This is (Kind of) a Book Recommendation

            Something I’m thankful for is middle-grade/YA fantasy books. (Yes, I am aware that we are halfway into December – thanksgiving is long gone, and so are my YA fantasy days – but I’m feeling nostalgic, so here’s a blog post all about the books I read as a kid.)

            As a kid, I was obsessed with all sorts of fantasy novels. We never had cable (or kid-accessible computers) at our house when I was growing up, so my only real form of entertainment was through reading. And I loved it – I used to just go to the library’s “new teen” section and just pick out ~20 books I thought I’d like. It got to the point where I had read everything (everything interesting, anyway) on the new shelf, so I’d have to wait another week or so for the new releases to come in. If it was a fantasy YA novel that came out from 2011-2016, I probably read it (or, at least, flipped to the blurb and decided not to read it). Here are two of my favorite books from that era of my life:

1)    The Septimus Heap series

The Septimus Heap series was maybe my favorite series growing up. Not a lot of people

I know have read these books (which is strange, because it’s about wizards and was popular around the time Harry Potter was still huge). As you can probably tell, the series’ main character is named Septimus Heap, a likeable and precocious young boy who is apprenticed to a big-shot wizard at the Wizard Tower. He’s the youngest son of the Heap family, which is made up of two eccentric parents, their seven eccentric sons, an eccentric aunt, and their somewhat eccentric adoptive daughter Jenna. The story is set in a magical city (state? city-state?) called The Castle, which is ruled by a Queen and protected by an ExtraOrdinary Wizard. I can’t say much else without completely spoiling the first book (not that I think that any of you are going to read it, but still), but the series is not as cliché and run-of-the-mill-fantasy as it sounds. It’s actually really clever and funny, and there’s a certain homey charm to it that I think makes these books really unique, as far as YA fantasy series go. I still read them – they’re my first choice when I want to just flop into my couch and read something cozy. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a nostalgic read.

2)    Six of Crows (duology)

Okay, these books are a bop. They’re much more stereotypical-YA than Septimus

Heap, but these books are among the best the genre has to offer. They’re just so much fun – the world-building is masterful, the characters are well-rounded, and the internal dialogue is exactly the overdramatic drivel you want when you’re reading YA fantasy. There’s six main characters, most of whom are thieves (spies/sharpshooters/gang leaders, that sort of stuff) in a gang called the Crows. Kaz Brekker is the badass deputy leader of the Crows, Inej Ghafa is this climber-spy-knifefighting pure soul, Jesper Fahey is a depressed gay sharpshooter, Wylan is a delicate explosive maker, Nina Zenik is an empowered flirt who does anatomy magic stuff, and Matthias Helvar is her buff love interest. They go on a heist to steal this guy who makes drugs from a northern fortress. The story is set in Ketterdam (basically Amsterdam in 1870s-ish time, I guess? but with more crime and magic), which is in a wide world that is amazing.

            I haven’t re-read either of these series since last year, but writing about them has made me miss reading them a lot. They, especially Septimus Heap, sort of feel like home to me. Hopefully I’ll have some time over winter break to read these again.