Styx: The River by Nikita Gill
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Beginning a generation before Hekate, Styx sings the story of the goddess of the underworld river that bears her name.

The firstborn child of Titans, Styx is revered as the first of her kind—until she is eclipsed and forgotten amid her scores of siblings, the Oceanids and the Potamoi.Coming of age in a world simmering with paranoia and unspoken fear of Zeus, Styx learns to conceal the rage ignited by her growing disillusionment with her parents and her vain and unkind siblings.

Instead, she finds solace and sisterhood in her cousin, Asteria. Together, they train in the arts of creation and magic. And as they seek to learn their divine purpose and their place within the Titanomachy, they discover both the joy sparked by true love and the fierce resilience birthed from motherhood.

In this lyrical and heartrending tale of sisterhood, identity, love, and war, Styx must carve her own path to womanhood—and ultimately, godhood.

Publisher Summary: From Pura Belpré Award–winning author Guadalupe García McCall comes the first in the Seasons of Sisterhood trilogy: a reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone set in the world of her bestselling Summer of the Mariposas.

As fifteen-year-old twins Delia and Velia plan the launch of their Magic-Twin Tour with their father’s Tejano band, a sudden supernatural attack on their father derails the family. Papá is delirious with a susto, a fright so awful that it allows a mysterious supernatural being to begin slowly sucking the life out of him.

As the twins hunt down his attacker, a wider world of borderland monsters opens up to them. Each twin has her own decision to make, with her own guide from the Aztec pantheon–Quetzalcoatl guiding Velia, and Xolotl advising Delia. Soon the girls must choose: Should they follow a divine mandate to become monster hunters for the goddess of death?

Can the sisters obey the will of the gods while saving their father’s life? Anything can happen within the magical realm of the borderlands.

My Thoughts: This is another beautiful story of family love and the monsters they must confront for each other. It is a fascinating adventure with Aztec deities and many other  interesting creatures. Throughout readers will be wondering which beings are truly monsters because appearances and assumptions can get in our way.

The chapters alternate between the perspectives of the twins Delia and Velia. There is a slight difference in font, but it was usually pretty clear since the chapters begin with the name of whoever is telling their part. It was nice to get to know these older versions of the characters from Summer of the Mariposas. If someone hasn’t read the other book, this still works alone. I hadn’t read Summer for so long that it was pretty hazy in my mind, but anything referring to the events of the first book is briefly explained for reminders to those who have read it and  also to give context for readers who haven’t. I still think it’s a good idea to read Summer first, but this one could stand alone.

Anyone who appreciates supernatural beings in a contemporary setting will love this one so this would be a good book to hand to fans of Rick Riordan titles. The revealing of both worlds is delightful and adds suspense with the layers of the unknown. It also dances along the edge of horror with such terrifying beings balanced with some powerful deities that may or may not assist.

The book deals with mortality and takes place leading up to Halloween and Day of the Dead so it will likely and rightly end up on future Halloween and Día de Muertos reading lists.

Recommendation: Get it soon especially if you appreciate family focused stories, monster hunting, and the beauty of fireflies.

Extras:

Spanish edition – El otoño de las luciérnagas (Las estaciones de la sororidad #1)

Goodreads Giveaway

Publisher: Tu Books
Pages: 352
Availability: On shelves now
Review copy: Final copy via publisher

Publisher Summary: In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, effervescent extrovert Dan Stewart-Álvarez is surprised to find home and community in rural Tennessee.

Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like this: with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers—his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet—reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.

But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.

From award-winning author Rey Terciero and Eisner Award nominee and illustrator Claudia Aguirre comes a new retelling of Anne of Green Gables about unconventional families, queer identity, and finding the meaning of home in the most unlikely of places.

My Thoughts: I’m generally a big fan of retellings because I love seeing my old friends in a new light and through another person’s imaginings. With Dan, fans of the original Anne get to see characters that are similar while also being refreshingly unique. We get moments to reflect on experiencing Anne and her story in our past. If someone doesn’t know the source material, the book still works and may even inspire readers to start reading or watching Anne of Green Gables so it is a win for all.

