jaymi elford

Disclaimer: I received an eARC from netgalley.com in exchange for my thoughts. Thanks, NetGalley!

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo explores themes of grief and loss and the horror that happens when you cannot let go. After the loss of his best friend, Eddie, Andrew moves to Nashville. He's determined to uncover the mystery of why Eddie passed. Slipping into the world that Eddie left behind, Andrew slowly unravels the dark legacy given to him. All the while dealing with the confusion around his desires and passions.

Mandelo has written a fabulous horror story that blends the mystery of personal loss with the ability to gain authentic love. They compellingly use rejection and death to bring readers into the world of self-discovery and queerness. Their writing is visual, and you can feel the heat of Nashville, smell the dust, and feel Andrew's pain in the hole that Eddie left behind.

Summer Sons is a quick read. The world draws you in, and the horror elements aren't in your face. Instead, they appear as fluid as the natural world we know. It's a dark mystery that leaves you satisfied and rooting for Andrew in the end. It left me thinking about my own queer path and discovery of authenticity.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC from netgalley in exchange for a review. I also purchased a copy for my library.

Sasha Graham's 365 Tarot Spells is a both a stand alone volume and companion to her previously published 365 Tarot Spreads. Tarot is a marvelous magical companion. It's small and portable and can be used in a variety of ways to affect change in one's life. Graham's book helps to promote tarot's use as a flexible tool for producing results. She's created another day-by-day style book filled with wonderful spells you can use to get what you want in a variety of different ways. Each spell contains a short list of ingredients (some spells require easy to access components in addition to the tarot cards themselves) and a description of how to put the spell into action. A sidebar containing an incantation to activate the spell, a generic card image, and a tidbit from that day in history rounds out each spell.

365 Tarot Spells is a homage to another well designed tarot book called Tarot Spells by Janina Renee. Graham's spells are well thought out and have a modern, fresh vibe to them. I liked the wide variety of spell topics and cards used for the spells. Graham does guarantee that each card makes an appearance at least once in the book. There is a wonderful and very thorough index of spells and categories in the back of the book that can be used to quickly find just what you need. She's even added 78 spells for you to connect and bind yourself to each and every tarot card in the deck. Doing so can have the powerful effect of making the whole deck a spectacular tool for creating magic.

There's a lot of good information in this book. I will say that the layout still has bugs in it. It seems that ePub manufactures are still trying to mimic print layouts. And when they do this, the text suffers because reading on a device isn't the same as reading off a printed page. There are many cases in the ePub where the side bar cuts text off and overlaps the main spell working. Where there are layout images, they appear very small–sometimes unreadable.

Bottom Line: Looking for new ways to use your beloved tarot decks? Want to learn how to use tarot to attract things to you? Then 365 Tarot Spells is just the book for you. Graham includes a wide range of topics for you to cast spells. This is a modern witches grimoire for casting tarot spells.

Disclaimer: I received a PDF ARC of this through netgalley.com

Following a pagan path is very spiritually fulfilling. The basis of the book is that pagans don't need to feel spiritual on holidays and sabbats. That with some creativity and understanding of our personal yearly devotions, we can walk a pagan path every day. Early chapters focus around learning one's personal Wheel of the Year and personal holidays and how to incorporate these into your life; while later chapters discuss specifics of getting back to nature and spirituality. Albertsson shares his personal Saxon beliefs for examples but balances these with other ideas from heathens and others. A great majority of the book discusses working with the land and critters to understand nature and its cycles.

What I liked: I loved Albertsson's creativity. He really does show that he lives an inspired pagan path every day. The book is filled with examples of how many different pagans can live their spirituality daily. There are spells, rituals, and recipes (food and incense). I liked that Albertsson starts us out with thinking about our own personal Wheel of Life. That we should look at what dates are important to us and use that as a basis for our holy year. What a unique and awesome idea.

