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YA FANTASY BOOK REVIEWS

All of the books covered here fall under the YA Fantasy genre. They might also fall into other categories as well so please look at the tags categories.

Read on to find the magical world you seek.

YA Fantasy, Writers of Color Melissa Carver YA Fantasy, Writers of Color Melissa Carver

Thunder Head (Arc of a Scythe #2)

Title: Thunder Head (Arc of a Scythe #2)

Author: Neal Shusterman

Review: 8/10

Synopsis: Humans learn from their mistakes. I cannot. I make no mistakes.


The Thunderhead is the perfect ruler of a perfect world, but it has no control over the scythedom. A year has passed since Rowan had gone off grid. Since then, he has become an urban legend, a vigilante snuffing out corrupt scythes in a trial by fire. His story is told in whispers across the continent.

As Scythe Anastasia, Citra gleans with compassion and openly challenges the ideals of the “new order.” But when her life is threatened and her methods questioned, it becomes clear that not everyone is open to the change.

Old foes and new enemies converge, and as corruption within the Scythedom spreads, Rowan and Citra begin to lose hope. Will the Thunderhead intervene?

Or will it simply watch as this perfect world begins to unravel?

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YA Fantasy, Writers of Color Melissa Carver YA Fantasy, Writers of Color Melissa Carver

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1)

Title: Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1)

Author: Neal Shusterman

Review: 8/10

Synopsis: A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.


Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

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YA Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Melissa Carver YA Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Melissa Carver

Blue Lily, Lily Blue & The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #3 and #4)

Title: Blue Lily, Lily Blue & The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #3 and #4)

Author: Maggie Steifvater

Review: 9/10

Synopsis: All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

Conclusion to the Raven Cycle Series.

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YA Fantasy Melissa Carver YA Fantasy Melissa Carver

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)

Title: The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)

Author: Maggie Steifvater

Review: 8/10

Synopsis: If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?
Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.
One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he’s not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys — a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan’s secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface — changing everything in its wake.

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YA Fantasy Melissa Carver YA Fantasy Melissa Carver

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)

Title: The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)

Author: Maggie Steifvater

Review: 8/10

Synopsis: Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.


His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

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