"A Drop of Venom" by Sajni Patel

A Drop of Venom (Jan. 16, 2024) by Sajni Patel.

<This is the first novel in a duology.>

<This novel does contain a trigger warning.>

Monsters come in all forms. To 16-year-old Manisha, it’s the King’s army. Those beasts have forced her people, the naga, to flee their home in Anand. Many have died. Manisha’s sent to the coveted floating mountains at age 11 and the sacred temples there. She’s an apsara, chosen for her beauty. Visitors to the floating mountains can’t so much as touch an apsara, but far from remaining safe, Manisha is viciously assaulted, declared “defiled” by the new High Priestess who’s always hated her, and is literally kicked off the floating mountains, landing in a pit of vipers. Amazingly, she survives and emerges with power she never knew she could possess. Her blood, even her spit, can turn people to stone. All Manisha wants is to find her family. Is her mother alive? Her twin sisters, Eshani (the eldest) and Sithara?

            To 17-year-old Pratyush, the famed slayer of monsters and last of his line, monsters are what he hunts to kill. Supposedly, years are added to his life for each monster slain. Supposedly, he slays enough monsters, and he’ll gain the house and peaceful, quiet life he so desires. Though he was raised to treat women as equals, Pratyush knows men who are monsters. He’s seen it with some of the men in his group, and his beloved sister was once assaulted by her betrothed. Despite being a powerful warrior, he’s nothing but a possession of the terrible King. He couldn’t save his sister, and she died. Pratyush is sent with the worthless General and a group of men to slay one more monster. A nagin. The “monster” he seeks is the woman he actually wants to marry.

            Be brave. Be cunning. Be strong. For anyone looking for a laidback story, this is not it. Patel unflinchingly tackles misogyny, sexual assault and rape culture, the trauma that comes from those experiences and tempers it with star-crossed love, sisterhood (by blood and not) and the love of family. This is set against a backdrop of mythic monster creatures and monster men and combines the Indian mythology of the naga with the Greek mythology of Medusa. The result, while upsetting to witness, is electrifying and powerful. Told from the viewpoints of Manisha and Pratyush, this fantasy/mythology is fast-paced with fantastic world-building. This dark-yet-dynamic duology opener can “adorn the world in beauty or control the world with greed.” The stakes are high, the battles are fierce, and there will be blood. Manisha is a nagin. She is venom.

"Against the Darkness" by Kendare Blake

Against the Darkness (Apr. 9, 2024) by Kendare Blake.

<This is the final novel in a trilogy.>

<Alert: Spoilers possible.>

The Darkness is coming. That makes it sound like it’s a sentient, roiling mass of dangerous, dark matter or a foreboding, probably skeletal creature with horns and poisonous claws. Instead, the Darkness consists of rogue Slayers led by Aspen, a pretty Slayer who’s killed other Slayers and trapped more in a hell dimension. Her power of persuasion is so strong that she even has Hailey’s true empathy, as Hailey otherwise plays the role of rogue Slayer/ex-Scooby. Frankie Rosenberg, the world’s first Slayer-witch, is readying to confront the Darkness and bring Buffy and the others back from the alternate dimension amidst her usual demon patrols. Her Watcher, vampire-with-a-soul Spike, and her mom, Willow, care fiercely about bringing Buffy back. Willow’s obsession is such that she is at risk of turning dark again (The Black Grimoire/Book of Wants has got to go, but will it let Willow let it go?). Jake’s having a werewolf identity crisis, made more complicated when it turns out he’s been, um, biting his lacrosse teammates, and Sigmund’s heart is torn between Hailey, the person he loves, and doing what’s expected of his goody-two-shoes self by carrying on a relationship with another Sage demon like himself. The Scoobies are a gang holding on by a thread. Strained relationships and personal issues are piling up. Can Frankie be the Scooby gang leader her friends need her to be to defeat the Darkness once and for all? And what’s going on with the super-hot underwear model (a.k.a. Grimloch, the demon Hunter of Thrace)?

With this YA paranormal novel, the Buffy: The Next Generation series is complete. The darkness that the Darkness is plotting, the possibility of Willow going dark again and the upheaval in the lives of various main and supporting characters is offset by the sarcasm and wit splashed throughout. The contemporary setting with creatures of popular legend and monsters from the original storyline set up a tempting tale for anyone who enjoys adventure, fantasy and the paranormal and isn’t only for readers who are long-standing Buffy fans. This trilogy-ender is a word burrito of flavorful protagonists and antagonists set against a New Sunnydale backdrop and slathered in familiar Buffyverse lore (for those who are well-versed, which I’m admittedly not).

Book One: In Every Generation

               Book Two: One Girl in All the World

"The Missing Sword" by Melissa de la Cruz

Never After: The Missing Sword (Dec. 5, 2023) by Melissa de la Cruz.

<This is the fourth novel in a series.>

<Alert: Spoilers possible.>

Filomena Jefferson-Cho’s mom, Bettina, is mysteriously ill, and it’s evil Olga’s fault. Filomena and the rest of the League of Seven (Jack, Alistair, Gretel, Byron, Beatrice and Rosie) start off to find a very famous sword. It’s in Camelot, of course, but Camelot is also Oz. Or Oz is also Camelot? There’s Arthurian legend and witches that weren’t meant to be wicked but are living up to the rumors Olga started. Avalon exists, just as the Emerald City does. There are Munchkins and evil flying monkeys, a Lady of the Lake and Merlin -- oops, Marlon. Sorry, Marlon! Filomena will be tested through the Brocéliande Forest to test if she deserves to enter Camelot. The group – not usually the full League of Seven – will follow the yellow brick road as they seek Excalibur in ruby red high heels (which are surprisingly comfortable), while carrying Dragon’s Tooth swords and overcoming very large arachnids and Olga’s ogres. Where there are quests within the main quest, tests to survive lest all quests fail, lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) will be the least of the League’s troubles.

            Contemporary life and fairy tales collide in this penultimate tale in The Chronicles of Never After, a middle-grade fantasy adventure. Readers embark on an escapade that’s as fun as their favorite theme park ride with the gritty determination of anyone on a mission to save a loved one. Love is brewing between Filomena and Jack, so that tween romance does feel cringey, and it didn’t lend any value to the story. The author’s stories are made absorbing by her courageous, relatable characters, rapidly-moving plot, great diversity and creative world-building of fictional realms I’d happily visit (sans evil ogres and all unsavory types, be they human or not). This is another de la Cruz middle-grade tale that’s an overall hit.

            Book One: The Thirteenth Fairy

            Book Two: The Stolen Slippers

            Book Three: The Broken Mirror