Review: Silverborn The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Title: Silverborn The Mystery of Morrigan Crow
Author: Jessica Townsend 
Series: Nevermoor #4
Genre: Middle Grade/Adventure/Mystery
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
Edition: Ebook
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

 

 

Synopsis: 

   In the magical city of Nevermoor, long-buried secrets are coming to light, and Morrigan Crow's life is about to turn upside down . . .
   When Morrigan is invited into Nevermoor's wealthy Silver District, she discovers a world of extravagance and a family mystery she's eager to unravel. She could never imagine where it will lead: a white wedding, a golden dragon and a red pool of blood.
   Embroiled in suspicion and danger, Morrigan leaps headfirst into a murder investigation, while also grappling with her ever-growing Wundersmith powers. And although her friends are there to help, she fears that could change if they learn she's keeping a terrible secret of her own.
   As shadowy forces awaken in Nevermoor, can Morrigan find a killer and solve the mystery in her own past . . . before the clock strikes midnight?

The highly anticipated fourth book in the award-winning Nevermoor series from one of Australia's best selling and most loved authors. Jessica Townsend weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and mystery in this thrilling new installment of the Nevermoor series.

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Review: Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

Title: Heavenly Tyrant
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao 
Series: Iron Widow #2
Genre: Sci-fi/Queer/Romance
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: December 24, 2024
Edition: Ebook
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

   After suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds herself at the seat of power in Huaxia. But she has also learned that her world is not as it seems, and revelations about an enemy more daunting than Zetian imagined forces her to share power with a dangerous man she cannot simply depose. Despite having vastly different ideas about how they must deconstruct the corrupt and misogynist system that plagues their country, Zetian must join this man in a dance of truth and lies and perform their roles to perfection in order to take down their common enemy, who seeks to control them as puppets while dangling one of Zetian’s loved ones as a hostage.
   With political unrest and perilous forces aiming to undermine Zetian at every turn, can she enact positive changes as a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance?

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ARC Review: A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury

Title: A Mastery of Monsters
Author: Liselle Sambury 
Series: A Mastery of Monsters #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy/YA/Mystery
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: July 29, 2025
Edition: Ebook, 592 pages
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon US | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

Synopsis:

   When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
   The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
   Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
   Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.

Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who’s willing to do anything to find her brother—even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.

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Review: The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

Title: The Grief of Stones
Author: Katherine Addison with Liam Gerrard (Narrator) 
Series: The Chronicles of Osreth #3
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: June 23, 2022
Edition: Audiobook, 
Source: Library
Purchase/Pre-Order: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's |  

 

 

 

Synopsis:

   As a Witness for the Dead, Thara Celehar can speak to the recently departed: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty to use that ability to ascertain the intent of the dead and to find the killers of the murdered. Celehar’s time in the city of Amalo has brought him both friends and enemies—and no little notoriety. Now, when solving the murder of a marquise raises more questions than it answers, he finds himself exploring Amalo’s dark underside. 
   His investigations lead him to the Cemchelarna School for Foundling Girls, where all is not as it seems. Discovering the truth about its headmistress will lead Celehar deep into the city’s history—and into the shattering depths of the loss he fears the most.

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Review: The Witness for the Dead Katherine Addison

Title: The Witness for the Dead
Author: Katherine Addison with Liam Gerrard (Narrator) 
Series:  The Chronicles of Osreth #2
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: June 22, 2021
Edition: Audiobook, 8 hours, 12 minutes
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Apple Books  | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's | 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

   When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his father’s Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin. 
   Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honestly will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered. 
   Now Celehar’s skills lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness. 

   Katherine Addison returns to the glittering world she created for her beloved novel, The Goblin Emperor, in this stand-alone sequel.

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