Hey everyone, it's Jananie from the channel @thisstoryaintover, and
welcome back to another episode of #EpicBookRecs.
So this is a monthly series that I do here on the Epic Reads channel,
where I recommend a bunch of books based on a certain theme.
So we've done a ton of fun and exciting themes before,
so go check out the playlist in the description down below so
you can add all those books to your TBR.
But for today's video the theme is twisted histories or
histories with a touch of magic.
So these are all books that are kind of historical fictions that
have a touch of magic or twist history in
certain way with a magical bend to them that makes the story a lot more exciting.
I was personally a history major in university so
this is my favorite kind of thing.
But I know a lot of other people who love history,
but may be a little bit hesitant to jump into a straight historical fiction, and
maybe want something a little bit more genre bending.
So this video is definitely for
those of you who want a mix of both fantasy and history.
So there's a bunch of books on this list that I absolutely adore.
But also a few that I'm currently reading or
hoping to read soon that I think you might also enjoy.
All right,
the first of those books is Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard.
This is an old favorite of mine.
I read this back in high school and absolutely adored it.
This is a historical fantasy set in kind of 1800s Philadelphia and
in this version of Philadelphia, the dead are rising.
So the dead, as in zombies, are rising and
terrorizing all of the people in Philadelphia.
And so our main character Eleanor Fit has just moved to Philadelphia, looking for
her brother.
But she receives a message that the dead have taken him.
And so she's determined to kind of save him and help him out and
figure out what in the world is going on when she meets these spirit hunters.
Who are this lab of people who have kind of joined together to fight off the dead,
and the supernatural forces that are kind of arising.
But there's a lot more to the story with the societal pressures that Eleanor has to
face as a woman in that time.
And how her family's wealth is kind of declining, and how they want her to just
get married off, and there's also a bit of a big bad in the background working.
And this is honestly one of my favorite historical fantasies.
It always brings me so much joy.
One, because it has zombies which is just super cool.
Two, because it's actually really funny.
And three, because I absolutely love the romance in this, Eleanor meets
some interesting and wonderful people in this book and so some sparks start to fly.
This is a trilogy, so there are two more books in the series, and
I really adored all three books.
And I remember just flipping through the pages and
wanting to know what happened next.
So it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat,
and I think there's a great mystery element to the series as well.
On a similar note, I have another kind of zombie book for you, and
that is Dread Nation by Justina Ireland.
This is another book that has zombies in it, which I absolutely love.
But this is set in post-Civil War America where Black and indigenous children
are being forced into these schools to become these things called attendants.
Who are basically like guardians for the white people in America to provide them
protection from the zombies that are rising.
And so our main character, Jane McKeene, is studying to become an attendant and
she's about to face a life where she just becomes an attendant and
kind of protects these other people.
But when families started going missing in the county that she lives in in Baltimore,
a mystery starts to kind of bubble to the surface and
Jane finds herself in the middle of that.
And there's a lot more characters in this book that play some really pivotal roles.
And I think it was just a really fun and interesting and funny read as well.
It deals with a lot of tough and difficult topics, but in a really interesting and
compelling way, which I absolutely loved.
And it's definitely one where you're taking a fraught moment in history and
spinning it on its head, and
I think that was the really interesting part about this book.
And on the note of rewriting history,
the next book I'm recommending is The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi.
This is one of my all time favorite fantasies ever.
And this is a book with a really interesting magic system,
where objects and kind of artifacts are imbued with power.
And so it kind of gives life to the idea of colonization and
the way that colonizers take things from the colonized lands, and
it kind of actualizes this metaphor of taking power in a physical way.
And so this book is set in 1889 Paris, and it follows our large cast of characters
led by Severin, who is coerced by this ancient organization, the Order of Babel.
That has this giant lineage of people who all possess this kind of magical power,
and have been holding on to it and
the artifacts that they have found over the years in secrecy.
And so they coerce Severin to take on this mission and
to find this lost artifact, and in return they will give him back his lost
inheritance because he was an heir to one of the order's families.
And so in order to go on this mission and hunt down this ancient artifact,
Severin enlists the help of his friends.
One is a famous dancer named Laila.
Another is a historian that's been banished from his home, named H'enrique.
Another is an engineer with a debt to pay named Zofia.
And the last is his brother by arms, if not by blood, Tristan.
And together, all of them are kind of heading out on this mission, and
it's sort of a cross between National Treasure,
but set in a historical period with a lot of POC main characters who
are trying to find a place in a world that really doesn't wanna give them that space.
All right, the next one I want to recommend is an all time and
very new favorite of mine, and that is the Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu.
For those of you who watch on my regular channel, you know I love Marie Lu's books,
and this is one of my new favorites of hers because it is set in the time of
Mozart when he was a child, a child prodigy.
And this follows his older sister, Nannerl, who is kind of forgotten by
history because she did not possess the exact same or
level of musical ability as her brother.
But also, because she was a woman, she was kind of pushed to the sidelines, and
not given the same kind of attention.
And this book follows Nannerl's journey as a child into kind of adulthood,
but it is also following these stories that Nannerl and
Mozart used to tell each other as children.
