Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft - Tess Sharp, Jessica Spotswood

Visual Description: Purple cover with "Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft' in large white semi-cursive script. Framing the cover are simple illustrations colored in variations of gold, orange, and white - cats, swirling ivy, poison, skulls, moon, cauldrons, cawing crows, open palm, and a spider web.

Publishing: August 28th, 2018. Harlequin Teen.

Pg Count: 405 pgs, Hardcover

Find more info: Goodreads

"A young adult fiction anthology of 15 stories featuring contemporary, historical, and futuristic stories featuring witchy heroines who are diverse in race, class, sexuality, religion, geography, and era. Are you a good witch or a bad witch? Glinda the Good Witch. Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Willow. Sabrina. Gemma Doyle. The Mayfair Witches. Ursula the Sea Witch. Morgan le Fey. The three weird sisters from Macbeth. History tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders: educated, independent, unmarried, unwilling to fall in line with traditional societal expectations. Bold. Powerful. Rebellious. A bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results. A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch. In a terrifying future, women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all. In a desolate past, three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king. Somewhere in the present, a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricane. From good witches to bad witches, to witches who are a bit of both, this is an anthology of diverse witchy tales from a collection of diverse, feminist authors. The collective strength of women working together—magically or mundanely--has long frightened society, to the point that women’s rights are challenged, legislated against, and denied all over the world. Toil & Trouble delves deep into the truly diverse mythology of witchcraft from many cultures and feminist points of view, to create modern and unique tales of witchery that have yet to be explored." - Nabbed from Goodreads

'Tis the season for witches and things that go bump in the night. Actually - in my firm opinion - there is no such thing as a 'season for witches' because witches are timeless and deserve love every season of the year. If not because they are nature-based and obviously WAY more in tune with the seasons than we are - then because we are in desperate need of magick year around. That being said..there is something obvious about the cooling, coming Autumn time that inspires a person to curl up with a witchy book or two. "Toil and Trouble' was the first book I picked up this year when I started getting that witchy vibe coming on. I've been looking forward to it forever - I'm a huge fan of Jessica Spotswood's anthology editing work. She's brought me not one but TWO Tyranny of Petticoats books and now this...Toil and Trouble. Fifteen tales of women and witchcraft.

Absolutely and utterly my cup of mystic tea.

Toil & Trouble is everything that it promises to be. It spans time, the world, worlds (plural)...etc. Each one stands on their own and it's a terrible choice to figure out which ones deserve specific mention. It's one of the best anthologies in YA, if not THE best ever. I honestly haven't read much anthologies outside of YA so I can't say it's top dog outside of the genre BUT...I can suggest it to anyone whose interests are outside of the Young Adult genre.

There's layers upon layers of feelings and meanings that the anthology encompasses as a whole. And individually the stories will sing to you in different ways. Songs that sooth, that enrage, that heal, that inspire, that devastate, that make you burn as surely as our predecessors burned at the stake for being.

I am suggesting Toil & Trouble to basically everyone, ANYONE, who is remotely interested.

Until next time,

Jess

Top Ten Tuesday : Longest Reads

It's been a while since I've done a Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme that was created by the Broke and Bookish and is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. I was feeling extra blog-y this week and figured this was the week to jump back in! The topic this week is :

Longest Books I've Ever Read

So without further a-do...

The Kingsbridge Series by Ken Follett

Pillars of the Earth - 355,830 words

World without End - 309, 270 words

A Column of Fire - 283, 040 words

My DAD was the one that turned me onto this series. He drives trucks for a living and has been listening to audiobooks in the cab for years and Follett is one of his favorites. I recently wrapped it up with Column of Fire (Thanks Dad, for lending me your Kindle!). He's got great taste, my Dad, Follett is the master of winding out a epic historical. These are...incredibly extravagant reads. Absolutely worth the time it takes to truly and thoroughly read them. *ends mini-review here* 

Mary Queen of Scots and The Isles by Margaret George

265,350 words (estimated)

This book found its way to my bookshelf about ten years after I read it in H.S. for...err...fun. And because my sister and I are weird brain clones of each other I discovered she too read this exact book back when she was a teenager for...errr....fun. We grew up in different homes, with a state between us, so it was especially interesting that we both just naturally got super obsessed with Mary Queen of Scots and read a 870 page novel featuring every single detail of her life when we were like fifteen. I honestly don't know if I could do it again. I was such a voracious little reader back then. Now, I'm like...ugh, its so long - does my library have the audio??? lol.

A Song of Fire and Ice (Game of Thrones #1) by George R.R. Martin

292,727 words

I will always stay firm in that...I will not read past the first book of A Song of Fire and Ice until he actually finishes the series. So, that is why A Game of Thrones pops up on this list versus his other longer additions to that series. IF ONLY HE'D FINISH!!!!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

259, 250 words

As I was eyeing my bookshelves for the fattest books my eyes fell on this beautiful, blue beauty. The new opening for the upcoming season of the Outlander Tv Series recently came out and it has me all nostalgic for Claire and Jamie in their first story. I've only read this and the next couple in the series and I didn't compare page count. Each ones are quite thick and go through a lot of material and plot and history. 

Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle #2) by Christopher Paolini

205,175 words

Remember this series? My brother and I both read it back in the day. Which is a feat because my brother hates reading. I still have the first book on my shelf (Eldest is longer, I checked! lol). It's so heavy that I had to read it sitting up, with it propped up on something!

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens 

185,440 words

I'm running out of ideas of where to find my longest reads! When comparing my two favorite Dickens I discovered that Oliver Twist is longer. So, here it is. I love Dickens. I need to read more of his stuff before I kick it, for sure. I believe, that Bleak House is his longest work. But, don't quote me on it! 

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

209,090 words 

I just finished this and its so fresh in my mind. It might not be the longest book on this list but it was a lot to get through. Some books have a density about them that (isn't a deterrent, by any means) makes them 'thicker' than other works of the same page or word count. If you're going with vampire fiction - 200 pgs of Harkness versus Meyer (Twilight)...one is going to be heavier than the other - even if their weight is technically the same. I'm preparing myself to start her next book in the series which is a doozy looking one. She's a historian (the author...and the main character too, lol) and REALLY loves history and it shows. It's something I enjoy (hence my first four picks on this list) so I'm up for it!

Fin! 

I couldn't think of another, every one that I thought of wasn't as long as I thought it would be! Honorable mention to the Iliad and the Oddysey that I read back in the day. Because technically those aren't the same piece of work and I read them separately.

In the construction of this list I realized that...

1. I love epic historical fiction. 

2. I will probably never be able to finish anything larger than a 400,000 word count book. Especially not in 'one go'!

3. I'm more willing to go the length if it's been on screen or been a suggestion or I just am obsessed with the genre/topic. 

4. I want to re-read most of these. 

What did you learn? I can't wait to see what everyone else put on their list and how they calculated length. I did mine via word count through this site (and google): https://www.readinglength.com/. 

Until next time, 

Jess

Wonder Woman : Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Visual Description: Background is blue cast with two cliffs and an ocean but the focus is the large wonder woman icon in blue and gold at the center, filling the lower half of the cover. And behind it is a shadowed image of a teenage Wonderwoman with her arms crossed together. Her hair is flowing to the side and you can see her face except her eyes. They are in complete shadow. At the top in white and call caps is "LEIGH BARDUGO" and below in gold and orange "WONDER WOMAN" and "WARBRINGER".  

Publishing: August 28th, 2017. Random House Children's Books.
Page Count: 364 pgs (Hardcover)
Find the Author: Goodreads
"Daughter of immortals - Princess Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mortal. Diana will soon learn that she has rescued no ordinary girl, and that with this single brave act, she may have doomed the world. Daughter of death - Alia Keralis just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted by people who think her very existence could spark a world war. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery. TogetherTwo girls will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. Tested beyond the bounds of their abilities, Diana and Alia must find a way to unleash hidden strengths and forge an unlikely alliance. Because if they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war."

Leigh Bardugo is one of the best authors in the Young Adult field right now. She's best known for her Six of Crows duology and The Grisha Trilogy. The DC Icon series are clearly angling to get well established YA authors to narrate their series. Sarah. J. Mass (Throne of Glass) helmed Catwoman's book. If you aren't aware of Bardugo and her writing - she's good at what she does and you should read her. So do that. Go read her. And you can start with this. Because I'm giving it a gazillion stars.

