A review by lizziepurpleserenity
Little Black Bird by Anna Kirchner

2.5

This was quite a fun read, that pays homage to classic YA fantasy from the last couple of decades (even peppered with direct references), playing around in a self-aware way with tropes. The ace rep makes a nice change and is handled in quite an interesting way. The author's narrative has a spot-on 'teen' voice (although I do think it needs better editing). I love the Polish city setting, that was well realised and the 'city' felt like a character in itself; I felt like I was there. The plotting was a bit confusing at times and contrived, there were quite a few plot points, character decisions, and aspects of the magic that didn't make much sense to me, but the magic system and set up based on Slavic mythology was pretty cool and has a lot of potential. Given everything that's going on in Poland at the moment, it is so important that books like this are published and supported, and I commend the author for getting her fun story out there!