#Court of the Undying Seasons

[transbookoftheday]

🧛 Trans Vampire Books 🧛

Can't get enough of What We Do In The Shadows? Read some trans vampire books!

A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in your own body in this clever, humorous, and heartfelt novel. When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who’s come to donate her wife’s papers, there’s an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the “vampire disease.” Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job. DEAD COLLECTIONS is a wry novel full of heart and empathy, that celebrates the journey, the difficulties and joys, in finding love and comfort within our own bodies.

In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more. Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside. A blade. When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love’s place in their village’s Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls…or they don’t survive long enough to become either. Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual - one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life…or betrays her own heart.

ARC 1, IN WHICH: A cute punk-rock vampire and a disabled firefighter-turned-mall-cop with a dark past join forces to battle the forces of evil. Jude used to leap out of helicopters to rescue/protect people from terrifying infernos. Now, by day, he protects the local mall from rowdy teenagers who ride their skateboards inside. By night, he protects the the parking lot, and the rest of Portland, from undead, bloodsucking creatures of the darkness. Or would if he could find them. But he’s just about ready to give it up (living with PTSD and pain from the traumatic event that cost him a leg, a friend, and a lot more is hard enough), when something crashes into his life. And his window. It’s one of these creatures of the darkness - and he’s a lot less scary than expected. More cuddly, with dark fuzzy wings, and neon-bright hair. His name is Pixie, and he refuses to bite anyone. Assault/murder/draining fluids isn’t punk, even if being a vampire really kind of is. He’s very hungry by now, and the much bigger, meaner, deadlier vamps kick him around on the nightly. Jude would love to find and fight some actual undead bullies. And Pixie could use some help staying… ‘alive.’ Time to make a deal. Of course, life still sucks when you’re a vampire who refuses to suck blood. Fortunately, there’s a really interesting new barbecue restaurant in the mall, with an intriguing new recipe. (We hear that the secret ingredient is… love. No, really.)

Darren is your average half-human, half-fae trans teenager, busy figuring out his powers and puberty while trying to survive finals. When Vlad, a newly turned vampire, moves in with the witch down the street, he and Darren get off on the wrong foot. Darren is always one to give somebody a second chance, though, and as they become friends, he realizes Vlad is just lonely and struggling with his new powers. That’s something Darren can definitely relate to, and he’s happy to lend his support. But while he coaxes Vlad out of his shell, Darren ends up learning about Vlad’s past… and the danger Vlad is in. Darren only wants to help—help Vlad feel comfortable in his own skin and help him feel safe. He hadn’t planned on falling in love.

Book titles:

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

Stake Sauce, Arc 1: The Secret Ingredient Is Love. No, Really by RoAnna Sylver

Showers, Flowers, and Fangs by Aidan Wayne

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

Court of the Undying Seasons

NA high fantasy

demigirl volunteers to be taken by the vampires instead of her friend intending to kill them for revenge, but quickly learns that’ll be impossible unless she becomes one

she has to get through her training to become a vampire or live as a human thrall, and quickly gets swept up in their world - and discovers a string of murders that could have dire consequences for them all

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Claudia from Court of the Undying Seasons is aromantic asexual!

[drastrochris]

Kashire is such an ass. I mean, he's still one of my favorite characters in the book, but he needs to learn to say things like, "I'm sorry I tried to murder you on what was probably already a very stressful day."

[adriannestrickland]

🎶 "These are a few of my favorite things..." 🎶

I finally made one of those book trope graphics!

COURT OF THE UNDYING SEASONS is my upcoming YA dark fantasy about a reluctant initiate to a school for vampires trying to get revenge before she becomes a vampire, dies trying, or, worse, falls for one. It's out 5/16/23 with Macmillan!

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Court of the Undying Seasons | Author: A.M. Strickland | Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (2023)

[mistwraiths]

3 stars

Sadly, I didn't love this as much as I loved A.M. Strickland's In The Ravenous Dark.

