Fantasy
Aru Shah and the song of death
Roshani Chokshi
jFICTION Chokshi, Roshani
Kids, Fantasy
Accused of stealing the god of love's bow and arrow, Aru has ten days to find the real thief or risk being kicked out of the Otherworld.
The storm runner
Jennifer Cervantes
jFICTION Cervantes, Jennifer
Kids, Fantasy
To prevent the Mayan gods from battling each other and destroying the world, thirteen-year-old Zane must unravel an ancient prophecy, stop an evil god, and discover how the physical disability that makes him reliant on a cane also connects him to his father and his ancestry.
Added by Anne W
The girl who drank the moon
Kelly Regan Barnhill
jFICTION Barnhill, Kelly Regan
Kids, Fantasy
"An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her"--
Added by Anne W
Tuck everlasting
Natalie Babbitt
jFICTION Babbitt, Natalie
Kids, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
The Tuck family is confronted with an agonizing situation when they discover that a ten-year-old girl and a malicious stranger now share their secret about a spring whose water prevents one from ever growing any older.
Added by Anne W
Three mages and a margarita : The Guild Codex: Spellbound Series, Book 1
Annette Marie
Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig. It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview—to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right? I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they… offered me the job? It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-shit bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here. So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course—with a pay raise. --Amazon.com
I discovered the Guild Codex: Spellbound Series only about two weeks ago, and since them I'm already on the third audiobook. This series has so much action! I imagine it'd be like a Harry Potter but for adults. Mages who can control different elemental magic, mythical creatures, and epic battles. The heroine is a human who is trying to scrape by in fit in. Expect a side of romance with this book, too. -Melody
Shrill Dusk
Harper, Helen
Charley is a cleaner by day and a professional gambler by night. She might be haunted by her tragic past but she's never thought of herself as anything or anyone special. Until, that is, things start to go terribly wrong all across the city of Manchester. Between plagues of rats, firestorms and the gleaming blue eyes of a sexy Scottish werewolf, she might just have landed herself in the middle of a magical apocalypse. She might also be the only person who has the ability to bring order to an utterly chaotic new world
I was thrilled to see another Helen Harper audiobook on Libby. I love that our heroine for the series is a gambler, which means she is going to take calculated risks. This is Book 1 of the City of Magic series. The setting is an apocalyptic Manchester--think: rats, plagues, storms. The series is a spin-off of the Fractured Faery series from 2018. I recommend them both! -Melody
Freedom fire
Daniel José Older
jFICTION Older Daniel
Kids, Fiction, Fantasy, Early Chapter Books
Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are heading southwest on the back of Stella, the giant pteranodon, to find Montez, her brother, wounded during the siege of Vicksburg; now they are heading into the heart of the fighting, depending on Magdalys' ability to communicate telepathically with dinosaurs--but one of the companions is not quite what she seems, and Magdalys's talent could make her a target for both sides.
Fans of the acclaimed first Dactyl Hill chapter book will rejoice for the thrilling second book in the series! Background notes elaborate on the story’s elements. Intelligent, rousing, and abundantly diverse, this is every bit as satisfying as the first installment. Ages 8–12. -Angie
Dragons in a bag
Zetta Elliott
jFICTION Elliott Zetta
Fantasy, Adventure
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.--
Count down to the sequel! Super excited to see what happens in Jax's story next. -Casey
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Susanna Clarke
SCIENCE FICTION Clarke, Susanna
Fantasy, Historical Fiction
"English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear." (Goodreads)
At around 800 pages in length, I was a bit daunted by my choice in reading this novel. But, after watching the BBC series based on Clarke's book and having it recommended to me by my brother, I was determined to give it a try. This story was a great fit for me because it combines my love of fantasy, England and historical fiction. I especially liked the striking differences between Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and enjoyed watching their relationship to one another and magic evolve. -Becky
Added by Anne W