The Library Coven

It’s finally here, y’all! Our discussion of Bloodmarked by Tracey Deonn, the eagerly anticipated and long awaited sequel to Legendborn . This book picks up right where we left off in Legendborn . There are lots of weird politics, tons of racism, and so much tension between Sel and Bree that it made J’s cold, dead heart very happy. So let’s get into it! A note on scheduling: we&#8...

Our conversation today is about The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta, a transportive fantasy novel that weaves together two perspectives – Indir and Saya – both powerful Dreamers who can access the Dreaming dimension and gain knowledge there. Change is coming to the city of Alcanzeh following the death of an elderly king and the ascent of his violent heir. Indir has a pivotal role to play, while Saya t...

Today we’ll be discussing Sia Martinez and the Moonlit beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, which follows Sia on a wild adventure as she deals with the murder of her mother, friendship woes, and falling in love. Oh and aliens! Chaos does indeed ensure, and there is so much to talk about (though very few show notes)  Content warning before we get into this book: the book makes menti...

In honor of Bloodmarked ‘s publication day, The Library Coven re-presents you with this episode from our archive! Originally aired in June 2021, here is our take on  Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. Content warning for discussions of racism, slavery, and parental death interested in reading along with us? Check out the upcoming books for Season 5 on our  future episodes page. behold, (the original...

Today we’re discussing an historical fantasy novel, The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros . Set in Chicago in the late 1800s, Romanian Jewish immigrant Alter Rosen is swept up in a city-wide mystery after his bestie and crush Yakov is killed (spoiler! Sorry not sorry but if you didn’t guess it was queer then what show do you even think you’re listening to?!). There’s an anarchist side kick, some po...

This week we’re discussing Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor. This story follows Zahrah, a 13 year old girl who is born with special hair called dadalocks. When her best friend falls into a coma after a snake bite, Zahrah, who is scared of pretty much everything, has to take a journey through the jungle to find a cure. This is Okorafor’s debut from back in 2005 if you can believe it. The wor...

You aren’t ready for the cute puns and shenanigans of the Spare Coven! In Episode 70 we discuss Witchlings  by Claribel A. Ortega, a middle grade novel full of friendship, magic, and toads. Jessie and kelly reveal the shape their familiars would take and think about what their names might be prophecies for. Recommend if you like… Pet * by Akwaeke Emezi – which deals with some mor...

AND WE’RE BACK! Season 5 begins with our discussion of The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, the first book in the Burning Kingdoms series. This book is a multi-POV tale that mostly follows Priya, a young adult with magical powers who’s entire adopted family has been killed, and Malini, an exiled princess who is trying to steal the throne from her evil brother.  The books for this first series o...

It’s our final episode of season 4 of the podcast, y’all! We read Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas , a Peter Pan redux with plenty of twists. We’ll be back with more episodes in summer of 2022. If you want to pick one of the books we read for next season, join our Patreon! It’s a pay-what-you-can model starting at $1/month. content warning for discussions of child de...

Welcome back, coven! In this episode we are discussing A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown, the sequel to A Song of Wraths and Ruin which we talked about all the way back in episode 39 ! This book picks up right were the last one left off with Karina on the run and Malik living in the palace with Hanan who was brought back from the dead, and Fareed basically in control of everything...

We’re back for what might be the most chaotic episode yet! join us for our discussion of  Son of A Trickster  by Eden Robinson. Attempting to summarize this book is an exercise in futility (you’ll understand when you hear k try to give an on-the-fly synopsis…). While this book can get categorized as YA (the protagonist, Jared, is 15-16), there is a lot of explicit violence, so it...

We’re finally going back to Castellan and reuniting with Finn and Alfie! In this episode we discuss Oculta  by Maya Motayne,  the second installment of the A Forgery of Magic series.  This book is the sequel to Nocturna , which we discussed in episode 41 , so go check that out if you haven’t yet!  In Oculta , we’re back in San Cristobal, with Finn and Alfie trying to figure out a murde...

Ahoy there, coven! Today we’re discussing Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy , a book about a nerdy suburban teen who can fly. After Faith’s all-time favorite show The Grove moves filming to her small town, a spate of human and other-than-human disappearances starts, and Faith is determined to get to the bottom of things. Chaos does indeed ensue!  This book was recommended to us by someone on In...

