Others: Mixed In this adventure-packed portal fantasy, three teens discover a gateway to a mythical Labyrinth in the Appalachian Mountains Barren’s Peak, West Virginia, is not a place anyone would call magical, but Thea LaGuerre calls it home. A high school drop-out whose mother died in an accident, Thea is stuck working part-time jobs just to make ends meet. The most she has to look forward to are barn parties where she can make out with Callum, the one interesting boy who moved to town six months ago. Thea doesn’t know it yet, but Callum was sent to Barren’s Peak to watch her. He was raised within the magicians’ order, a shadowy organization meant to keep humanity safe from an underworld of monsters. Callum would sacrifice anyone, including himself, to help their cause, but he still can’t help falling into Thea’s orbit. She’s the first person he’s felt seen by since his childhood sweetheart, Oliver—who he hasn’t seen since Oliver’s banishment from the order. But Oliver hasn’t given up on Callum or on magic. Following a magical creature’s trail to Barren’s Peak, Oliver happens upon Callum and Thea at a barn party that turns into a monster-overrun massacre. To save Callum and the girl he’s protecting from a wave of deadly fairies, Oliver opens a portal for the three of them to flee into the Labyrinth. To get home again, Thea, Oliver, and Callum will have to work together to survive the Labyrinth’s trials and discover the threads that brought them there.
Genres: fantasy, romance, young adult
Lists: …
Sophie Lark
2020 · 304 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveA Match Made in Hell The Griffins and the Gallos have been battling for control of Chicago’s underworld for generations. Their bitter rivalry reignites when Aida, the youngest and wildest Gallo sibling, crashes a party at the Griffin mansion, accidentally setting fire to the library. To stave off all-out war, her father arranges a marriage with Callum Griffin, eldest son and heir. Cold, ambitious, and brutal, Callum is determined to tame his headstrong bride. Aida is more than capable of giving as good as she gets – starting with poisoning Callum on their wedding night. In their struggle for dominance, who will break first?
What made the match, strongest first
Victoria Aveyard
2016 · 142 pages · 1 review
Others: MixedDiscover the truth of Norta's bloody past in these two revealing prequels to #1New York Times bestseller Red Queen. Plus, a Glass Sword sneak peek!
What made the match, strongest first
Rebecca Yarros
2023 · 517 pages · 47 reviews
Others: MixedTwenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
What made the match, strongest first
Cassandra Clare
2018 · 192 pages · 1 review
Others: MixedThe first installment of Cassandra Clare's bestselling urban fantasy series, The Mortal Instruments, is adapted into a graphic novel series! Hanging out with her best friend, Simon, is just about the most exciting thing in Clary's life...that is, until she realizes there are people only she can see. But when her mother disappears and a monster attacks her, Clary has to embrace a world that she never even knew existed--a world full of vampires, werewolves, demons, and those who fight for the humans, Shadowhunters.
What made the match, strongest first
Josiah Bancroft
2013 · 393 pages · 21 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positive"The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel of the Silk Age. Immense as a mountain, the ancient Tower holds unnumbered ringdoms, warring and peaceful, stacked one on the other like the layers of a cake. It is a world of geniuses and tyrants, of airships and steam engines, of incredible animals and mysterious machines. While honeymooning in the Tower of Babel, Thomas Senlin loses his wife. A mild-mannered headmaster of a village school, Thomas Senlin is drawn to the Tower by scientific curiosity and the grandiose promises of a guidebook. It seems the perfect destination for a honeymoon. But soon after arriving in the Tower bazar, Senlin loses Marya in the crowd. Before he can find Marya, Senlin must first discover himself. Senlin's search for Marya carries him through madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassination, and the long guns of a flying fortress. But if he hopes to find his wife, he must do more than survive. This quiet man of letters will have to become a man of action"--
What made the match, strongest first
Erin Watt
2016 · 370 pages · 5 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveElla Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone. That is until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal is more magnetic than the last, but none is as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from. Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals. He might be right. Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.
What made the match, strongest first
MixedSo far, I'm giving it like a three-star rating. Like that's where I'm at with it. It started out feeling like The Raven Boys and I was like, "Ooh, I have found a hidden gem because nobody is talking about this book and it's giving Raven Boys vibes." But now, I don't really know how I feel about it because I feel like it's not giving enough detail. It's withholding a lot of information from me, the reader, and I think that is something that I really struggle with.
