Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got two more new releases for you this week, and a couple of recommendations for books about the secret magic world that exists in fiction alongside our own. It seems like the weather’s suddenly decided to be nice and sunny here — and in a lot of other places in the U.S., so here’s hoping you have a nice place where you can read and get some fresh air at the same time! Nothing quite like porch and balcony season being upon us. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and may you have a relaxing weekend! See you on Tuesday!
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Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.
Bookish Goods
Legendborn Enamel Pin by EnchanedExtrasbyBri
You know I’m a sucker for an enamel pin (/looks at pin banner, looks at laptop bag) and here’s one for Legendborn fans! I love the colors on it. $14
New Releases
First Comes Summer by Maria Hesselager, translated by Martin Aitken
Folkvíand has always been unnaturally close to her brother Áslakr, due to the remoteness of their village — and the fact that their mother is a shaman who has begun to pass her knowledge to her daughter. But when their parents die from illness and Áslakr leaves on his first expedition, Folkvíand’s life is turned on its head. And worse, when her brother returns…he has founds someone else to love. Folkvíand takes her plaint first to the gods, then decides that she will fix her problems herself — before the date her brother is to marry.
Wings Once Cursed & Bound by Piper J. Drake
Peeraphan Rhattna is an ordinary woman going about her life as a dancer…until one night her rehearsal is interrupted by a violent, supernatural clash and she’s rescued by Bennett Andrews, a brooding (of course) vampire who also claims to represent a secret organization of supernatural beings who protect humans by locating mythical and magical objects. And Peeraphan has stepped into one such object, quite literally: magical red shoes that will make her dance herself to death. Except the shoes do not carry out their death sentence, and it seems Peeraphan has her own secrets, ones buried so deeply she didn’t even know them herself.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
The secret society of magical/supernatural folk who exist to protect the normies from knowledge of the fantastic is a pretty common trope in fantasy for a reason — because it’s dang fun! Here’s a couple more books about the magical world we can imagine existing under the ordinary.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
After losing her mother to an accident, 16-year-old Bree eagerly takes a place at a UNC residential program for bright high school students to get away from her sorrow and her memories. But then she witnesses a flying demon attacking someone on her first night on campus, and learns of the secret society of “Legendborn” students who hunt such monsters — the latter after one of their number tries unsuccessfully to wipe her memory. That failed spell awakens her own magic and reveals a new memory to her, of another magic user at the hospital where he mother died. If Bree wants to find out the truth, she will need to infiltrate the Legendborn.
The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
Magic is all but extinct in modern New York City; the few people with magic who survive, the Mageus, hide in the shadows. And any Mageus unlucky enough to enter Manhattan finds they are forever trapped their by a magical barrier called the Brink, from which there is no escape. Esta is a thief who steals magical artifacts from the Order, a sinister organization that created the Brink. And all of her training and stealing has led to one final job: time traveling back to 1902 to steal the book that allowed the Order to create the Brink.
See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.