Hiya, coven! This is a super special holiday bonus episode that we recorded especially for our patrons. Annnnnd now it’s a month later, so all y’all can enjoy our discussion of  Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert, one of our absolute favorite contemporary romance authors. Yep, you read that right – contemporary romance! This novella follows Bailey and Cash who end up working together at a t...

Dearest coven, this episode comes on the recommendation of J’s good friend and podcast Patron, Deanna! We dig into the novel  Circe by Madeline Miller, which is a retelling of the Greek Circe’s story from being born half-nymph half god… are nymphs also gods?…idk…to her exile on Aiaiya, her love life and lots of other things. Normally we’d say chaos ensues, but there’s not too muc...

Hello, Coven! It’s that time of year where we take a look back at the books, TV shows, and movies that got us through the year. Thank you to all of the people who asked questions and more generally to everyone for listening! We hope you find some new and interesting things to read and watch. Let us know in the comments about all your favs from the past year! Books (alphabetical by author) Ac...

Greetings, coven! In this episode we’re discussing Fireborne by Rosaria Munda , Book 1 of the Aurelian Cycle.  Kelly calls this book  Game of Thrones  meets  How to Train Your Dragon  (there are some GOT spoilers ahead, but it’s an old show at this point so….)  Please excuse our faulty memories on this one — there’s a lot going on in the world and we read the book a few weeks ago...

Hello, coven! We’re back with a conversation about Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse . There’s some debate as to whether or not the book is young adult, but we enjoyed it regardless. Show notes below! Content warning: brief mention of sexual assault (24:55-25:40)  Why did we pick this book? J read Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse  when it came out with her book club. (patron/friend...

Dearest coven, our non-YA streak continues with the perfect read for fall slash Halloween:  Mexican Gothic   by Silvia Moreno-García . It’s the right amount of creepy and has a badass young woman MC who’s determined to solve a morbid mystery. Shoutout to our lovely patron Melisa who picked the book for this show! Content warning for sexual assault and eugenics talk.  We repeat: this is...

Hey, coven!  In this episode, we discussing The Burning God  by R.F. Kuang  — the third and final book in The Poppy War series. Rin is working to take down a bunch of people, and change the way Nikara is run. But is she the best person to do that? Rin doesn’t think so! Let’s just start with the content warnings for this episode and for the book. This is a book for adults. It is not YA book. Conten...

In this episode, we’re transported to a magical Brooklyn in Daniel José Older’s novel Shadowshaper , the first in the Shadowshaper Cypher series. Congratulations to Daniel, who has the esteemed honor of being the first (and so far only) cis-dude we’ve read for the show.  In Shadowshaper, we follow Sierra,  a Black Puerto Rican Brooklyn-ite, who discovers she has powers to suffuse her art wit...

hey, coven! we’re excited to bring you this discussion of Elatsoe  by Darcie Little Badger .  J & K both loved this book and are gonna recommend it widely going forward. *ALERTA* Darcie has a new book coming out November 9th, A Snake Falls to Earth. We’re definitely pre-ordering and/or requesting from the library!! Please take our  survey if you haven’t already! We’ve a...

Welcome back! In this episode, we chat about  A Heart So Fierce and Broken   by Brigid Kemmerer . We share thoughts on such topics as special editions, disability as a disguise, the trope of naming dudes “Hawk,” and whether “Iisak” is pronounced “eye-sack.” And be ye warned, there are some ACOTAR and Star Wars spoilers ahead. Check out our episode on the first b...

Hello, beautiful ones! This fortnight we’re discussing Vicious Spirits by Kat Cho , the second book in the Gumiho series. Join us to find out how Somin, Junu, Miyoung and Jihoon deal with grief and magical/inter-dimensional disruption. There’s romance. There’s banter. What’s not to love? Check out Episode 40 for our discussion of Wicked Fox  (Gumiho #1) Stay magical, bbs! W...

Hello, wonderful Coven! This week we’re bringing you a discussion of  We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal , the second and final (maybe?) book in the Sands of Arawiya series (Check out episode 32, where we discuss the first book,  We Hunt the Flame ). We had a great time reading this one, and we will read anything Hafsah writes in the future (really looking forward to her new upcoming book, T...