Spooky Season Series

Last year I ended up reading the first books in four different series that kind of fit into my Halloween-themed reading, though in different ways.

I had not initially known that I was getting into series, but since that happened and I didn't hate any of them, I decided to go ahead and read the second books this time around.

Next year (which is now this year) I will go ahead and read the third, and then probably let them go. That's not necessarily anything against them, because it looks like some of them could keep going on and on.

We'll see. For now, let's just explore.

Ghost Roads by Seanan McGuire

I have a fondness for ghost stories, especially the ghostly hitchhiker. I first saw one telling in a movie, and my biggest surprise was when it showed up in an episode of Maverick (though it was a con; she was not really a ghost).

I saw the title for The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, and knew that was related. Great. It was, but that was also book two, so I started with Sparrow Hill Road.

In fact, McGuire has created a very complex world of ghost and witch lore, including a soundtrack you can find online. For the first book I found that kind of exhausting; it wasn't that bad here. Also there are some issues here that could be glossed over but are not, which I appreciate. 

The Forge & Fracture Saga by Brittany N. Williams

Someone recommended it on Twitter when the series was new with the release of That Self-Same Metal.

In the time of Shakespeare there are many Black families with strong ties to various Orisha, and whom have been instrumental in keeping the faeries at bay. The fracture there is letting more through, and so faeries keep eating people. Also, there is a pretty strong thread of pansexuality and polyamory. Things get much more complicated in Saint-Seducing Gold.

The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club by Theodora Goss

I had read a good review of The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter and it ended up on my Daughters list. 

Shortly after the death of her mother, Mary Jekyll discovers that her father had another daughter in his Hyde form, Diana. She also encounters Beatrice Rappacini, Justine Frankenstein, and Catherine Moreau, as well as making the acquaintance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Many more familiar names come up in European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman.

They are interesting. I suppose my big conflict is that I loved Dracula, but not Dracula, and I don't really care for the Holmes stories. So when she makes Seward and Van Helsing terrible people and Dracula a romantic hero, maybe it's just conflicting tastes. 

I'll read the third anyway.

Witchlings by Claribel Ortega. 

Ortega was also the writer for Frizzy, which I thought was great. It was a bit more grounded in reality.

I think Witchlings can be good for Harry Potter fans looking for something less hateful. In ways it is more modern. Sometimes there are things where I remember I am not the target age -- probably for tweens -- but there were some surprises. 

This might be the one that I might be most likely to keep up with, though, because there is less of that sense of things growing increasingly more complicated where it feels like too much effort for something that is made up.

Finally, in the realm of keywords leading to other books, when I was looking for "witchlings" this picutre books came up:

The Witchling's Wish by Sarah Massini 

Why not be complete? 

This witchling wanted a friend and found one, though not the way she expected.