What I disliked: I felt that the chapters on working with familiars and the land went a bit long. Albertsson is a dog owner and he spent way too much time discussing how to care for dogs. It was cute and good information but i felt a bit out of scope of this book. Likewise, he's very connected to the land and describes how to farm, raise chickens, and keep bees to a dizzying detail. I felt that he should have given a few more suggestions on how non-land people could connect to the land when they're in a city (he does get into potting plants for house, etc).

Bottom Line: If you are a pagan and find your days lacking some touch of spirituality, then this book is for you. It will show you techniques and ways to reconnect your self and your daily lives back into a earth-bound path.

This is the first Stephen King book I've managed to finish in a long time. Of course, my all time favorite is The Dark Tower series. Intrigued by the idea of cell phones turing people into zombies, I had to get this one. However, what I thought this was going to be about and what it ended up being are two different things. Yes, this book is about how a single call changed the way people look at communications over a cell phone. But in my head I wanted to see how the world coped in this new zombified world. And King didn't deliver that story. Instead, he turned it into one man's journey to find his son and understand what may or may not have taken hold of him. Even at the end, I found the book a bit open ended for my tastes and didn't leave me with answers to the questions I wanted. I even read this one in a few hours, so it's a quick read too. This book helps boost my goal of reading more fiction than non-fiction.

I really liked Feed, once the story progressed past the first 200 pages. I love a well rounded world and this one definitely delivered. However, much of the politics prevented me from reading this as fast as I usually do. Once the story progressed past the 200 page point, i had a VERY hard time putting the book down. And... I cried at the end. shakes fist at Miss Grant Looking forward to seeing how this series progresses.

Another book borrowed from the library, this one helps people try and deepen their understanding of comics. McCloud goes thru a bit of comic history and then describes several techniques to how to really understand what is going on in the comic format. The book was interesting and also follows a comic book format but I found that the style was a bit hard to read in some places and didn't keep my attention as best as it should have.

This review is based off the ARC copy I received as through netgalley.

I loved this book. Schwarz did a great job in creating her alternative world filled with magic and steampunk. The characters felt real to me and I loved their witty banter. Usually, with books in this genre, I am able to guess what goes on but A Conspiracy of Alchemists did a good job of bringing new twists to my mind. If you love your steampunk with a bit of magic and alchemy then get this book.

Disclaimer: Alinka Rutkowska emailed me a copy of her book in exchange for this review.

I typically dislike small eBooks because often they aren't well written or formatted. Alinka Rutlowska's book, How I Sold 80,000 Books, is an exception to my rule. This slim book takes only 30 minutes to read but it is jam-packed with useful information any author can apply to their publishing process. Rutkowska hooked me from the start when she reminds the reader that not everyone will have the same successes as she does because every author's goals and definitions of success are different. She then goes on to explain how product (aka your book), place, price, and promotion create a cornerstone to reaching that individual success and how authors can use these four Ps to hit their target sales.

What I liked: Rutkowska has great humor. Her bits on finding a proper editor made me giggle, mostly because I do a lot of editing for other authors myself. There were many times in this book where I found myself nodding along with the advice. It's good stuff, and written in such a way that even if you “know it all” you'll enjoy the refresher. This advice isn't just for one platform (print or ebook), it's directly applicable to both. Rutkowska also gives links to some very fun and informative videos on how to do some of the things her book talks about.

What I didn't like: There's a link to a page on her site for a product called “Kindle Spy”. I immediately loaded the page in and discovered how heavily markety-sounding it was. When I tried to close the page, it triggered a pop-up window on my browser (which has pop-ups blocked). This makes me wonder what is under the hood of that app/page. Curiously there's a section in the Promotions chapter called “Picture and Bio” but the only text under it is “see ‘Product.'”— why is this here if she wants readers to go back to the Product section. I'm left wondering how the picture and bio can be a promotional seller.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are an author and want a good, quick read that provides you with tons of traditional, and not so traditional, ways to sell more copies of your book, then Alinka Rutkowska's How I Sold 80,000 Books is for you.

