February 6, 2023
Feuding magical families take center stage in this fascinating but convoluted fantasy from Blake (The Atlas Six). When Baba Yaga, the matriarch of a gifted family of witches, refuses to marry Koschei the Deathless, the patriarch of the most fearsome magical crime ring in Manhattan, she inadvertently starts a cold war. Baba Yaga raises her first daughter, Marya Antonova, to be a lethal and loyal weapon, while Koschei does the same with his own heir, Dimtri Federov. The tension between the families grows for 12 years until the Federovs make the first move, prompting a deadly response from the Antonovas. But when the neglected youngest adult children from each family, Sasha and Lev, meet and fall in love, their family loyalties are tested as they search for a way to end the cycle of vengeance. The Romeo and Juliet–esque romance is emotional and well done, and the familial relationships carry real weight, but the expansive cast—who all go by multiple nicknames—can be difficult to keep straight, and the characters’ many motivations feel underexplored in myriad subplots that go nowhere. Blake’s poetic language (“Roman had a spine like lightning, footfall like thunder”) occasionally further obscures the action. It’s a solid premise, but the execution is lacking.

March 1, 2023
For years, the Fedorovs, led by patriarch Koschei the Deathless, and the Antonovas, led by Baba Yaga, have ruled New York City's magical underground through a web of favors and magical drugs. But the youngest children of both families are feeling some uncertainty. Despite her love for her tough older sister and mother, a big part of Sasha Antonova wants to leave the politics behind and just be a normal college student. After the murder of his brother, Lev Fedorov is getting involved in the family business for the first time--but he isn't sure how committed he is to the cause. Their chance meeting jumpstarts a Romeo and Juliet-inspired fantasy full of politics, betrayal, deception, and romance. Lev and Sasha have electric chemistry, and Blake's entire cast of characters is well written and compelling. Elements of the world in the background of the novel are sometimes hazy, and some narrative threads are dropped or lost throughout. But the witty dialogue, exciting twists, and excellent pacing make this a witchy, mob-inspired adventure that will excite fans of V.E. Schwab and Leigh Bardugo.

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A feud between two powerful witch families heats up, thanks to two pairs of star-crossed lovers and an ambitious middle son, in this stand-alone by the author of The Atlas Six (2022). In New York City, Lazar Fedorov, aka Koschei the Deathless, trades in illicit magical items, fantastical creatures, and expensive favors extended to the desperate. His three sons--Dimitri, Roman, and Lev--aid him in his dealings. Meanwhile, Marya Antonova, aka Baba Yaga, and her seven daughters sell high-end beauty products and illegal magical hallucinogens. As Yaga prepares to extend her drug sales to nonmagical buyers and her eldest daughter, Marya, also called Masha, discovers that the Fedorovs are interfering with their business, both sides plot to finish off their rivals. Matters head toward a tragic direction as Masha and Dimitri reignite the embers of their long-ago love, Masha's youngest sister, Sasha, becomes romantically entangled with Lev, and Roman makes his own violent plans to gain his father's approval. What appears to be an unholy magical cross between The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet leads to an expected high body count--and that's only halfway through the book. Since this is a fantasy novel, Blake throws in a twist that initially feels like a shocking swerve, but we're soon headed in a similar, but potentially even more destructive, direction. Several characters exhibit deep and interesting emotional growth (some based on a clever use of magic drawn straight from the Russian fairy tales the book references), but others are never fully fleshed out. In addition, the plot unfortunately coalesces predictably (and not nearly as intricately as the scheming characters, and probably the author, imagine it does), and the denouement seems less inevitably tragic than sadly pointless. Meanwhile, many opportunities for intriguing worldbuilding (how magic works, how witches govern themselves to hide their magic from nonwitches, where magical creatures come from, what non-New York witch societies are like) are never picked up. Reasonably involving while you're reading it but ultimately disappointing and incomplete feeling.

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