I think this is mostly a fine book however I felt it really average at best and didn't really give me any depth that I would have liked on the multiple different things it had. It had a interesting concept like training novices in vampire abilities and slowly, slowly turning them to be more vampire and gaining approval to become a vampire by the vampire courts. It was like a vampire school which was a cool backdrop.

We don't really get any good worldbuilding here. There's a few mentions of how this is set in our world here with a sentence here or there talking about these are Nordic lands, we were fighters once, which okay but it felt odd to throw in there a couple hundred pages later and not have it mean much of anything??? Where did the vampires come from?? How did they take over? There's other areas where the Courts have influence in different ways other than Fin's experience living in the Red Court's land. Like science and governing. How's that work? Once we're very near the end, we suddenly get more new information on Founders and suddenly, this Nameless Queen in the last 30 pages or so. Why would you introduce a huge plot thing in the last handful of pages? We're also thrown a new term that hasn't ever showed up in the entire book in the last 10 pages? There's also some mentions of actual children being groomed to become vampires that's never explored.

Fin was a frustrating character for me because she thinks she's so clever and instead she gets one thought and clamps down on it and refuses to actually think or listen or use reason. She just bounces around suspects and during one moment when she confronts said suspect it becomes so embarrassing. I don't really understand her either. I understand she hates vampires but like... why?? Is the practice of enthrallment awful? Yes. Taking a handful 17-19 year old every year terrible? Sure. But it DOES give people who don't have opportunities in life to HAVE new opportunities. She was treated HORRIBLY by humans especially and she's like I don't hate them. But vampires actually treat her sometimes better and she's like I'M GONNA KILL THEM.

The romance was there but personally I didn't quite feel like it was done well. Gavron was kind of bland mostly, and naturally even though he's being enthralled to do things, it's still his hand. There should be some weight there, not of blame but just hurt. Especially since it seems it's fully Gavron's idea to place Fin as a thrall, which is the biggest fear of hers AND keep her with his blood so no one touches her. Which was hard to follow, another concept completely brought up once. And then they were equals or something. There's no talk really of the power dynamic between Gavron and Fin either.

I will say I loved the acceptance of queerness and non-binary. I think some of the powers are cool, and the side characters were interesting although we don't get much. The complicated relationship between Fin and her mother could have been interesting but it wasnt really focused on. To be honest, there's really not much character growth to the characters at all? The end is a giant clusterfuck of new characters, new enemy, and like... what's going to happen later. I really didn't follow much of the ending about the Council, blood they drank, alliances of Courts, and what's to be done for the Black Court. We do get this half-hearted "we'll look out for humans and police the vampires" vibe at the end, but there's nothing concrete or set in stone. It's just "Oh things will be better" with no evidence.

If you want a YA vampire fantasy, I personally wouldn't recommend but I realize it wasn't bad just not my jam.

[signourneybooks]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland | ARC Review

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway. Book: Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland Release Date: May 16th 2023Tags: Fantasy | Young Adult | Paranormal Romance | Vampire Trigger/Content Warnings: Blood | Gore | MurderOther books in this series I reviewed In the Ravenous Dark When nineteen-year-old…

[astralbooks]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

Read: 11/05/2023 - 17/05/2023

Rating: 4/5

Rep: pan demigirl main character, pan love interest, Black lesbian side character, bigender side character, agender side character, queer side characters including pan & aroace characters

CW (provided by author): blood drinking (voluntary & forced), violence, gore, death & murder, child abuse, child neglect, mind/body control, consent issues, uneven relationship dynamics, death of a queer character (but most characters are queer), death of a parent (off page), death of a mentor, substance use (alcohol, mushrooms, vampire blood), mild gender dysphoria, mild body horror

Review:

When vampires come to Fin’s village to choose someone to turn into one of them, Fin makes sure she’s the one who gets chosen. This way she can make sure the girl she’s secretly in love with will be safe, and she can use this as an opportunity to learn how to kill vampires so she can avenge her mother. She’s taken to a vampire finishing school where, as she’s slowly turned into one of the undead, she must learn different vampiric skills to a high enough standard to be accepted. Failure means death or becoming a human thrall, neither of which are an option. Things get complicated, however, when people start getting murdered, and the deaths all seem to have some connection to Fin.

