Forests - April Genevieve Tucholke
Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life (GN) - Emma SteinKellner
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea - Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Grow Shade Garden: Essential Know-how and Expert Advice for Gardening Success - Zia Allaway
What Feasts at Night - T. Kingfisher
My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol. 1 (GN) - Emil Ferris
Lackadaisy Vol 2 (GN) - Tracy J. Butler
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi - S.A. Chakraborty
My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol. 2 (GN) - Emil Ferris
The Siren, the Song, and the Spy - Maggie Tokuda-Hall
The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl (GN) - Emily Riesbeck
Night of the Living Queers (collection) - Various
Sea of Thieves (GN) - Jeremy Whitley
A Pirate's Life for Tea - Rebecca Thorne
A Sorceress Comes to Call - T. Kingfisher
The Crane Husband - Kelly Barnhill
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - Andrew Joseph White
Remarkable Diaries - D.K. Publishing
Over the Garden Wall: Distillatoria (GN) - Jonathan Case
A Blink of the Screen - Terry Pratchett
My Boyfriend is a Bear (GN) - Pamela Ribon
Island of Whispers - Frances Hardinge
The Night Gardener - Jonathon Auxier
All the Lovely Bad Ones (GN) - Scott Peterson
Moomin: The Complete Comic Strip Vol 1 - Tove Jannson
The Girl from the Well - Rin Chupeco
Seaglass Summer - Anjali Banerjee
The Time of Green Magic - Hilary McKay
The Seer of Shadows - Avi
The Monsters of Rookhaven - Padraig Kenny
How to Stay Invisible - Maggie C. Rudd
ParaNorman - Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
The Singing Bones - Shaun Tan
Nimona (GN) - N.D. Stevenson
Horrorstör - Grady Hendrix
Taxi Ghost (GN) - Sophie Escabasse
Blood at the Root - LaDarrion Williams
Salt & Broom - Sharon Lynn Fisher
Wingbearer (GN) - Marjorie M. Liu
Wingborn (GN) - Marjorie M. Liu
How to be a Tudor - Ruth Goodman
The Monster of Elendhaven - Jennifer Giesbrecht
The Book of the Dun Cow - Walter Wangerin Jr.
The Game - Diana Wynne Jones
Ghost Knight - Cornelia Funke
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and other European Stories (GN) - Mary Cagle
By Night Vol 1 (GN) - John Allison
By Night Vol 2 (GN) - John Allison
By Night Vol 3 (GN) - John Allison

Buzzing by Samuel Sattin

 

I'm always impressed by the variety of representation in YA and kid's books now, for both queer and neurodivergent kids. I picked this one up in part because of the appealing art, but it also turned out to be a wonderful depiction of young teens dealing with mental health and queerness.

Isaac is struggling, in school and in life. He is constantly plagued by a swarm of invasive thoughts that buzz in his head like angry bees (a very effective visual depiction). He is never without them- not when he's trying to pay attention in class, not when he's drawing (and he's very good at drawing), and not even at bedtime as he tries to fall asleep.

He lives with his mother and big sister, and he doesn't have many friends, but he does have a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He does his homework, sees his therapist, and just tries to get through each day while the negative thoughts buzz, buzz buzz.

Then a classmate, Micah, invites Isaac to come play in their Swamps & Sorcery game (Look, D&D has an expensive copyright okay?). Turns out it's not just Micah, but a whole group of kids. They think Isaac's art is amazing. They think Isaac is amazing, and when he's submerged in the fantasy of the game, his invasive thoughts are a lot quieter. Suddenly he has friends, and he's trying new things, and everything is a little easier. Also Micah maybe really likes him, and Isaac likes them too.

But when Isaac gets a D on a test, he hides it- only for his sister to spot it and tell their mom. His mother decides the game and his new friends are a distraction. The therapist has warned that fantasy can be dangerous for obsessive thoughts, but different things work for different people and Isaac has found it to be helpful. Now cut off from both his new interests and his friends, the buzzing of negative thoughts returns full force. On top of that, he's convinced his sister hates him.

Isaac has to prove that he can both keep up his grades and that his new friends and their game are a help, not a hindrance. He may get help from an unexpected side.

I really loved the realism in the family interactions here, there's no black and white, no good or bad guys, and no cure for OCD. A lot of people have what's best for Isaac in mind but the conflict comes from the difference in their ideas of what that is. There's no easy answers here, just the real life struggle of working out what makes life a little better.

Books Read 2023

 

It's been a long year, with some serious ups and downs. In October, I finally got top surgery! Zero regrets, apart from wishing it could've happened sooner. I feel so much better with a load off my chest! 