There are a lot of good tarot books out there that teach tarot. Tarot Foundations is one of them. Styled as a workbook, it gives you daily small focused chunks of learning tarot card meanings, spreads, and interpretations. While it's for those who know nothing of tarot, even us more experienced can find something inside to try and test out. Brigit Esselmont, owner of Biddy Tarot, shares her years of experience with readers and takes the scary out of learning the card's system.

I love workbook style formats. Esselmont does a great job breaking down the bits of tarot and leading readers through a step-by-step format of knowing the cards She stars with the basics, and then moves into the cards by group, before finally showing you how you can read and start your own tarot reading service. There are a lot of activities in this book and it may take readers more than 31-days to finish the work herein.

It took me a lot longer to finish Tarot Foundations than I expected. With this being an eBook, there are also lots of links to Esselmont's blog and other sites. Some of the links are not working but that doesn't deter from the content. She's even included charts and worksheets that you can use to record your own explorations. My biggest problem was wanting to play with the cards after every day.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are intimidated by tarot and want a safe and steady way to learn the cards then give Brigit Esselmont's Tarot Foundations a try.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is/was one of my favorite TV shows. I'll admit, the movie... was very cheesy and turned me off. But then, one night while bored and needing something to escape into, I ended up watching one of the season 2 episodes. From that moment on, I was hooked. I devoured the series faithfully from season 1 to season 5. As my life grew more complicated (as Buffy's did), the seasons became harder for me to watch due to appointments and meetings. I haven't even read Season 8.

I was at PantheaCon in 2012 when I met Valerie Estelle Frankel, the author of this book. She and I were talking tarot and she mentioned to me that she had written this book. I got so excited that I asked her for an electric copy, because I really wanted to read it and review it. And although it has taken me two years (in a way, following my own heroine's journey through my tarot and writing lives), here's my thoughts.

Buffy and the Heroine's Journey takes the reader on a adventure through the Buffyverse. This book examines the heroine's journey, which is very different than the hero's journey, and uses the Buffy movie, 90's TV series, and the comics created by Joss Whedon to frame the narrative. It's as entertaining as it is instructive.

The hero's journey has a special place in my heart as a writer and a scholar. I have read a lot about it. In school, they don't talk a lot about the Heroine's Journey. While each has some parallels— it feels like the hero has an easier time and is more linear, while the heroine goes through this long, convoluted process that isn't always easy or happy. In fact, you could say that it's very complex, just like us women! Frankel does a great job framing the information of both Buffy (from season 1 to the comic season 8) and the idea of a Heroine's journey in such a way that makes both accessible as an introduction and to seasoned pros.

Re-reading about Buffy brought many of the episodes and more memorable scenes back into my head. I want to watch the whole series over again, now that I have been enlightened with this perspective. There were many things that confused me about Buffy back when I watched it. Things and scenes that made me uncomfortable. Things that paralleled with my own life, and Frankel's book helped show me why these things had to happen. It made me grateful and I can now say, “ah, I understand it now when this happens in the series.”

I'm impressed, Frankel did her research. It oozes from the text. I thought I was a fan girl who spoke to others on end about aspects of this series. Frankel really dove into the mythology, the subtext, and made an amazing book. However, there are bits in this book that are confusing and a bit too scholarly. There were many times where I had to re-read sections over to grok what she was getting at. Sometimes, reading the book felt like reading a college text book and it was hard to push forward. I am glad I did because this is an important book.

Bottom Line:
Scholars and fans of Buffy will want to read this book. Heck, anyone interested in learning more about why Joss Whedon is the best at what he does needs to read this book. To end with Frankel's own words, “Buffy, a modern classic like Harry Potter or Star Wars, will surely last. It will be repackaged, rereleased, and most of all rewatched by long-time and new fans the world over. Because like Harry Potter and Star Wars, it's the classic Chosen One story complete with humor and real characters the audience loves. But it's also something special and far too rare on television—the classic quest of the heroine.” (Excerpt From: Valerie Estelle Frankel. “Buffy and the Heroine's Journey.” ePub version, iBooks.)

