By Nico

Growing up on a tiny island in the midst of a green-spore sea, Tress has no plans to leave her home. Everything she wishes for is here: the people she’s grown up with, her beloved collection of cups from across the spore seas, and her closest friend, Charlie, the duke’s son, who she’s always cared for a little more than a peasant girl should.

But when Charlie is kidnapped by the Sorceress of the Midnight Sea, Tress has no choice but to follow him across the perilous, beautiful spore seas. Braving deceptions, pirates, talking rats, dangerous spores, interplanetary visitors, dragons, and more, it will take all of Tress’s skills to find Charlie – skills she never would’ve even dreamed of possessing back home. But to succeed, she must not only discover Charlie’s location—she’ll have to discover herself, too.

This is the first book I’ve read by Brandon Sanderson, and Tress of the Emerald Sea made it certain beyond all doubt that it wouldn’t be the last. Tress’s simple yet incredibly relatable story pulled me in from the first page, into an enthralling world utterly unlike any I’ve read before. The worldbuilding was gorgeous and fascinating but never heavy-handed, making the setting feel utterly realistic, despite being so wildly different than Earth. Watching Tress grow and change over the course of this book felt equally natural, and never did the story arc feel contrived or unrealistic, instead possessing an organic quality that made me fall in love with Tress even more. There is so much that happens in this book, and yet its simplicity is part of its charm, giving it an almost old-fashioned feel that grounds even the most fantastical events. I adored all of the characters, whose lives I grew almost inordinately invested in, and the quirky, wry narrative voice of Hoid made this book decidedly a favorite. I also appreciated, as someone new to Brandon Sanderson’s books, that you didn’t need to have any prior understanding of his Cosmere universe to fall in love with it; Tress is an independent story. I highly recommend Tress of the Emerald Sea to readers ages twelve and up, whether you’re a longtime Brandon Sanderson fan or someone who’s never previously entered the world of Cosmere. 

By Nico

Ballister Blackheart is the kingdom’s newest villain—but once, he was its brightest rising star alongside Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, who he’s still more than a little bit in love with. Nimona is an irrepressible young shapeshifter determined to be his evil sidekick, who poses a far greater threat to the kingdom than Ballister ever could’ve been alone.

Ballister and Nimona set their sights on proving his innocence and taking down the institutions that have branded them both villains. But that means forcing Nimona to trust someone else—and as Ballister gets to know his new sidekick better, he realizes that who—and what—Nimona is might be far more complicated than he’d bargained for.

Nimona is absolutely incredible. It’s a rare book I fall so fully in love with from the very beginning, but Nimona not only managed that, it kept it up for the whole story. This book is for the ones who love villains, who want a different take on a corrupt society, who want a resolution that’s perfect for the book but not exactly a stereotypical happily-ever-after. Featuring brilliantly witty humor, a chaotic cast of characters, and fabulous stylized artwork, do yourself a favor and pick up Nimona as soon as you can.

To begin with, the characters are brilliant. Nimona’s brash, action-focused personality, Ballister’s measured caution, and Ambrosius’s almost tortured idealism create a fantastic combination of characters whose clashes, disagreements, and, slowly, trust, are both entirely natural and so much fun to read. But they’re also all deeper than they appear on the surface, and as I better understood each of them, I couldn’t help but be blown away by the depth and complexity Stevenson manages to impart in a medium that sometimes makes it tricky to truly get into character’s heads.

And while crafting these incredible characters, Stevenson makes it impossible for me to stop laughing. This book is simply funny—chaotic, outlandish, and weird in the best possible way. Humor is often one of the hardest things for a book to maintain from the first page to the ending, particularly when also weighing in on heavier topics, but Stevenson does so with such deftness he makes it look easy. Nimona never falls even slightly flat, and it has a truly fantastic ending—one that I went into certain there was no way the book could wrap up that would feel satisfying, and yet entirely manages to do exactly that.

Nimona also includes a variety of both explicit and implicit queer characters and themes, and the author has spoken publicly about how he created Nimona as a subtle reflection of his own trans experiences. (For anyone who also enjoys movie adaptations, these threads are explored more fully in the animated adaptation, which is also fabulous!) However, it’s also a dissection of classic villain/outsider narratives of all kinds, questioning villainy, heroism, and how we treat those we determine to be ‘other’, and I truly believe it can connect with a profound range of experiences.

​I highly recommend Nimona to readers ages ten and up who want a quirky, action-packed whirlwind of a book that will make you think and feel and laugh and finish it wanting more than anything just to read it all over again. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed here are my own.

Mallory in Full Color will be released on November 19, 2024.

Mallory is an expert on pretending. She’s so used to becoming whoever the people around her need her to be—the perfect daughter, the agreeing friend, the responsible older sister—that it’s no wonder she finds it so easy to put herself in the shoes of completely different characters in her anonymous online webcomic.

But it’s also exhausting—and when she starts skipping swim practice to attend the local library’s comic club, she can’t figure out how to be herself, especially when confronted with her new friend Noa, an effortlessly confident enby who Mallory can’t help but develop a crush on. If she’s as outgoing and self-assured as Noa, surely they’ll like her, too.

But when her webcomic goes viral and her classmates start guessing who its author is—and Mallory finds herself increasingly uncomfortable as the drag queen story hour she and Noa are planning is faced with mounting backlash—Mallory must decide: keep pretending to be someone she’s not to please everyone, or face the consequences for her lies and discover who she really is.

Despite a strong concept and story elements I typically enjoy—queer self-discovery, developing friendships, standing up against library bans, artsy protagonist—I failed to truly connect with the characters, storyline, and writing voice of Mallory in Full Color. Although I understood Mallory’s struggles with expressing herself around different people, it didn’t altogether ring true.

I think this was partially because the aspects of the setup which made me believe that Mallory acting in this way were truly necessary were virtually debunked by the end. For example, the conflict between her friends made me believe some of their friendships would fall apart if Mallory was authentic, and the anger they felt upon discovering Mallory’s comics about them was legit. However, the ease with which all of them accepted Mallory felt almost anticlimactic, making Mallory’s anxiety appear misplaced rather than legitimate. I appreciated the happy ending, but the book’s execution made it feel like a middle-grade friendship version of the infamous miscommunication trope.

That said, I think middle schoolers who are struggling with the same need to people please as Mallory will connect with her and find the ending reassuring rather than flat. Her introduction to Noa, who is nonbinary, and the backlash over drag queen story hours and other public library events also provided a thoughtful and realistic introduction to gender diversity and homophobic/transphobic attitudes.

In short, although I don’t think Mallory in Full Color will become a favorite of most outside of its target audience, I think it’ll both be enjoyed by and helpful for the middle schoolers it’s written for.

3.5 stars