The Dastardly Deed: 02/25/18

The Dastardly Deed by Holly Grant picks up where The League of Beastly Dreadfuls left off. That said, I wasn't expecting the direction that the book took. The first book started with the death of Anastasia's parents and settled into a modern day Gothic mystery (in a Victorian mansion no less). The Dastardly Deed goes on a tangent — to Sweden and then underground.

For all of the middle grade fantasy books, paranormal road narratives, and urban fantasy I've read, I was still completely surprised, as was Anastasia. What it settles into is a slice of life, school girl story but underground where there is magic and an old but decaying royal family. The thing it is most like is the third season of Star vs the Forces of Evil. There is a similar amount of palace intrigue and the underlying reality that the royal family might have committed some atrocities in the name of the greater good — all while Anastasia is just trying to fit and figure out how everything works.

There's a third book The Witch's Glass which came out last year.

Five stars

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