I liked Fin as a main character! She was reckless enough to be willing to do things that drove the plot forwards, but still reasonable enough not to verge into ridiculousness. Except for this one incident when she was so determined to yell at someone that she refused to let a likely fatal injury be healed for a lot longer than was reasonable. She was just clutching at her still-bleeding wound as she shouted and honestly I was so entertained by this that I don’t even care how unrealistic it was. Sometimes the need to chew someone out is simply bigger than whatever crisis is unfolding no matter what it is and I think that’s a feeling we can all relate to on some level.

I found the relationship between Fin and Gavron to be believable, and I enjoyed watching them gradually come to trust each other and see each other as an ally. Also, they’re Very Into mutual blood drinking, more so than is apparently typical for vampires in-universe. I thought this was a very fun aspect of their relationship to read about, but it might not be for everyone, even for a book about vampires. If detailed descriptions of blood drinking are going to bother you then this isn’t the book for you. If you’re down with that then full steam ahead.

I think the consent issues inherent in this premise were handled well! Gavron is Fin’s vampire maker, or sire, to borrow terminology I’ve seen used in other vampire media, and this inherently means he has some power over her due to him being in that position of authority. There’s also a significant plot thread regarding the vampiric ability to control the actions of humans. If left unaddressed, all of this would have serious and troubling implications. Thankfully, it wasn’t left unaddressed. The ability to consent (in both sexual and non-sexual contexts) is a point of discussion, and Gavron and Fin place heavy emphasis on being equal partners in their relationship. They could’ve easily been super codependent and toxic, but they very deliberately weren’t, and I appreciated that.

I loved some of the side characters in this book! Especially Jaen and Kashire. Jaen is a bigender scholar, who’s largely kind and compassionate, but who’ll show no mercy to those who cross him or hurt his friends. She gets the book’s sole f-bomb and it’s glorious. Jaen’s the character I’d most like to be friends with out of everyone and the person I think I’d get along with the most. Kashire is a lot of fun. He’s Gavron’s ex, and is introduced to Fin in such a way that she takes an instant and very understandable dislike to him, but as time goes on he grows on her despite how much she wishes he wouldn’t. They’re totally besties by the end. Besties who still pretend to hate each other half the time. 

If you’re looking for a morally grey world with morally grey characters, a vampire book that doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of such a story, and a casually queer cast, then you’ll probably enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an e-arc in return for an honest review

[malerek]

Brand New YA Books [Released May 13th to 19th 2023]

Brand New YA Books is a Saturday feature showcasing all the Young Adult books released in the last week. If you are an author and want to see your book featured on this list, send me an email to pagesplots@gmail.com will all the details. PUBLISHED MAY 13th TO 19th 2023 Fake Dates and Mooncakesby Sher LeeGenre: Contemporary | Romance | LGBTPublisher: Underlined Release date: May 16th…

[jessread-s]

✩🌈📖Pride Month Stack:

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!

This account is a LGBTQIA+ safe space! Love is love! 

🤍🩷🩵🤎🖤❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

This year, I am celebrating pride with these fierce new reads sent to me by @fiercereadsya!

❤️Something Like Possible by @readthenfall

🧡Ode to My First Car by @rockin_robin_1

💛Court of Undying Seasons by @adrianne.strickland

💚You Don’t Have a Shot by @blonde_with_a_book

I am SO excited to start reading these books and feature them in my classroom library this upcoming school year to help my students see themselves represented in literature!

For a chance to win these books and others, click the link below to enter:

Remember to always celebrate love and uplift those within the LGBTQIA+ community, this month and every month! Be proud of who you are and know that you are loved. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

[transbookoftheday]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more.

Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside.

A blade.

When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love's place in their village's Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls...or they don't survive long enough to become either.

Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual - one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life...or betrays her own heart.

[aroaessidhe]

my raven dagger bookmark 🗡

[astralnymphh]

before the flora.

knight!ellie x princess!reader teaser. beginning is essentially just lore. bonus excerpt with ellie and princess interaction below the sketch. wrote the intro in january. no warnings tbh. illustration by @trackinglessons :P READ THIS . PALESTINE MASTERPOST

When the universe was born, there was only fire; a slowly waning blaze. And so hence when death begins to unfurl its low, groaning bloom— there will only be ice.

Yet the heavens and earth are nay alike, as death— and life, are interwoven by the timeless nuptial that is humans, and Mother Nature. Cordial and tepid heartbeats meet with her frigid and frightening marrow this season. Flakes are falling, a howl swells in the wind, and hearths stay an undying tongue of flame in the province of Istenad. Isle of riches and hedonism gone rampant amongst those who proved meritful of a conversation spat over gilded chalices. Or those who wiped a famished tongue stroke over the sole of His Majesty— The King's tan leather boots in entreat, declaring the hide a tenfold more gullet–watering than their stale, daily spare of bread. Where high life reins, low life is there to scrub their steeds.

The wintry pearlescent tundra fringing around uncharted woodlands hums your name— it carries by gale, an airy reed of vowels pulled through your ears. 

Tut, tut, tut, the pecking of bark.

Everything seems to resound much heavier over the windows thick limestone sill. Woodwinds, the sough of pine boughs— a chorus wafted. Woodpeckers, they beat rigid timber with their sonnets of calling. The echoed tut starts to sound awfully kindred to a beckoning call of your name. And at daybreak, when the tangerine sun dips its head under the coast, you feel a magnetic lull to traverse your truest passions and slip away into the night, arctic chilled steel in hand. The quantity of hay sticking beneath your shoes collected by skittering across the night–doused thoroughfare was well enough to concern your maids on duty to dress you, brows fuddled at the streaming of straw near your door come morning.

Loop of your knuckles, bend of your wrist, a hand flexed on the hilt of a meticulously poached sword. A swing 'round your waist, a cold hale grip the air could taste, fighting off many mythic brutes of moonlight, however only conceived where dreams are airtight. The mind, it plays. The play it perceives, a viewing spread like tawny butter. Ghouls and ghastlies encircle a quaint pond, chanting away in cryptic grumbles and beastly bumbles, enraged with their slobber frothing at the fangs you tore from their sockets— deeper than artless, juxtaposed to the blinding ruby reds and dyed paper sunflowers of the theater. Your mind’s play felt real.

Unfortunate to your heart, dreams will stay dreams.

Nary a princess was meant to tune into melee, especially at your courting age. Nevertheless, your psyche has spurned from what a maiden is expected of and is completely in a haven of your own structure, your signature sanctuary. 

In the farmsteads, a forthcoming soldier harvests not just crop— but dexterity. Derived and nurtured in the faraway prairie village of Dunwich, where the fertile seasons prove flaxen of corn and the trickling sweat of every farmhand turns to gold. Any newborn granted to this quaint village is fated to form calloused hands with labor written in their palm lines as time unfolds. In their— well, her— adolescent years, the yearning for practices of gallantry in knighthood swiveled her sights to the colossal stone castle way.. way far away. Sprouting beyond the earth line, far as the eye can see.

So, she learned, she trained, she slept, partaking in a ranged cycle taught by her ruthlessly departed father: Sir Joel. Reprisal became her nemesis; never able to rend the barrier of hesitation and cleanse her shut eyes of revolting imagery. The horseman of death was not omitting the trauma of this hazel-haired soldier. A weight so burdensome, her speckled skin remembers the tales of every scar clawed into it. Like how the lips of a bard cling to an everlasting ballad.

