Wednesday: A Novelization of Season One
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
By Tehlor Kay Mejia
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 3, 2024

Wednesday: A Novelization of Season One by Tehlor Kay Mejia offers a delightful retelling of the debut season of Wednesday, the 2022 Netflix streaming series directed by Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) that’s based on characters created by Charles Addams (Addams Family).

Told from the title character’s point of view, the novelization follows the show’s plotlines while adding an extra layer of introspection into the goth-presenting, death-obsessed teen as she reluctantly begins her first semester at Nevermore Academy, her eighth school in five years. Not only does she have difficulty fitting in wherever she goes, she actually has no desire to fit in. This and her compulsion to right injustices and punish bullies are what often prompt her expulsions from said schools. This time around, her parents, Morticia and Gomez Addams, are hoping that their problem child will find comfort and camaraderie at their alma mater, a private boarding school for children with supernatural abilities or proclivities. Though Wednesday prefers a solitary life, the unique school will introduce her to other “Outsiders” (or “Outcasts” as they are referred to by the “Normies” in town), whether she likes it or not.

Dragons of Fate
Dragonlance Destinies Volume 2
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: August 1, 2023

It has been almost four decades since I was fourteen and I read the very first Dragonlance novel from bestselling authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; don’t do the math as it stings a little to see that number has grown so large. But when I dove into Dragons of Fate, the second volume in the Dragonlance Destines series, it was like going home again. Please join me while I try not to spoil anything, but do my best to explain what you are missing out if you do not reading this novel.

Dragons of Deceit: Dragonlance Destinies: Volume 1
Dragonlance Destinies
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: August 2, 2022

Nostalgia is a fickle thing. I have fond recollections of reading the Dragonlance series as they were released starting with the very first one in the mid-1980s. I consumed everything authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman released along with everyone else who wrote pretty much anything about Krynn. Therefore, it should surprise no one that I was excited to review their newest novel, Dragons of Deceit, set as you can guess in the world of Dragonlance. This was a roller coaster of emotions for me as I made my way through this first book in a new series from two of my favorite authors of all time, though I did not love Dragons Of Deceit in its entirety.

The End Of The World
Hardcover | Kindle
By Don Hertzfeldt
Publisher: Random House
Release date: October 1, 2019

With a title like The End Of The World you’d think I’d know what’s to come, yet somehow, I was still blindsided by this book. Perhaps it was the whimsical hand-drawn stars that lined the top of the stark yet classy hardcover that gave me a glimmer of hope. Or maybe the back cover’s humorous blurbs, boasting “Full of pages, from cover to cover…” and “This is practically a book” that lulled me into a false sense of security. Or possibly that the unexpected heft I felt as I removed the book’s shrink wrapping led me to believe that a product of this outward aesthetic must surely have a matching interior. But after opening the book, I realized I was in for something completely different.

Dragon’s Code
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Gigi McCaffrey
Publisher: Del Rey | Random House
Release Date: October 2, 2018

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books were, beyond a doubt, extremely influential to me and others as a source of world building and empathetic writing. My first foray into the world of Pern was The White Dragon, the pivotal third book that resonated deeply with me. I will not claim to have read everything in the series, but I consumed them year after year as they released, with few exceptions. Therefore, I was elated when I discovered Gigi McCaffrey, daughter of the legendary wordsmith herself, was writing a new book. In fact, Dragon’s Code, as it was titled, was to be a new expansion on this previously massive universe of man, dragon, and threat. A new generation of readers could potentially experience what I did!