I really enjoyed The Verdigris Pawn by Alyssa Wishingrad, but loved this book even more (I’m not going to lie—it’s wholly due to all the amazing creatures). Main character Dare is a flawed and likeable heroine (I enjoyed the parts where she wrestles with her “awful”) and she is surrounded by an intriguing ensemble cast (humans AND creatures). An important theme of this book is perception, and how something can be viewed by someone as a monster and someone else as a marvel. The world building was delightful, with City-on-the-Pike feeling like a real place that you can walk through and explore. Finally, there’s a nice plot twist at the end and, even though I suspected a revelation was coming, it wasn’t what I predicted!

I’m really looking forward to sharing this one with the students in my creative writing classes as part of our book club.