Editor's Note: I received a free PDF of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Tarot Activity Book, written and published by Andy Matzner, is a wonderful book to explore both the deck and yourself. Andy Matzner is a clinical social worker and Tarot reader who has found how to blend therapy sessions and Tarot in a fun and self-constructive way. With this book, Matzner has created a fun and co-creative way to explore the cards and yourself. Appropriate for all Tarot enthusiasts, this book will get you connecting to the cards in no time.

The Tarot Activity Book has 4 chapters: an Introduction, Conversation Starters, Writing & Journaling, and Arts & Crafts. The introduction gives you the background for why the book was written. Then the next three chapters (and a final appendix) gives you lots of activities that revolve around the topic of the chapter. Each activity follows the same pattern: there is a name, an objective, a background, and then the process. This makes the book highly usable and portable. If you read tarot for others, you can flip to an activity and quickly tell them why the activity will help them with their question or concern.

I love activity books. They're great for advancing your skill set in a wide variety of ways. The Tarot Activity Book doesn't disappoint at all. There are so many activities, it's almost like activity overload. I found myself highlighting and bookmarking activity titles like crazy. And while I have yet to try these, I am so looking forward to testing them out solo and with my Tarot friends. The book is well organized—each activity and section builds off on one another. I love that some give insights into our personalities, while others give us creative outlets (both written and visual). For those of you who love quotes, this

There's not much to dislike about this book. It took me forever to get through it because there's so much good inside it. I almost wish there was an index at the back to break down all the activities by emotional benefit, or objective. Oh, and I wish that Matzner produced this in eBook format.

Bottom Line: If you want to connect to your deck and learn more about yourself as a person, then get The Tarot Activity Book and do the exercises in it.

Disclaimer: Christine gifted me the e-galley to this book in preparation for an interview. I am also a contributor.

Scott Cunningham is a legend in the modern magical community. Everyone who practices has either read, used, or knows the material this one person gifted to the practice of magic. I know his books on the elements and his crystal encyclopedia influenced my personal practice. There are some books that talk about the man behind the magical study. However, none lend the story of his family nor the perspective of someone close to him, his sister.

Christine has done an amazing job in this book. She weaves stories of growing up with Scott and how the connections of living in a family of writers, artists, and curiosity lead him to the path of witchcraft we all know him for. She weaves the love she has for him (and her family), the pain of losing her brother, and the lessons and ways his writings now influence her path into witchcraft.

The extra contributions from noted pagans and metaphysical authors lend a powerful thread to how the Cunninghams influenced their paths and how magical practices of astrology, numerology, crystals, and tarot shed light and cross through the stories Christine tells.

I laughed. I cried. I became part of the family by reading this book. Thank you, Christine, for sharing your stories and your family with us. Your parents and Scott are proud.

Disclaimer: I received a eARC from netgalley. Also, the author is a friend of mine from the Tarot circles. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

Relationship questions are the bread and butter for tarot readers. I know, because I get asked about them a lot in my practice. So, when Tarot Coupling came out, I was very interested in seeing what Gina Thies could add to the discussion. I was not disappointed. This book has a LOT to offer new and advanced tarot readers. She spends a lot of time discussing the science behind relationships and how tarot readers can support relationships at different stations. She also gives unique and impressive meanings for each card that help support people in relationships at any level. The last chapter in Tarot Coupling includes a tarot spread that you can use in your own practice.

What I Liked: Tarot Coupling goes DEEP into the study of relationships, romance, and the science of attraction. This is important to know because questions on love and romance are psychologically based. We need to know the science on how partners are picked in order to really help our clients. I also loved that Thies took the time to create her own meanings for relationships throughout the four stages of their lifecycle. This is the bang for the buck. No longer will you need to pigeon hole a meaning when the client is in a new relationship stage. Now you can see how the meanings deepen or change throughout the relationship changes. I also liked the lists of romantic suggestions/dates, etc. to help inspire people.

What I Disliked: This is a heavy book. There's so much science and psychology in the book that it takes awhile to read. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing, but you will want to take notes and digest what Thies says. I would have also liked it if Thies included a few other spreads (she has just the one), and some sample readings with them.

