Scookie Reviews

THE CHILD OF CHAOS by Glen Dahlgren 5 Stars Verdict: A gritty and original fantasy based around Order and Chaos.  Galen has a wild imagination and doesn't want to end up a fisherman like his father. However, he doesn't seem to possess the 'longing' needed to belong to a temple and perform magic. Instead he has a different pull, one that might be responsible for his mother going missing. What's more is his bully, Horace, has the same longing and will go to extreme lengths to be first to find the cause of it.  I really enjoyed reading this book from start to finish.   Galen is a typical hero who's brave and has a good moral compass. He doesn't quite fit in with the labels his world forces on him, and there's something calling him to adventure out into the world, possibly to go missing forever like his mother.  My favourite thing about this book was Horace. He's a young yet ruthless villain, a fast thinker, clever, brutal - and damaged. He's haunted

THE RAVENS by Kass Morgan & Danielle Paige 5 Stars Verdict: Is it too early to call my favourite book of the year? When Vivi joins Westerly College, she discovers the sorority known as the Ravens are actually a secret coven of witches. In her pledge to join, she quickly gets on the wrong side of Scarlett, a legacy Raven, who desperately wants to be voted president to meet her mother's unreasonable expectations. Although the dark events of last year are catching up with Scarlett, putting the whole sorority in danger.  For me, this will go down as one of my favourites of all time. It has everything I loved about 90s Charmed combined with everything I adore in YA fiction. It's fast paced, full of complex family history and teen drama, and had enough magic and mystery to keep me enthralled throughout. It has a darker edge to it too, like the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina , plus a couple of lines of humour, and tons of mystery.  The story is told through third person dual POV,

WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power 5 Stars Verdict: Dark, gritty, beautiful.  An infection has taken over the Raxter School for Girls, and the survivors are each damaged in different, gruesome ways. Quarantined on the island, all they can do is wait for the outside world to find a cure. When Hetty's friend goes missing, she breaks the rules to find her.  I listened to the audiobook, and the voice actor was superb. It's also a fairly short listen, too, and well suited to the format.   There's a content warning for body horror. The book generally has a spooky, apocalyptic feel to it, but I wouldn't personally call it scary. A little gruesome in places, but not too gross, which is how I like it. It's also not the happiest story, so I wouldn't call it a book for everyone.   That said, I really loved it.  The pace is gradual and steady, and the POV flips a couple of times to give a better overview of what's going on inside Raxter. The plot leans towards predictable, so

SCYTHE by Neil Shusterman  4  stars Verdict: I had an existential crisis, but loved it in the end. Based on a world where death is cured, Scythes are ordained in order to choose which people should be gleaned in order to maintain the population levels. Citra and Rowan are chosen to be Scythes. Neither want the honour, and only one will be chosen.  I went on quite the journey with this one. I started out with the paperback and loved the quirky, dark tone...but didn't feel that 'pull' which I need to keep going. So I didn't. I switched to the audiobook and found it much easier to get through.  The book is world led, not character led, and I think this was my problem. The main leads, Citra and Rowan aren't really too interesting to start out with. Once I worked out why I wasn't completely connecting with it, I actually started to like it a lot more. I loved the quirky tone and dark humour. The snippets of journal entries from past scythes was also a interesting wa

Here are two reviews for recently published young adult fantasy books. Both are gory, both have a lot to offer, but neither really knocked my socks off. Why? You'll have to watch and see! Click here to visit my channel, Scookie Reviews. I've got a good rhythm at the moment for creating video reviews. They're coming out on Wednesdays. THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS by Chloe Gong KINGDOM OF THE WICKED by Kerri Maniscalco Hope you enjoy! Feel free to share your comments about the books below. I received an ecopy of both books from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  You can also buy the books using the affiliate links below. The links mean that I get a very small percentage of the profits from amazon without taking anything away from the authors.  Buy THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS. Buy KINGDOM OF THE WICKED.

KINGDOM OF THE WICKED by Kerri Maniscalco 3 stars Verdict: Excellent start, then descends into Q&A.  *Content warning for gore.*  It's 19th Century Italy. Emilia and Vittoria are twins witches entrusted with powerful necklaces that should never touch. When Emilia's twin is murdered, she wants revenge and will even go as far as secretly summoning a demon in pursuit of finding her sister's killer. The atmospheric setting combined with the use of Italian such a natural, smooth way made it very easy to love. I also loved how Emilie started out as the cautious twin but became more adventurous through necessity. The best bit about the book is the killer opening with all the right gothic witch vibes. It was insta-love for me with this book, and I thought I was preparing to write a raving review.  The story descended into Q&A pretty quick after the blurb hooks were done. It made sense at first: capture a demon, question him. Then go find another demon, question them...repe