So these are actual stories of the actual historical figures told each other as
children, and they were of this world called The Kingdom of Back.
And so Marie Lu took this idea of the Kingdom of Back and,
makes it into something real in this book.
And so Nannerl and Mozart kind of dream and think about this Kingdom of Back,
and it starts to creep into their actual world in this book.
And there are people from the Kingdom of Back that start to inspire Nannerl and
Mozart's work.
It's just a really interesting and beautiful and lyrical read, but it's set
in a historical period and it's following the life of Mozart, and so you're seeing
these moments and histories kind of twinged with a little bit of magic.
And I absolutely loved it.
It is a wonderful, beautiful read and highly recommend it.
Next book I'm recommending is one I've recommended a few times, and
that is The Diviners by Libba Bray.
This is set in the 1920s in New York.
And it follows a large cast of characters,
but they all possess a sort of magical ability called divining.
But our main character is Evie O'Neill, who is kind of banished to New York to
live with her uncle after she causes some trouble at home.
But her Uncle Will has an unhealthy obsession with the occult and
he owns this museum that also examines supernatural and occult things.
And so when a series of murders start happening in New York that are occult in
nature, the police force calls upon her Uncle Will to help solve these crimes.
And Evie kind of gets embroiled in them and
wants to know what is actually going on and what supernatural forces are at work.
But Evie is a kind of carefree party girl, so she also just wants to party and
hang out with her friends and just have a great time in New York.
But she is being stopped by the restrictions that her parents have set on
her, but also these murders going on.
And this is a really creepy, kind of scary, but magical book.
And as you're learning more things from each of the characters that have POV
chapters, you're starting to learn a lot more sinister things about the killer.
And it makes for a great and thrilling read.
All right, the next book is one that I'm currently reading and
absolutely adoring and that is Lovely War by Julie Berry.
And this is a just beautifully told lyrical kind of book, and
it starts in a hotel in the 1940s, following the goddess Aphrodite and
the god Ares as they are leading their affair.
And they go up to this hotel room but they are caught by Aphrodite's husband,
the god Hephaestus, and so he traps them in the golden net and
this is based off an actual Greek myth.
And he's about to take them off to put them on trial in front of all the gods,
but Aphrodite stops him and
asks him to kind of put them on trial just as him being the judge of this trial.
And she starts to tell a story of what love really means, because Hephaestus
is kind of not understanding why she would be unfaithful to him.
And Ares doesn't understand why she doesn't love him,
and Aphrodite is kind of trying to explain that she, as the goddess of love,
can never love or be loved in the same way that humans can.
And so she starts to tell the story of these humans during the wars.
And there are four of them, Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Collette, and
their stories span across the two wars.
And it's honestly such a lyrically told story,
you are having Aphrodite narrate these stories.
You're seeing the way that she kind of nudges things to work because she is
the goddess of love.
But this is also happening during war time, and people are desperate,
and so many things are going on.
And you're getting that kind of frenzied backdrop to these love stories and
I think it makes for a really beautiful read.
So I highly recommend, really enjoying this, and I cannot wait to finish it soon.
All right and the last book that I want to talk about is My Calamity Jane by
Cynthia Hand, Brodie Ashton and Jodi Meadows.
So for those of you who have seen some previous episodes of #EpicBookRecs, then
you know I love the My Lady Janies series, so this is the third one in the series.
But it is a companion series, so you don't need to read the first two to read this,
but each one follows a different set of characters, a set of Janes
in a different kind of historical period with a different kind of twist.
So this one's set in 1876 in America, and it follows our first main character,
Calamity Jane, who is a garou hunter, and she's kind of a can do attitude,
wants to be a legend, and she also stars in a traveling show.
And then we also have Frank The Pistol Prince Butler,
who is the Wild West's number one bachelor and sharpshooter.
And then we have poor Annie Oakley, who is just looking for a job but
might be stumbling into some romance with Frank.
But the three of these characters are thrown together in this hairy situation in
1876 Wild West, and Calamity Jane is kind of in the garou hunting.
But when she wakes up with a bite mark on her arm, things might be taking a turn for
the supernatural because there are some werewolves in this book.
And this is one I haven't picked up yet but I'm so
excited to based on how much I loved the first two.
All the books in the My Lady Janies series are told by
this series of narrators who kind of twist and bend history to their needs.
And they're telling you kind of unique and supernatural sometimes magical story.
So I can't wait to read this.
I think it's gonna be a lot of fun just like the other books in the series.
And I honestly have never read anything with the Wild West in it.
So I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.
So those are all the books that I wanted to recommend today.
I absolutely love books that are set in historical periods, and ones that have
a touch of magic, because I think it makes for a really interesting and fun read,
especially because with history we feel like we wish we could change things.
And so it's very cool to imagine, what if things were a little bit different.
But thank you so, so much for watching.
Let me know down below if there are any historical fantasies that you love that
I didn't mention today, or what you thought of the ones that I did mention.
As always, I love hearing your recommendations, so
leave them down below and go check out the playlist down below if you wanna
see more recommendations from me.
But thanks so much for watching.
I will see you in the next episode of #EpicBookRecs.
I'm Jananie from the channel This Story Ain't Over.
And I'll see you next time, bye.