Bottom Line: I've read and reviewed many tarot and relationship books and most of them leave me feeling empty. They are light on the use of tarot in relationships and heavy on the card meanings. Tarot Coupling is my new favorite relationship book. Not only does it provide original and creative meanings for the cards, but it gives a lot of practical advice on how attachments are made and this information can be used to inspire and counsel any client.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through netgalley in exchange for this review.

Deborah Lipp's Tarot Interactions takes readers, new and advanced, through the various ways they can read and build relationships with the tarot. When I first saw this book for review on Netgalley I expected to see a tome on relating the cards to one another. A dictionary reference on building meaning for two, three, or four cards in a reading. If that's the type of book you want, this is not for you. Instead, Lipp brings readers an interactive way of learning tarot.

Tarot Interactions posits that every bit of using a tarot, from honing your psychic skills using the cards to reading for clients is an interaction. Each chapter discusses a unique view of an interaction using tarot cards. My favorite chapters were the Psyche, Patterns, and Language chapters because they take tarot on a personal level; reminding us that readings begin with learning patterns and seeing how the cards interplay with one another and the client; and the language and stories the cards tell us.

What I liked: This was a great workbook for readers. Lipp's writing is smooth and easy going and it's written almost like the reader is in the room with her. There are many exercises that make reading this book in a group setting very easy to do. She even includes answers to her own questions to use as good jumping off points. I also liked how each chapter builds and guides you into the art of tarot reading on one another. There are also some good appendices on her tarot meanings and other good info.

What I didn't like: I had some issues with some of the example stories. Sometimes there seemed to be inconsistencies between the spread graphics and what was written. I also thought the book was too short. (Not REALLY an issue but I really liked her instructional style and wanted to have more from her.)

Bottom Line: If you want to develop long-lasting relationships with your decks and learn how interactions play in your tarot readings then Tarot Interactions is for you.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this from netgalley.

This book caught my eye due to the fact that it promised readers the ability to learn, grow, and increase their psychic abilities. I am a tarot reader who doesn't really apply the psychic tag to her own readings. However, this book, could change my mind one day.

Chauran has written a wonderful, daily workbook that if the reader follows will help them determine what a psychic is, can help others with, and uses to draw out their impressions. Each day has a short essay written about a particular topic and then gives you an homework assignment to focus on. There is no real skipping around in this book, for each exercise builds on the previous one.

I love workbooks. They help teach material on a hands-on way and empowers the reader to really know the work. I can totally see this book being used in circles or covens for study.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

Sasha Graham's 365 Tarot Spreads is an interesting study in creating tarot spreads. She wrote the book to fill the gap that appeared on bookshelves, noticing that there was no “daily tarot spread” book out there. Each spread in this book, then, was created by her (or some other notable tarot alums) for practitioners to use on a daily basis. Many of the spreads were created based on: historical information, pagan or astrological date info, or literary and pop cultural reference.

What I liked: This book should be a quick read. Graham includes a wide variety of spreads and topics to fit any request. Readers could use it as a tarot-a-day study guide or just flip through the pages until a spread they need pops up. As one who loves designing spreads for her own uses, I looked at this book as a way to see the wide variety of spreads that a single person (in this case, Sasha) could create. It's a highly creative volume of spreads.

What I didn't like: This book took me forever to read. The layout includes so much side-bar information that it's a bit overwhelming and cluttered. After the book came out and I purchased the epub file, I found the file horribly designed. The spread layout images were tiny and the formatters attempted to design to the print layout, rather than to the device. Ugh. It really made reading the book on a device harder than it should have been.

Bottom Line: Love tarot spreads? Then add 365 Tarot Spreads to your collection. I've flagged many of the spreads that I'm sure I'll look back to over and over again for my own use. I also recommend that you buy the print version of the book (yes, it's huge and heavy) and skip the eBook due to the layout issues. Other than that... it's a great resource for any tarot library.

