But sometimes? Sometimes all that becomes worth it. I’ve skimmed hundreds of pages, I’ve vowed to give up many times.

I’ve spent the last couple of years steadily realising that YA is… no longer for me, shall we say? There’ve been countless books I’ve read that have bored me to death. (The first, for anyone curious, was Courtney Gould’s The Dead and the Dark.) So far this year, there have been only two books I’ve read that I’ve finished an ARC of, and then immediately gone away to preorder. This is the perfect book to pick up if you are looking for a historical kingdom story that is a little more adult, but still love the YA fantasy tropes, and want something that feels relevant to today (but in a fun way).ĬWs: implied torture, gore, illness, amputation, human experimentation yes, the ending is a bit rushed and there are some things that are left unexplained, but it feels pretty wrapped-up as a whole, so thats what matters to me. the art of creating a complete story in just one book seems to be a rare thing these days in YA fantasy, so i appreciate what the author has accomplished with this. I also have to give credit where its due. hes extremely mature and level-headed, so he was easy to like. so often its young women who are the protagonists in YA fantasy, so it was refreshing to follow cas and his growth and life. the prose is so easy to feel present with and its written in third person, which i personally prefer. but to find out its actually based on the black plague and a particular instance that happened because of it (wont mention what because of spoilers) had me enjoying this so much more.īut what first drew me in is the writing - it had me glued me to the page. I thought this was a COVID inspired book as a main chuck of the story is about an illness.

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier