A review by sarahbearas
Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, & Margaret K. McElderry Books for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

It pains me to say that my rollercoaster with F.T. Lukens’ novels continues. 

I’ve read everything they’ve published so far, with my favorite being So This Is Ever After, which was actually my first 5-star read of 2024, in January! However, with how middling my feelings have been about their previous novels, I tempered my expectations going into this. To be clear: this is a finely written book, with sweet queer/non-binary representation, and is a cozy, fast-paced read for fans of light urban fantasy. This will definitely appeal to some people, but it fell below expectations for me. 

I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of Lukens’s books that their style of writing tends to lean “straightforward”; with little to no purple prose, succinct, and very easy to read. I don’t mind that and appreciate it every so often between denser books. I think their writing style feels very appropriate for the genres and categories they write in. However, for this particular book, it felt much more spoon-fed-y than usual. Very much like: “They went to door. They picked up their keys and left. Then they went to their car, got in, and started up the car.” Which felt very out of the norm for Lukens and was surprised to see that kind of writing quality here. It felt like the type of writing you do when need to meet a word count minimum on an essay, which is something I don’t love to see in the books I read. 

In terms of the concept for this novel, I’d say it was a just fine execution of the idea. A skeptic and and a magical familiar make an unlikely duo, creating a bargain in order to figure out the mystery of a five-year frost that has taken over the city their in. Great concept, and a good hook. The prologue and first chapter did such an excellent job of creating the atmosphere. It was magical and mysterious and got me pulled in. Ellery’s introduction in the first chapter was a welcome change of pace from previous characters in Lukens’s novels; Ellery is their most pessimistic by far, in my opinion, and was set up to be a great contrast to Knox. However, after the prologue and first chapter, things start stagnating. The atmosphere Lukens sets up seems to disappear while Knox and Ellery become less compelling. Great setup, with little payoff. 

The plot was…confusing? Confusing as in, my expectations were not the reality. I came into this novel expecting to follow a story that was much more high stakes (though, that’s not really Lukens’ MO from what I observed, so I don’t know why I expected that) and this ended up feeling like more of a cozy story. It felt high stakes in the beginning when Knox is in danger, and once the bargain is struck between Knox and Ellery, it’s kinda just us as the readers following them around as check things off the bargain list. Which, yeah, that’s the point, but also, weird to set up high stakes and then forget about them until the end. Which, by the way, we get sort of Eurydice and Orpheus-eqsue towards the end which is random! I did gasp a little bit at that, I won’t lie, but also, very random. 

However, one thing I really appreciated this time around with F.T. Lukens is that their side characters were much more distinct and present in this book! I’ve struggled to connect to some of their side characters, and a lot of them have been wildly underdeveloped (I’m looking at you, random babysitter from the last 30% of Spell Bound. I don’t even remember your name.) But! I could very clearly see who Charley, Zada, Lorelai, Bram, and even Hale were! They brought color and life to the world, and that was great to see. 

Ultimately, while this has some excellent improvements from previous novels F.T. Lukens has written, it fell short for me in so many ways, especially in their writing. This is certainly an anomaly for me, and I hope their future books resonate with me more. Again: if you want a lighthearted, romance-focused urban fantasy, with queer/non-binary representation, this will probably work better for you.