Urban Fantasy – Marked for Plot

Hench – Revenge is Best Served With Excel Spreadsheets

I don’t do many rereads, but when I saw the audiobook for Hench was available without a wait time, I couldn’t resist checking it out. Villain, the sequel, releases later this year, and I will definitely be putting it on my reading list. I think I’m a little more hesitant about some of the thematic work in Hench than I was during my first read, but this is a rock solid revenge story that stands out in a cluttered Superhero landscape.

Read If: clever characters work for you, unreliable narrators are a plus, you think iguanas deserve only the best

Avoid If: you dislike critiques of policing, body horror makes you squeamish, you demand nuanced and thorough themes

Comparable Media: The Boys, Watchmen, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself

The Inheritance – My New Addiction

How have I never read an Ilona Andrews book before? Why have I delayed long on picking up one of their books? Where can I find more? These are the questions running through my head as I type this. It is 11:00 pm on a Sunday night. Tomorrow morning my dog will wake me up at 5:30 for a morning walk before I try and get a quick gym workout in, followed by the daily onslaught of questions that comes with teaching 11 year olds. My bedtime was an hour and a half ago, and I probably won’t fall asleep until midnight.

The Inheritance touched something inside me. Not anything particularly deep or meaningful. No, this book touched the ‘holy shit that was so much fun’ part of my brain, which is a part of my reading life that’s been a bit neglected recently. I want more, and I want it now. The rest of the series has not yet been published, which is a grave injustice for which I have no remedy.

Read If: you want popcorn fantasy with a middle-aged mother in focus, badass German Shepherds sounds appealing,

Avoid If: overly tragic backstories piss you off, you want characters to slowly grow in power and skill, you’ve got a phobia of bugs and spiders

Comparable Media: Solo Levelling, Mage Errant, Dungeon Crawler Carl

The Cloak and It’s Wizard

After reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I knew that I wanted something a bit less intense and heavy for my next read. The Cloak and its Wizard seemed just zany enough to satisfy. This met my needs for a fun and mindless breather book, though I found that I was ready for the story to wrap up about 100 pages before the book itself did. Ultimately, if the idea of a snarky magic item telling the story appeals to you, this is likely at least worth a look.

Read if: you enjoy harmless chaos, you want something lighthearted and pulpy, like adults with functional lives outside of The Plot

Avoid if: you’re looking for something deep and meaningful, you’ll get annoyed with the phrase ‘my wizard’, you like twists to help move the story forward

Comparable Media: Dr. Strange, Striker V, Dad Magic

An Inheritance of Magic – Featherweight and Enjoyable Urban Fantasy

An Inheritance of Magic has been buzzing around my circles as one of the better Urban Fantasy series to come out in the past few years. This isn’t a subgenre I spend a ton of time with, but I’ve found that widely loved series tend to be reliably enjoyable for me (other than Dresden Files), and An Inheritance of Magic certainly lived up to that premise. It’s not perfect, clearly wants to prepare you for a long series, and seems to be a solid and readable ‘zero to hero’ story.

Read if: you enjoy reading about plucky underdogs making it work, are in favor of Orca whales crashing billionaire Yachts off the coast of Spain, are looking for something tropey and simple

Avoid if: comedically evil villains put you off, you dislike explanations of magic, religious logic problems put you off

Comparable Media: Tarot Sequence, Arcane Ascension, Witch Hat Atelier

The Power Fantasy

When I explored the idea of using comics in an Ethics class I’m putting together for high schoolers, The Power Fantasy was one of the most-recommended titles. It’s easy to see why, as the whole series is one big thought experiment on whether people with extreme superpowers can exist ethically (notice I said exist, not behave). It’s also got a clear thematic lineage with Watchmen, taking the superhero deconstruction presented by Moore in directions that feel much more 2025. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s quite straightforward enough for me to want to use as a whole-class read with high schoolers, it’s great for anyone looking for something to chew on.