I've come a very long way from where I was when I started this blog, jobless, unhappy in my body, and just generally not in a great place mentally. I was looking for something better, and my life has reached a much better place since.

We spent the last few months babying my cat Maxie though, as she slowly succumbed to cancer. We had a lot of debates about when and how to let her go, as she gradually went downhill and her ear tips curled from prednisone, but she was still enthusiastically eating and even had some of our chicken the night before she passed away quietly in her sleep, sparing us the decision.

I still miss her, and 13 years does not seem like long enough. 

But I did read, through the year, and here's the final list. Maintaining my streak of beating 100 books per year.

Merrow - Amanda Braxton-Smith

Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters

Pumpkin Heads (GN) - Rainbow Rowell & Faith Erin Hicks

What if We Were... (GN) - Axelle Lenoir

The Witch Boy (GN) - Molly Knox Ostertag

Ratscalibur - Josh Lieb

Castle Waiting Volumes I & II (GN) - Linda Medley

The Ringmaster's Wife - Kristy Cambron

The Great & Only Barnum - Candace Fleming

Orphans of the Carnival - Carol Birch

Haunting at Bonaventure Circus - Jaime Jo Wright

The Dogtrot Murder - Nick Sanders

Swords: An Artist's Devotion (picture book) - Ben Boos

The Wonders - John Woolf

TAZ: Eleventh Hour (GN) - The McElroys

The Church of Marvels - Leslie Parry

Self-Made Man - Norah Vincent

The One and Only Ivan - Katherine Applegate

A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

The Girl from the Sea (GN) - Molly Knox Ostertag

Snapdragon (GN) - Kat Leyh

Backwoods Witchcraft - Jake Richards

Becoming a Man - P. Carl

Fangs (GN) - Sarah Anderson

The Dreaming I: Pathways & Emanations - Simon Spurrier

Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbit

The Hidden Witch (GN) - Molly Knox Ostertag

The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. LeGuin

The Farthest Shore - Ursula K. LeGuin

Garbage Night (GN) - Jen Lee

Blackwater (GN) - Jeanette Arroyo & Ren Graham

City of Villains - Estelle Laure

Cottons: The Secret of the Wind (GN) - Jim Pascoe

As the Crow Flies (GN) - Melanie Gillman

Dewey's Nine Lives - Vicki Myron

The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner - Terry Pratchett

Grandma Gatewood's Walk - Ben Montgomery

Archival Quality (GN) - Ivy Noelle Weir & Steenz

Pumpkin - Julie Murphy

Dumplin - Julie Murphy

Howl's Moving Castle - Dianna Wynne Jones

Squire & Knight (GN) - Scott Chantler

House of Many Ways - Dianna Wynne Jones

Labyrinth Bestiary - S.T. Bende

Anya's Ghost (GN) - Vera Brosgol

Castle in the Air - Dianna Wynne Jones

Camp Whatever (GN) - Chris Grine

Ghostlight - Kenneth Oppel

Neverlanders (GN) - Tom Taylor & Jon Sommariva

Lumberjanes V1-4 (GN) - N. Stevenson & S. Watters

The Doors to Nowhere (GN) - Chris Grine

Lumberjanes V5-6 (GN) - N. Stevenson & S. Watters

Malamander - Thomas Taylor

Lumberjanes V7-8 (GN) - N. Stevenson & S. Watters

The Blue Salt Road - Joanne Harris

Wait 'til Helen Comes (GN) - Mary D. Hahn & Scott Peterson

Pearl of the Sea (GN) - Anthony Silverston &

Mistress of the Storm - M. L. Welsh

The Castle in the Attic - Elizabeth Winthrop

Hamster Princess #1 - Ursula Vernon

Long Lost - Jacqueline West

Lumberjanes V 9-11 (GN) - N. Stevenson & S. Watters

The Wainscott Weasel - Tor Seidler

Tin - Padraig Kenny

Lumberjanes V12-14 (GN) - N. Stevenson & S. Watters

Lighthouse Family 1: The Storm - Cynthia Rylant

Jed and the Junkyard War - Steven Bohls

The Magnificent Monsters of Cedar Street - Lauren Oliver

Sea Serpent's Heir #1 (GN) - Mairghread Scott & Pablo Tunica

Revenge of the Librarians (Cartoons) - Tom Gould

The Skull - Jon Klassen

Troll Mill - Katherine Langrish

The Bellwoods Game - Celia Krampien

Things in the Basement (GN) - Ben Hatke

The Girl from the Other Side #1-11 (GN) - Nagabe

Seven Wild Sisters - Charles de Lint

From Here to Eternity - Caitlin Doughty

Saint Juniper's Folly - Alex Crespo

White Smoke - Tiffany Jackson

Greymist Fair - Francesca Zappia

All Out - Various Editor Saundra Mitchell

Hollow (GN) - Shannon Watters, B. Boyer-White, & B. Nelle

Over the Garden Wall: Distillatoria (GN) - Jonathan Case

The Unlikely Ones - Mary Brown

Thornhedge - T. Kingfisher

Labyrinth - A.C. Smith

Twig (GN) - Skottie Young & Kyle Strahm

Every Heart a Doorway - Seanan McGuire

Favorite Medieval Tales - Mary Pope Osborne

Middlegame - Seanan McGuire

Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo

 

The story of Saint Juniper's Folly follows not one but three main characters.