On Desire is a fun romp through literature, religion, philosophy and science to discuss the basis of desire. Irvine may be a professor but his prose is written for the everyman. I found myself constantly quoting passages to my husband, and thoroughly enjoyed his wit. On Desire may not cure the wants and needs that I have 100% but it does help me understand where they come from, and give me advice on how to conserve some of them.

Disclosure: I received a PDF ARC of this book from netgalley.com.

I'm reviewing this book from the angle of one who loves to read urban fantasy and supernatural fiction. The back copy of this book intrigued me and I envisioned a book that blended urban fantasy with the legends of the native american tribes from Alaska. I've been to Anchorage, and Alaska is the perfect place to host a supernatural setting. This book is about a town that comes under attack from a group of demons. However, these are not demons that many from the paranormal communities would know, they're more biblical in nature.

In fact, Raven's Cove read more like I'd expect to find on the Christian shelves, with the town battling good versus evil. I'm pagan, and I can deal with this black and white thinking. But when all was done, the book was written a bit flat and did more to tell, rather than show. Raven's Cove begins like any other book, outlining our small town and the impending doom. But as the story unfolds, we're told more than we're shown. For example, the main characters, Kat and Kenneth, have an attraction to one another that isn't really shown. They just accept their attraction and even Kat's grandma tells them to “just get together.” The tension also plateaus, rather than ramps up. The final battle, if you can call it that, fell flat and the loss that happens doesn't come through as being felt.

I've been given the second book in the series and I'm hoping that it will ramp up the supernatural threat, show us why our characters felt so drawn to love one another, and show us a tale worthy of the Alaskan wilds.

Disclaimer: I received a PDF ARC from netgalley.com.

Remember, I'm reviewing this book from the perspective of one who loves urban fantasy and supernatural genre works. I am pagan, and while there's a bit of “God talk” in this book, it doesn't detract from a good story. An ingress is a portal, an opening to somewhere else. Poll's newest addition to her Alaskan Iconoclast series, Ingress, is indeed just that. This book picks up from the events of the first book. We find out what happens to Josiah and the others. A new threat hits the town and gives the demon Iconoclast a way back into the sleepy town of Raven's Cove.

This time Poll did a better job of combining the Indian lore of the surrounding area into to her good versus evil tale. We get exposure to more people in Raven's Cove as we try and figure out what is going on. The supernatural elements in the book are a bit stronger, and we're introduced to new critters and occult lore. This was a stronger book overall. The end battle scene was much more what I was hoping for in a climax and felt stronger than the last book.

However, what I didn't like was the romance bits. At the end of book one, our heroes, Kat and Ken, are finally admitting their feelings. In the start of Ingress, they are no longer a couple, due to Ken leaving Raven's Cove to go back to Anchorage. He wanted to take Kat with her but she didn't want to leave. She doesn't even want to date. It's really clear that she'd rather just get married, because she's “old fashioned like that.” Whoa?!!!! Seriously? Readers haven't seen them date, and yet she's insisting that he flat out marry her? That's just... a tad bit unrealistic in my book. In any case, Ken does what she asks, despite him wanting to just date a bit and live together.

Bottom line: if you want a fun, christian-fueled book where good triumphs over evil, then this is the series for you.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book via netgalley.com to review.

Data Runner, the name alone makes me think of Shadow Run, with shadowy hackers breaking into corporations and taking their data for fun and profit. There is a bit of similarity in this book but it's of a different nature. Patel creates an interesting vision of the future where “data runners,” or people who load up data into their bodies and currier it from location to location, help form the culture of our world. Our protagonist, Jack, a tracer who dreams of being able to go to the best schools, gets recruited into the best data running organization, Arcadia. Soon, he learns the value of carrying data and what it can really shape the direction of the world.

I loved the world built into this book. I loved the parkour and running scenes. My head carried out music to accompany it. The book did have a few twists and it kept me wondering just how far the run was going to go. The characters were great and had flaws, that made them more well rounded. The book ends with a great opening for the next, if there will be.

I'm not sure what the shortcomings of this book might be... it was a bit short (which isn't a downfall), and things did flow a bit too well, but those are minor things to something I hope heralds the start of a promising series.

