My recent posts at Kirkus.

Today's column is about Juliet Marillier's Shadowfell, which is the start of a new epic fantasy series—and when I say epic, I mean EPIC—that DOESN'T star a swaggering, wise-cracking heroine.

Which is a nice change. That isn't to say that I don't enjoy heroines in that mold, it's just that we see a lot of them in YA fantasy, and so a quieter heroine was, as I said, a nice change.

Last week, I wrote about Niall Leonard*'s Crusher, which was plenty of fun and all, but which... isn't YA. Or at least, it didn't read like YA to me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one.

And before that I wrote about Rae Carson's Crown of Embers (speaking of YA fantasies that don't star swaggering, wise-cracking heroines...), my opinion of which can basically be boiled down to: ZOMG SQUEEEEEEEEE!! Except for the cover, which is sadly whitewashed. And my opinion of that, of course, can be boiled down to this: BOOOOOOOOOOO!!

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*AKA Mr. Fifty Shades of Grey.