Sourdough Universe by A.G. Slatter

I decided to try out A.G. Slatter’s Sourdough Universe series. Four books later, I’m in complete awe and wishing there was more for me to snatch up and devour. A.G. Slatter is massively talented. Her prose is gorgeous, her characters are fierce and strong, and there is a hint of dark fairy tale to every single one of these.

All The Murmuring Bones is the first book in this series (they are set in the same universe, loosely connected. While they can be read in any order, I recommend reading in order). Miren O’Malley is the last of the true O’Malley’s. Once a rich, prosperous family with tremendous reach and power, they have now dwindled away. Miren seeks to discover the truth about her family, her parents and come into her own powers. This book is hauntingly gothic and utterly gorgeous. I don’t want to spoil the plot of these too much because they’re really better just discovering as you go.

In The Path of Thorns, we meet Asher Todd. She has arrived at the Morwood’s family home as a governess, someone who can provide an education to the Morwood children. But Asher has her own reasons for coming to this particular house, this particular family. And she has her own set of skills in healing and herbcraft that she uses to slowly bring her plan into motion and gain the power she needs to do so. But Asher Todd didn’t expect that she would grow to care for the Morwood children, and that greatly affects her plans and her past.

The Book of the Briar Dead is my favorite of the series (and they were all truly amazing). But I just could not have loved Ellie Briar more. She is one of my favorite characters, ever. She was so tough and fierce and inherently acted in the pursuit of truth and kindness. Having grown up in a family of witches, Ellie Briar has spent her entire life magic-less. But despite this, she trains hard to be useful to her family and Silverton. But when her grandmother unexpectedly dies, Ellie accidentally unlocks a power she didn’t know she had. And the more she discovers what it does, the more she realizes that there was so much more going on in Silverton and in the walls of the Briars than she ever imagined.

And then we get to The Crimson Road, which might be my second favorite (but again, they were all amazing!!). Violet Zennor has spent her entire life training as a fighter, a killer, to be a tool that her father could use. When he dies, Violet is relieved because now she is finally free. But assassins begin to come after her, trying to stop her from carrying out a plan her father intended for her. And as much as she wants to fight against this, she has no choice but to travel to the Darklands, to stop a great force from escaping and causing death to everyone in its path. There is something completely incredible about this book that again, I don’t want to spoil, but this book had its hooks in me from page one, and I could not have loved it anymore than I did.

A.G. Slatter is one of my favorite new to me authors in fantasy. Her stories are powerful, the women in them are powerful. I love how hard they pushed to gain power, make a life of their own where men were not the end all, the reward, the part that made it “happily ever after.” Love and relationships were not the point (but it was there), and that was so goddamn refreshing. It was so cathartic to read stories about women becoming stronger and fiercer all on their own. Not to mention, the setting of this world is just so incredibly written. A.G. Slatter writes about fantasy creatures we know in a completely different way, flipping the standard tropes on their head. And it’s perfect. I am eagerly awaiting the next two books in this world coming out next year (a novel and short story collection). These are books you don’t want to miss.