I don't do much in the way of comic books but I love Wonder Woman. I've loved her for her iconic image, what she has represented to women and girls, and as I grew older - how she is a pop culture reflection of Goddess spirituality and ancient mythology. I knew that I'd love anything written by Bardugo and I knew that I'd have a hard time saying no to a novelized YA Wonder Woman. Put two and two together and you'd think I would have expected to be obsessed. But, I really didn't expect for it to take me away the way it did.

Themyscera has never been brought to life like this before. Details effortlessly flow without feeling like info-dumping brought to life from Diana, teenage Princess of the Amazons, who belongs to the Island but struggles to belong amongst the people that it belongs to. The terrain, mystical but not alien, is brought to life through her eyes. And then, New York City. And then...well, I won't give too much away but I don't think it'll come as a shock that they road-trip to Greece (and a hell of a road trip it is). 

It's a fascinating concept - a society of women warriors living on a invisible, gifted mystical island separated from the outside, mainstream world. We see it both from Diana's POV and from Alia's POV. Omg - poor, poor Alia. She's basically convinced that she accidentally landed on a Greek-obsessed Cult Island. Not quite, Alia. Not quite.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the mythology that Bardugo created was how new Amazons came to be. When a female warrior is fallen in battle and she speaks the name of a Goddess and is deemed worthy - then she is reborn on the Themyscera as an Amazon. Diana's best friend on the Island and a newer Amazon (in comparison to many) spoke the name of St. Brigit when she went down fighting in a riot (not sure which one!) and was reborn an Amazon. St. Brigid is a carnation of the Goddess Brigid - ancient Celtic goddess of forge and fire. The story is the story of all the Amazons since Themyscera was gifted. EXCEPT Diana. Which, not a big shocker - is part of her teenage angst.

One of the other aspects that makes this a stand-a-lone worthy of it's own series is Bardugo's fully fleshed out cast of diverse characters. Alia is half-Greek, half African American (as is her brother) and there is no shying away from the realities of being a person of color in the modern world. We see it both from the bewildered eyes of innocent Diana and from the world-exposed Alia. It isn't just some side-observation either, it's fully acknowledged and absorbed part of Alia. Basically - it's realistic where others would either forget, neglect, or sugarcoat. Furthermore in the diversity aspect - Alia's best friend Nim is a full-figured plus sized lesbian Indian girl with epic fashion sense. Actually here, just take a look at this fanart I found on Leigh Bardugo's tumblr:

Visual Description: Background is a blue rust texture with two large Ws. From the left (all sitting) Jason, a young black man in loafers, slacks, and a white office shirt. Diana in sandals, blue jeans, and a pink tank top. Her hair is loose, wavy and blue-black. Alia, a young black woman with her hair up on the top of her head, in sneakers, jeans, a blur shirt, and a red athletic jacket. Theo, a dark skinned black young man in blue sneakers, gray jeans, and a green t-shirt. Nim, a full-figured dimple-cheeked olive skinned young woman, in dressy blue shoes, a colorful bodycon dress (legs showing). She's wearing necklaces, make-up, and her hair is loose with it shaven on one side. 

All she needed to flesh out the diversity was a character with a disability.

While there are some fine looking males - the heart and center of the story is coming of age as a young woman and the strength of female friendships. Diana and Alia both come of age in their friendship together and the challenges and plot twists they face together. The choice to stand together, an iconic oath they make to each other, and the mythology and mystery behind Helen of Troy when she was just a girl herself, entwine together to create a anthem of modern maidenhood and the purity of female friendships. 

It's not all coming-of-age angst and mythology, though. There are so many epic twists and unique and original turns in the plot that I will not spoil but can I just say - AWESOME. The BIG twist, the one that I will not speak of or even think of in too much detail - is jaw-dropping and utterly heart-crumbling. There's a legit moment (actually several) where I thought that that they were going to fail, that they were totally going to lose, and that the ending might just be something incredibly dark and tragic. And, if I'm being honest - it is tragic and it is dark and it is bittersweet.

But it's also entirely and completely wonderful. 

And, I could go on and on and on and ON about this and how much I love the mythology, imagery, sassiness, the emotional journey, the character development - but it's like 2 a.m. and I need to go to bed and wrap this post up. So, I shall leave you with this. The Amazon Oath:

SISTER IN BATTLE

I AM SHIELD AND BLADE TO YOU

AS I BREATHE,

YOUR ENEMIES WILL KNOW NO SANCTUARY

WHILE I LIVE

YOUR CAUSE IS MINE

Until next time, 

Jess