When the main character is famous for killing her husband, the king, because he sacrificed their daughter to the gods, you're prepared for tragedy. Costanza Casati's novel Clytemnestra balances the tragedies that Clytemnestra faces with her fierce intelligence and strength. As a warrior princess of Sparta who rules Mycenae while her husband fights in the Trojan War, Clytemnestra is a wonderfully complex woman. I found this book captivating and couldn't stop reading it except to occasionally go and look up a character to see what happened to them--like Aeschellus, Orestes, and Menelaus.
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Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon was a humorous middle-grade fantasy book. Ursula Vernon, also known as T. Kingfisher, is an author I'm crushing on currently. I'm willing to read anything she's written. Vernon writes delightful characters that you want to succeed. This book has an ensemble cast of minions like a goldfish, bat, and donkey/dragon, but the main character is a twelve-year-old trying hard to be a wicked witch. There are many secrets and "time bombs" that propel the story along. Castle Hangnail is aimed at middle-schoolers, but I was caught up in the story and had difficulty putting it down at bedtime.
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Illuminations by T. Kingfisher is a fantasy middle-grade book about an Italian Renaissance family who makes illuminations that give magical protection to the things they are painted on. Rosa Mandolini accidentally releases a Scarling--an evil mandrake who steals magic from illumination--who seeks to destroy the family's livelihood. As things go wrong, Rosa's family blames her for the damage. Afraid to tell her family, she needs to recapture the Scarling. It is not a job she can complete alone. To help her, she has a thieving crow and her no-longer-best friend. Kingfisher is a suspenseful, gifted storyteller.
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