I fell in love with this series back in December when I read Volume 1, Save Yourself, and had been looking forward to this volume ever since. It did not disappoint. I loved the title for this one and the way it plays into the plot.

First of all, I totally love the theme of the series in general. We have a WOC protagonist who has decided that she has had enough with the status quo and the waiting around and takes matters into her own hands. She even uses the dragon that guarded her castle in place of a mighty stead. I mean, how could I not love it?

So here we catch up with Adrienne and Bedelia, who is her personal blacksmith and sidekick. They are going to save Angelica! Or are they? Is Adrienne the only one to take matters into her own hands? Does Angelica even want saving? Adrienne has many sisters and while it should be easy to expect that they all be different from each other and nuanced and have different points of view, I also know that expectations like that usually end in disappointment.

Not this time. Whitley has created this amazing world for us and gives us sisters who neither think the same nor act the same. The outlooks that Angelica and Adrienne have on their like situations are not at all the same and serve to manifest very different outcomes for themselves and those who come to find them.

Personally, I loved Angelica. I loved getting another view on the subject of being so admired. I loved that the writers decided to just jump right into the alternative point of view and that none of it went in the direction that I expected. I also loved the rest of the family situation and the foreshadowing of the mysterious Black Knight that I have my suspicions about.

As before, the art is wonderful. The way that Angelica is obviously a little older and is more beautiful and even a little sexy without being overdone or exposing anything was impressive. The rest of the art is fun and colorful and keep it obvious that it's an all ages comic. If you haven't jumped in on this series, I suggest you do. I've already started the third volume and plan to post it soon!

Never have I read a book that so succinctly turns every trope on it's head. I absolutely loved it!

The story is put together fantastically. Each character is amazing in their own right. No one does quite what I expect, even when I thought I had a handle on the way the story was breaking the rules. The family that Luna, Xan, Glerk, and Fyrian make is just adorable. All the people in the Protectorate are dealing with their own issues and making their way through life in ways that are not entirely opposite the norm that I would expectn or entirely the norm either. There's a part of me that feels like it's the way all the old stories should have been written, so that everyone has a little agenda and not all converge nor diverge. History isn't that neat and stories shouldn't be either. At the same time, it was loads of fun to watch the way these characters were like characters we were already a bit familiar with.

Basically, Barnhill did a fantastic job of "making familiar things new and new things familiar" as are the two great powers of a writer according to William Makepeace Thackery or Samuel Johnson. It's been attributed to both on different sites, not sure which is accurate. I listened to it on Audible, read by Christina Moore, who was great. I loved her voices for everyone, especially Fyrian.

This was great fun! I loved the way Black plays with some of the more common tropes in YA.

These issues bring the next storyline of Lumberjanes to us after their run in with the awesome mermaids. This time the girls must contend with a giant bird beast that has kidnapped the High Council. As always, they are amazing.

Things I Loved:

• Did you ever wonder what happened to all the kittens that Ripley gave every person when she was a deity for five seconds back in #4? Well, be prepared to find out.
• The girls' problem solving skills, with every member of the team on it in some way.
• Meeting some other members of the camp
• The empathy of the girls
• The adorable backup story in #25

I'd make a list of things I didn't like, but there weren't any. There rarely are. I especially loved the way they pseudo-defined what makes a "hard-core lady-type".

As usual, these issues have some wonderful ladies:

• Katie Sandwina
• Rosemary Grant
• Agatha Christie
• Valentine Tereshkova

Click on their names to get to their Wikipedia pages and learn more about them.

I'm not normally one for witch stories, but these are brujas. I have to admit that I don't see a lot out there that mix magical realism with Latinx characters, so I just had to give this one a shot and I'm so glad that I did. The reviews of several other book bloggers, particularly diverse book bloggers may have helped too.

That blurb doesn't really begin to tell the reader the half of it. Don't get me wrong,  I don't expect spoilers in the blurb, but simply saying that she hates magic is a little off, in my opinion. She hates magic in that Elsa from Frozen kind of way. She's not ridding herself of a measly amount of power that isn't all that useful anyway or some part of herself that she doesn't feel like she identifies with. She's ridding herself of the dangerous power that she feels overwhelming her ability to control it and out of fear of what might happen were she to lose control. Sure, there are some other reasons in there and they are perfectly understandable 'I wanna be a normal girl' reasons, but I feel like those would have been manageable if not under the colossal weight of her power.

The setup is done well and I felt like I had a good grasp of the characters and where everyone stood when the plot took off. Then there's Los Lagos and the insanity ensues. I enjoyed the darkness of it. Rather than Wonderland, which is what the back cover uses, I found Los Lagos reminded me of Oz. There is an order to things, no matter how unsettling they are and the inhabitants know what that order is. Moreover, each one is just trying to do the best they can within their circumstances in much the same way as the inhabitants of Oz. they have their own motivations that are not tied to our protagonist which makes them a bit unpredictable to her and to the reader.

The worlds that stories take place in are one of my favorite parts of reading, it's why I tend to lean toward paranormal and science fiction and one of the things that's been a new joy to historical fiction. I loved the world building of this book. It's not just Los Lagos but also the world building to create this community of brujas and integrate them into Brooklyn. It's beautifully done.

I look forward to the next installment!