For Theo, the town of Saint Juniper is a dead end, More of the same small town he's lived in all his life, where he's trapped by other people's expectations. He sometimes goes to the woods- and the abandoned house there know as Saint Juniper's Folly, for a break from his obligations.

Jaime has recently come back to Saint Juniper, and for him it's a return to where he started, and after bouncing around foster homes he's got nothing worth going back to, but also not much choice.

Taylor has grown up on the other side of the woods, but she hears voices calling her from the Folly. Could it be a sign from her mother- a true witch, from beyond the grave? Her father has forbidden her from both practicing magic as her mother did, and exploring the woods.

When Theo finds Jaime trapped in the local 'haunted house' in the woods, he's skeptical at first, but some mysterious force seems to have rendered Jaime literally unable to leave, trapped by an invisible wall.

Theo can bring Jaime food and water, but seeks help at the magic shop (run by Taylor's father) to free the other boy. Taylor defies her father to offer her help, but as the three of them come together to uncover the mystery of the haunted house, there's one unexpected surprise after another.

What does the house have to do with the sudden death of Taylor's mother? And neither Jaime nor Theo ever thought they'd find something- or someone worth sticking around Saint Juniper for. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of mystery, magic, and queer romance. 

The Dogtrot Murder by Nick Sanders

 

I will freely admit that I know the author of this book, but one of the reasons I became friends with them was through roleplay online because their writing and characters were so good!

This story is one that's been a long time in brewing, about a well-rounded character. Maurice is the guy on the cover, and our- maybe hero is a strong word, but the guy we root for throughout the story. He's not an angel, not a heroic type, just a blue-collar perpetually down on his luck middle America guy. He's definitely not looking to stumble into the supernatural world, and his entry to the realm of things that go bump in the night does nothing to improve his situation. Fortunately he does have some guides in his new life, but unfortunately even they can't protect him from everything.

This book features witty, good solid writing, vibrant characters, some unexpected twists and turns and a wonderful story. If you like 'Fat White Vampire Blues', the TV series 'Supernatural', and/or the struggle of the genuine everyman against vast forces you'll enjoy this one! Maurice feels very genuine, flawed, a good guy at heart but the product of a very real world that doesn't set everyone up for success in life. As a debut, this is an awesome solid novel, and there was so much more to it than I was expecting! 

To find this book and additional writings by Nick Sanders, just check their patreon!

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

 

This one was actually a re-read for me, because this comic is always such a delight to come back to. It's not a wildly dramatic quest, there's no big battles, and if you're looking for action and adventure this one might not be for you. But it *is* about fairy tales, and the spaces in between them.

Castle Waiting starts with a classic fairy tale- the princess falls asleep for ages and ages, and all the servants in the castle with her. Then a handsome prince shows up and wakes her, and she agrees to be his bride and rides off into the sunset and... well that was abrupt. What are the people left behind by this magical happy ending supposed to do?

So the castle sits, without a ruler, and the people get on with life, as even people in the background of fairy tales must do. Some people seek their fortune elsewhere, others come traveling by and end up staying, and so the dusty castle becomes home to a hodgepodge of characters who each have had their own way of weaving in and out of fairy tales, but at the castle they're pretty much just getting on with the daily business of living.

Good art is important to me, in comics, as an artist. Maybe not just objectively good art, but an art style that really clicks, and the art style here is beautiful. People are drawn in a way that is achingly human, not fashion-model glorious, but interesting and with a variety of differing facial features and body types. The attention to detail in the environment and architecture is no less, but for me it's the realism in the character designs that really hits me as lovely.

Our story does loosely follow a pregnant woman fleeing a bad situation, who ends up finding a weird safe haven in the castle with its assortment of strange characters. Over time we get to hear the backstory of a number of them, while the main character's past remains shrouded and only hinted at until it finally comes back to haunt her. There are a mix of genders in the characters, but the whole story does feel to me like a feminine one- the plot is driven by problems that are uniquely those of women trapped in a patriarchal society, and very much acknowledges the struggles of that. Definitely a good feminist read, but also I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to see the lives between the pages of fairytales.