Bottom Line: want a fun cyberpunk/shadow run book to read? Love tales that feature parkour prominently in them? Then this is your book.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through netgalley in exchange for this review.

Victoria Strauss's The Burning Lands is book one of a two book series on what it means to have faith, influence the corse of humanity, and love. In this book we are introduced to two societies: one who harnesses the uses of Shaping (the magical system employed in this series) and allows those who own it to be free from restraint and another who carefully uses the Shapers to craft a religious tradition built with restraint.

In this book, we meet Brother Gyalo, a devout monk of the Âratist order from the second society. He has been charged with the honor of going out into sacred land to discover whether or not a secular group of Âratists survived the oppression of the Caryaxt who ruled his country for almost three generations.

His travels take him and his entourage deep into the Burning Lands, a vast desert that cannot sustain people well. Misfortune hits and Brother Gyalo is forced to use his powers of shaping to help him and a few of his crew survive, an act that causes his order to cast him out as an apostate. He arrives, along with 2 other survivors to a huge underground cavern where the secular Âratists live. As their beliefs forked off from the main branch for 3 generations, they aren't sure what to think of these outsiders. This is where we meet Axane, a girl who has the powers of Dreaming. She becomes entranced by Gyalo and his stories of the outside and declares her desire to help him escape.

The last part of the book returns Axane, Gyalo, and the others back to society where they are met with resistance and vitriol. Gyalo is banished as an apostate for having used his powers and in failing to bring the lost Âratists back to the modern ways, the Brethren take it upon themselves to destroy them themselves by using any means necessary.

This book is a triumph of storytelling, world building, and restraint of using magical powers. Yes, it's fantasy, but it has this strange undercurrent of what it really means to be alive, to be given gifts of miraculous powers, and which side of the fence is greener.

Bottom Line: If you enjoy epic fantasies with lots of world building that will have you questioning what it means to have faith, then Strauss's The Burning Lands is for you.

Mellissae Lucia's Oracle of Initiation (Tarot version) is a 68 card deck designed and conceived by the author. Lucia states that the deck is “a mysterious and shape-shifting deck” that can offer “experienced guidance for embracing the beauty in spiritual transformation.” The deck is structured in eight worlds, each with eight cards that help the seeker understand the growth of their own life journey. She says that there are two types of cards, gateway and painted body cards. “Each Gateway card offers their main description and then their four elements for each of the realms. After the Gateways come the seven Painted Body cards. The Painted Body cards each have a focusing phrase and their main description, followed by the cross-cultural goddess, god or archetype that is the Guardian corresponding to that Painted Body spirit.”

My review copy included a tarot-sized set of cards wrapped in a velvet blue bag to hold the cards in, and a copy of the 400-page companion guide. I ended up requesting a copy of the PDF guide because the companion book does not have some of the card meanings in it. With this in mind, here's my in-depth review of this deep and mysterious deck.

The Cards
The tarot-sized version of the Oracle of Initiation comes with 68 cards. Each world takes the reader and seeker through various human development stages. The cards themselves are 2.75” wide by 4.75 long and are made of a sturdy card stock. The finish has a linen texture to it but they are also a bit glossy, which makes them a bit hard to shuffle in my hands. Seriously, the cards jumped out of my hands when I first held them—it was as if they all wanted to speak at once. Even after a few months of owning the cards, they want to jump out of my hands. The card backs are black with a red graffiti art on them. This pattern is not reversible; however, Lucia's companion guide does give many suggestions on how to read the cards reversed. The edges of the card hold up rather well, too. They retain their black sheen, after all the times I've shuffled them.

Back art from the Oracle of Initiation by Mellissae Lucia.
Back art from the Oracle of Initiation by Mellissae Lucia.
The artwork on the Oracle of Initiation are a combination of photographs taken while she was in the New Mexican Graffiti Tunnels and some stylized hand-drawn art. The photographed cards are amazing to look at. They jump out at you and have an otherworldly appearance to them. Even after looking through the deck many times, I find it hard to believe that they aren't manipulated in any way. The companion guide suggests that you look at the art to give you more details of the messages that Spirit are showing you in the cards; which is a great idea and something I love. Even the way the figures in the card move, evoke meaning to follow.

