THE GIRL OF HAWTHORN AND GLASS

A teenage assassin turns on her master to free herself and save the world from power-hungry witches.

Eli’s mother made her out of holly berry, spiderweb, wood, human, and other, unknown, components that she means to discover. The human parts of Eli help her travel between worlds undetected—one of monsters unbound by time and another of humans threatened by life-devouring ghosts. With the help of her seven magical daggers—and nothing and no one else—Eli hunts ghosts on the orders of the mysterious Coven that rules her home. If they ever decide she’s no longer of use, the Coven can also order her unmade, returned to her separate ingredients. When a mission goes wrong and Eli accidentally kills a human, she finds herself entangled in the conspiracy of a rogue witch. High stakes and a ruthless protagonist propel the plot at a fast pace. At times, sudden shifts make the story hard to follow, but the ragtag trio of main characters is worth sticking by nonetheless. Eli, who is white, joins forces with Cam, a queer, mustachioed, Vietnamese Canadian man, and Sen, a motorcycle-riding nonbinary person with spiky purple hair, golden-brown eyes, and dark brown skin. In the midst of this dark, murderous fantasy, debut author Jerreat-Poole explores complex themes of oppression, abuse, belonging, and identity.

A raw and chaotic force of magic.