Two dark fairy stories for your viewing pleasure

As you probably know, once you get to YA novels, fairy stories become less charming and rather more sinister. Case in point: these two stories, which are full of broken promises, devil's bargains and magic gone awry. Which, of course, means that they are an absolute hoot. The Iron Raven, by Julie Kagawa The queen …

Girls who fight: three fantasy stories for springtime

As the weather starts to get better, there's no excuse for not kicking back with a good book and enjoying the sunshine. Or at least the lack of biting winter wind. And if fantasy is your thing- and in particular stories about kick-ass women- then hello and welcome to this post! I've been getting stuck …

A pure, magical treat: Winterkeep, by Kristin Cashore

Words can't express just how much I love anything that Kristin Cashore writes. I remember picking up Fire from the local library at fourteen and ten years (!) later I still love it just as much; her writing style is just as compulsively readable as it was the first time I cracked the spine. So, …

Gorgeous and uplifting: We Free the Stars, by Hafsah Faizal

I was waiting for this book to be published as soon as I finished We Hunt the Flame. The prequel was everything you'd ever want in a fantasy or YA novel: romantic, lushly descriptive, inventive and above all fresh. It was such an exciting read, so when this book popped into my NetGalley box I …

A bit of girl power: kicking ass with YA heroines

We all like a bit of girl power, right? Well, these books have loads of it: the proper ass-kicking, sword wielding (mostly) kind of heroines that I always wanted to be when I was younger. And there's no better way to complement that than with a hefty dollop of fantasy alongside it. Since excellent heroines …