How It Reads
It took me forever to get to this reading section. There is so much in the Companion Book that I wanted to take my time to read through it and get to know the deck better. As I am not really used to reviewing oracle systems, I'm curious to see what the cards say about themselves in this three card reading. When I do these readings, I try not to overlay any other knowledge than what the LWB or companion book suggests.

1. What can you teach users?
I received 39. Collaboration, also known as the Balance of Alliance. The deity for this card is Gaia, and I'm loving the synchronicity. The Companion book describes this card as being “an authentic collaboration” that can provide “mutually beneficial association allowing both parties freedom within connection.” I think that this is a great answer to what the deck can teach users. By the deck providing the images for exploration and the person reading the card to provide understanding and divine connection, this deck can provide an awesome collaboration.

2. What are your strengths?
I received 4. Naivety, also known as the Initiation of Innocence. The deity for this card is Tara (haha, almost typed tarot there). The Companion book says that we “are they channel through which the inspiration of the galaxies may grace the earth, a starlight medium. (Our) initiation of innocence is remembering that within (our) naive quest for expansion, (we) are still flying blind, apprenticing to the ways of earthen awakening.” So, I take this that the deck is good to use with an open mind, a sense of play, and a willingness to expand one's senses into the journey and contract they enter in with the deck.

3. What are your weaknesses?
Finally, for this last question, I got 61. Assimilation, also known as the Discernment of Unity. The deity for this card is Shango. The Companion book says that “assimilation is an awesome responsibility, attuning with all that surrounds you. The discernment of unity recognizes that assimilation is not simply absorbing: it is reweaving yourself into the matrix of existence, harmonized with all.” From these statements, I think that the deck is telling us that it can only show us what we need to do, but the work of integration (assimilating) the knowledge falls upon our shoulders and that it isn't as easy as doing readings and writing journal entries. There is real work to be discovered with this deck, but only if you are willing to play and integrate the knowledge.

The Books
Lucia has two books to guide us through the Oracle of Initiation deck. I have both the 400 page Companion book, released for the initial deck publication (and kickstarter version), and a downloaded PDF guide made specifically for the tarot edition.

The 400-page Companion book is a wonderful marvel. The first 92 pages of the book take you on the journey through the deck's creation. It gives you a huge record into how Lucia pushed her art and her spiritual direction to model the deck into a unique work of art. Then she introduces the structure, expanding on each of the eight worlds that the deck is broken into. She then describes how each world's cycle comes together and interplays with one another. Finally, she devotes a chapter on the various ways to use the deck and how to read the card by listing to the divine voices we all carry. Nine spreads are included throughout the book, in-between the various card meanings. One really cool thing that the Companion book includes is a marked tab system on the page edges— this helps readers find the card meanings quickly.

The LWB PDF is a slimmer booklet. It contains choice bits of information about the deck, how it's designed, and good bite-sized snippets of the meanings of the deck. In a way, I found the PDF a better quick-guide into the cards themselves.

Final Thoughts
The Oracle of Initiation takes awhile to get into and understand. But those who are willing to take the time, will enjoy the messages and connections it has to offer. I had the pleasure of attending a Study Group class taught by Mellissae at 2015 Readers Studio. We used cards from the Oracle of Initiation, along with cards from other oracles, to build a circular reading that can help us get closer to who we really are and get in touch with these messages. Like the reading I constructed from that workshop I feel like I am only starting out on the personalized journey and connection with this deck. One that I am excited to see where it takes me.

This book is a treasure trove of shamanic wisdom, information, and anthropology. As a pagan, the information in this book was informative about the practices of neo-shamanism. As a ex-anthropological student, this book is something I wish I could have had in my classes. I loved the wide range of examples that Williams chose to incorporate. I also liked how the wisdom and cultural aspects were interwoven with several exercises.