By Nico
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Kayla is expecting today to be normal. After all, she goes to the state fair with her mom and younger brother every year—what’s going to be different today? But that’s before a mysterious, peculiar man slips them into another world filled with danger and magic.

All Kayla and her family wants is to go home as soon as possible—but that may be far trickier than she’s bargained for. Because Kayla was been brought to this strange world for a reason: her late father was a powerful Dark Lord. And everyone expects her to be his successor—a position that might hold Kayla’s only shot at getting home.

As Kayla navigates a castle full of secretive relatives with dubious loyalties and a bevy of nasty Dark Lord Traditions—including frequent beheadings, waging wars, and absolutely atrocious clothing—she must decide: can she be a new kind of Dark Lady? And if she can’t, will they ever make it home?

Patricia C. Wrede (also the author of one of my all-time favorite books, Dealing with Dragons) crafts a clever, lighthearted, and quirky spoof on classic fantasy stories perfect for fans of other quirky twists on tropes like Saving Fable and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. I really like the reimagining of all the classic Dark Lord tropes from the point of view of someone expected to live up to them—Kayla’s utter confusion in the initial scenes when people keep asking her if she’s going to behead them made me truly connect with her character. The worldbuilding was excellent, a mix of classic fantasy and unique details that brought it to life, and Kayla’s slow discovery of its various aspects never felt forced or contrived. I highly recommend The Dark Lord’s Daughter to readers ages nine and up who like fantasy books with lots of twists and humor. 

By Nico

Princess Alyrra has never been understood or even accepted by her royal family, who deem her too honest, too weak, and too unintelligent. When the king of Menaiya, a nearby country whose size and power dwarfs Alyrra's tiny homeland, requests that she marry his son Kestrin, she sees no reason to refuse. Leaving everything she knows be-hind doesn't sound so bad, after all--even if the rumors claim that Kestrin chose her for her disposability, a supposedly sought-after trait in the fraught, danger-ous Menaiyan court. Alyrra might prefer a life away from royal conflicts and intrigue, but at least she can escape her family. 

But while traveling to Menaiya, a powerful and mysterious woman steals Alyrra's very identity and gives it to her maid, leaving Alyrra a lowly, cast-off servant in a foreign land and her treacherous maid to marry Kestrin, and, surely, to betray him to the same sorceress. 

​Alyrra knows she should warn Kestrin of her upcoming betrayal--and yet doing so would require reclaiming her life as princess. And in Menaiya, working as a goose girl beside the lower-class citizens of her new home, Alyrra finally realizes the quiet life she's always dreamed of, away from the tense politics of court. 

But Menaiya is also rife with injustice. And as Alyrra begins to see more clearly the painful effects of the kingdom's shortcomings, and the suffering it's inflicted upon the people who have become her friends, she must decide whether she will stay the goose girl forever--or if she will give up her quiet life for a chance to stand up for the people who need it. 

I loved Thorn, a thoughtful and unique take on a classic fairytale which lends it powerful realism and striking beauty. To begin with, Alyrra's subversion of the Goose Girl is phenomenal; having the heroine welcome her lowly position rather than resenting it, as well as gladly leaving her family, was unusual and added unique depth to her character, helping me connect with her due to the simple fact that many fairy-tale heroines are difficult to truly relate to, and Alyrra's contradiction of these tropes lent her a refreshing dimensionality. Her gradual discovery of the injustices surrounding her, too, felt anything but contrived: Thorn became so much deeper as she struggled to reconcile the life she was leading with the possibility of making others' existences better, and the authenticity of her choices brought a quiet power to this story which "The Goose Girl" certainly lacked. This book gives voice to its characters' struggles without becoming overwhelmed by them; even the most difficult of topics were handled with sensitivity and thoughtfulness. I highly recommend Thorn ​to readers ages twelve and up who enjoy fairy tale retellings and strong female characters.