Read if Looking For: ensemble cast of morally dubious supers, cigars that defy gravity, non-sequential storytelling

Avoid if Looking For: authors who hold your hand, heroes vs villains storylines, dramatic fight scenes

Dark Rise

For me, C.S. Pacat has been a relatively no-brainer author for me. Their works are rarely perfect, but have consistently captivated me. Some are ruthless and full of content warning-worthy topics (Captive Prince), and others are overdramatic sports comics about a bunch of queer teens in a fencing club. Dark Rise seemed like a natural book that I’d love. However, I found it extraordinarily lacking compared to Pacat’s other works, and I struggled a lot with this one.

Read if Looking For: books with stereotypical emo haircuts, evil vs good as a core motif, YA that flirts with BDSM subtext, YA fantasy tropes of the 2020s

Avoid if Looking for: books that do more than set up a sequel, female viewpoint characters who have the same main character energy as the males, well-adjusted romance plotlines

Thirsty Mermaids

Kat Leyh is a pretty huge name in middle grade comics. To my knowledge, Thirsty Mermaids is her first take on an adult story, and I found it a roaring success. The type of book I finished in a single day because I kept telling myself ‘just one more page’. Sometimes graphic novels can really push you to slow down and grapple with difficult ideas, but other times you just want a fun romp of a mermaid cracking leg jokes as she tries to figure out how they work. This book was perfect for a lazy Saturday, though I sort of wish I’d read it in the middle of summer while at the beach.

Read if Looking For: heartfelt and cartoonish adult comics, found family vibes, eldritch ocean aunties, casual queer representation

Avoid if Looking For: dense or ambitious graphic novels, innovative take on mermaids

Price of a Thousand Blessings

Price of a Thousand Blessings was one of my most anticipated books coming out this year. Fantasy with a focus of the fantastic, a gay lead who isn’t totally consumed by a romance plotline, and an appealing cover. It didn’t quite hit the heights I was hoping for, but I’ve already purchased the sequel, and this is exactly the type of story I wish traditional publishing were willing to pick up more often.

Read if Looking For: a serious take at a magitech world, reincarnation elements, epic(ish) fantasy with a m/m subplot, secret police pulling the strings

Avoid if You Dislike: slow pacing, characters in denial about their crushes, obvious twists that protagonists refuse to see

Blood over Bright Haven

As one of the few self-published fantasy books to get picked up for a traditionally published reprint, I had high expectations for Blood Over Bright Haven. Its Dark Academia and anti-capitalist themes made me even more excited. It met most of my expectations, and despite wishing it were more avant-garde, I’m happy that I finally got around to this book! Definitely pushes Wang’s other work up on my list. This is a great option for anyone looking to dip their toes into the more political side of genre fiction, as it’s easy to read into parallels with our world. For those already experienced in that type of writing, this won’t blow your mind, but it’s an enjoyable (if standard) entry in that subgenre.

Read if Looking For: stories about racism and sexism, dark academia, conversations about ethics, light romance elements, engaging narrative voice

Avoid if Looking For: unknowable magic, unproblematic characters, books without sexual assault, surprising twists

Two who Live On (Branches of Past and Future #2)

Sequel review here! If you want to learn more about a fun, but perhaps not terribly deep, urban fantasy about a teacher of magic at a high school, see my review of Three Meant to Be. I was a little unsure of where I sat with Book 1. I enjoyed it certainly, but found it wasn’t quite giving me the depth or grittiness I was looking for in an adult magic school story, nor the sense of mystery from magic schools of my childhood, nor even the epic fight scenes of progression fantasy schools. About 50 pages into this book though, I shifted my brain fully into popcorn romance urban fantasy mode, and it really clicked. This series isn’t cracking my all time favorites, but I’m having a really wonderful time.

Read if Looking for: Magic School Teacher protagonist, escapist fantasy, bad puns, romance/fantasy elements balanced well

Avoid if Looking for: deep themes, unpredictable twists, realistic portrayals of teaching