A review by barbras
Illuminations by T. Kingfisher

3.0

Very much a juvenile fiction, so don't expect the more complicated nuances in her adult and sometimes YA books.

That being said, it's still got a lot more nuance than many jv books. In any case, I found it a little slow for most of the beginning. So even though I usually adore T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon books, I honestly skimmed a lot of it. However, the ideas and wording were clever and lovely as usual, and the characters great. One of my favorite lines is:

Aunt Nadia often got a little weird when she was working on a painting, as if most of her brain was involved with art, and the bits that controlled talking were wandering around unsupervised.

And the ending completely tugged at my heart (and my leaky eyeballs.) The solution is a little... uncomfortable? Harsh? But I get it as an ending for kids. But the parts with the family dynamics are just *chef's kiss.*

Thank you Ursula Vernon!!!