As with the Anne of so many years ago, Dan has a big personality that’s the technicolor contrast to the somewhat bland environment that he is thrust into abruptly. The balancing act of being himself and yet trying to fit into this new place is one of the big challenges. The other more difficult challenges have to do with the relationships between family and friends. There are many past injuries within characters that have significant effects on the emotions of the current days. And there are all kinds of present day interactions that are harmful too. The author gives a warning to readers that there are instances of bullying, physical assault, and homophobia” and that they should “make sure to take care of yourself first.” Readers are warned that these things are in the book, but are also reminded that many of these things happened to the author.

Though there are hard things experienced in the book, there are also joyful and loving moments too. Readers see that change can be hard, but are reminded that change is possible. Things that are awful won’t necessarily continue to be that way. It’s a hopeful book that shows pain, but also healing.

And when I say show, obviously the words do this, but the illustrations carry a lot of the load. Claudia Aguirre does some phenomenal work with the emotions. The faces and actions convey so much and add to the drama of it all. The expressions are excellent, but I also appreciated the use of color. There are a lot of yellows and oranges in contrast to the blues and greens. I don’t know if that was the intent, but it felt like the lighter brighter shades were a bit like the Dolly Parton lyrics and references reminding us of hope and better days to come in the midst of the down times.

Recommendation: Get it now. This will be a book that people of many different identities can relate to. It’s a bit of an emotional storm, but there are rainbow moments to be found in more ways than one.

Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Pages: 252
Availability: On shelves now
Review copy: Final copy via publisher

Emiko by Chieri Uegaki
Tundra Books

Self-declared matchmaking GENIUS Emiko Kimori has already found success by helping her aunt find true love, so when the new girl in town becomes her new BFF, it’s only natural for Emiko to help set her up for social success with a suitable love match.

Emiko lives with her Ojiichan in a small town on BC’s West Coast surrounded by friends and neighbors, including her childhood friend Kenzo Sanada, who wishes she’d spend less time playing matchmaker. But Emiko can so clearly see who belongs together, even when her targets don’t know it themselves. She simply has to meddle — for the sake of true love!

As for her own romantic life though . . . who has time for that? Emiko is far too busy with her matchmaking schemes, her brunch recipes, volunteering, her bustling social life, keeping up her grades, eating said brunch recipes and making plans for after graduation. Plans she will absolutely decide on soon. Definitely. Maybe? But when Emiko ends up falling for the last person she expects, she finds herself caught in the tangled web of her own love matches. For the first time, instead of arranging from afar, Emiko has to figure out what it means to be in love herself, and that friendship and romance are more complicated than she ever imagined . . .

Afia in the Land of Wonders by Mia Araujo
Scholastic

Afia has always felt like half of a whole. Her twin sister, Aya, is perfectly happy with fulfilling their family’s expectations of them. But Afia dreams of exploring the world beyond her secluded cliffside home of Dafra. She dreams of adventure.

When she meets a charming shape-shifter named Bakame, who dazzles her with promises of a magical land called Ijábù, Afia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. Although it will mean leaving everything she has ever known behind, including her beloved sister, Afia follows Bakame into the forbidden forests surrounding Dafra, from which no one has ever returned.

Filled with magical sights, a charismatic Queen and her intriguing court, Ijábù is everything that Afia has ever dreamed of. But she soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and this fantasy world demands a terrible price. With the help of a mysterious trickster, Afia must evade the Queen’s hunters and the lost dreamers of Ijábù, who wish to pull her deeper into their web.

Now, Afia must find the courage to survive while standing on her own–or risking losing herself completely to the wonders of Ijábù.

Debut author-illustrator Mia Araujo weaves an extraordinarily luminous and beautiful story, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, about what it takes to find your true self, even if it means facing your deepest fears.

Voice of the Wretched, Book 2 by Kester Grant
HarperVoyager

The Sunday Times bestselling adventure inspired by Les Miserables continues. Return to a dark and dangerous alternate Paris in book 2 of The Court of Miracles Trilogy.