Last May Mayri The Bookforager and I were inspired to create a book tag to celebrate Wyrd & Wonder 5. We settled quite quickly on something we could do together, and thus was created the Tag Team book tag, which is essentially Six Degrees of Separation but played with a friend! We had a lot of fun, and so of course we're bringing it back!!
The rules, as far as there are any, are as follows:
- Pick a friend to play with
- Decide on a prompt to get you started (this can be absolutely anything you want it to be)
- Make a thematic connection to the book picked by your partner, Six Degrees style
- See where your chain of books takes you (and make your chain as long as you like)
- Definitely link back to our posts so we can see your book chains and grow out TBRs
This year, since the theme for Wyrd & Wonder is 'Magic', we decided to stick to books that had some sort of magic wielder in it. Mayri started us off with Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, and her blog has the first five books, so go over there and check out (link to be added) how the tag started before you come back and read the rest!
Previous book: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margaret Lanagan
Ariana: I don't read many books with witches but one that I did enjoy was The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, in which Mika Moon is one of the few witches scattered about the UK, living in isolation to hide their magic. In a change of tone, this one is a very cosy read, as Mika gets recruited to teach three young witches and finds a home for herself where she least expected it.
Mayri: Corrag by Susan Fletcher is more historical magical realism than anything else, and tells the story of the titular young woman who lives alone in the Scottish Highlands. Her life is deeply tied to the natural world, but when she is drawn into the affairs of people she too finds a home of sorts. Unfortunately, she then gets thrown in jail for being a witch…
Ariana: This may be slightly cheating as I haven't actually read this book yet, but I am going to start it in the next couple of days because the great book tempter Imyril made it sound amazing: A Portrait in Shadow by Nicole Jarvis. It's also historical, set in 17th century Florence where artists can layer their works with magic to either heal or curse. It follows Artemisia, a young woman trying to find her place in this male-dominated world of art and magic and it sounds like it's dark and beautiful!
Mayri: Dark and beautiful sums R F Kuang's Babel very well. The art of translation is the method by which magic is made possible here, but this is no whimsical pastime. In this world magic is used to colonise and to oppress and the British empire uses it unscrupulously. Robin and his fellow translators, however, seek to change this … by violent means if necessary.
Ariana: I'm going to end with something quite different: The Unbroken by C.L. Clark. It's also a story that deals with colonialism and oppression and the main character Touraine has lost most of the language and culture of her people because of the empire's indoctrination. It's only when she embraces these again that she's able to channel magic, which can either heal or destroy very violently.
That was great and I know have many more books to add to my TBR! As always, thank you to the Bookforager for being a wonderful co-tagger and overall brilliant human being. If you fancy having a go at this tag, be sure to link back here so we can see it! And I'm sure we'll be back for another one soon...
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