Every knight knew well to exile any lingering ties to the past. It's been years since he passed, she understands that. Though, the heart never lies, and certainly never covets forgetting.

Ambitions stemming from legions of knights in waiting have fallen short, submerging within the moat of the castle and sinking deep into the catacombs with no elegy sung. An allegory for dreams long since vanished. A domain so valued longs for those biding life with rigid bones, such as she. Tempered by the hardships, endured like metal meeting the blacksmith's chisel. 

A vividness to her movements, flowing like a river. For it is water that soothes the most cosmic fires, carves veins into the earth's soil, descends from the heavens above and proves iron soluble. A knight so pinpoint and poised like a painter, yet so daring and baneful like a warrior of evenfall. An artisan of her craft, this knight-to-be is. Born to thrive in matters regarding protection of their kingdom and its nobility. By the sheer tenacity of her skill, she will excel. From the self–instructed lessons in a verdant pasture, basked by undying light in her hometown— to the ordained priming within the royal court. 

They were forged to be dutiful. 

You are a daughter of the illustrious King, Sagard, and swan–grace queen, Sagard— maiden name Adela, and sister of your highly revered and cherished kin, Prudence. Subsequent to her fabled rise, was your fall. A pratfall you plainly turned a serene ear from, for you foresaw its coming. Clandestine adventures and lollygagging in the marketplace earned you right in the clasp of consequences. You knew that, knowing it kept you on the balls of your toes before you'd be caught suiting into an act more repugnant— be it, no.. befogging yourself in a peasant boys' dire–in–muck rags, merely to play "boy" games as a young one? 

Sacrilege! 

Prudence was there, at every occasion, scolding with her youthful finger at the palace fore, sucking her fingertip wet of spit and dragging a stroke over your soot–strewn cheek, just before scuttling the halls in search of father, cawing, “Father, Father! My sisters become a boy again!” until it rang his fucking ears to a pulse. Hmph, father even countered his own remark of squawk, pouring through the walls, “Hah! The second son I wish I reared! Tell me, what peasants skin does she clad: butcher's boy, or of the farmer?”

Rebuking the role of royalty isn't your entire bastion of vengeance. You purely long for a world of your own color. Your self-brewn arcadia of art. In a concise phrase, desire for sovereignty. And your family chastised you curtly for every scant display of free will, short of the Queen, she is fair.

Daughter of the King, Princess of the thicket. You retain your fortunes. Modestly.

“Why don't you resemble your sister more?”

A ruby crested box designed by the best of goldsmiths is lodged at the margin of your beds footboard, safekeeping of your esteemed regalia. You possess a bedazzled amassing of circlets, veils, brocade and velvet tunics of long lengths within this box. But do any of them revel in the blessing of being worn on regal skin? Never. You opted for garbs of less gilding and jewels, so that you might taint it with whatever adventures mold under the ribbing of your foot. That shit offended your skin with its indelicacy of forgetting a human will don its fabric golds and woven jewels.

Even— court gatherings. You don the likeness of simplicity and temperate elegance. This morning's virginal aurora, a broach of light swoll from the windows arch, to the footing of your bed, made the wake of your eyes begin upon a lighting behind sheer skin. Your box of regalia shone in that incandescence momentarily. It danced, fleeter than you, irkingly so. You had to squint whilst flipping the clasps and hauling the heavy lid slanted against your bed, or else you may be heaven–blinded. “Every inch of Princess,” you intoned in quietude at the sight of glamored fabrics, “—whom I shant mirror.” and reached for the homelier fabrics, scratch of cobalt-blue linen delight brushing under your prints, you grasped your reserve tight.

“I was not made aware that there is a village wedding to be, dear sister— from what river does this dress of rags hail from?”

“It is not a brides dress, nor rags, leave me Prud—”

Prudence had blocked the shut of your chamber door with her hand flattened, pursuing, “You glum your gems. Rotting in that chest, tasting no light, no glory.”

You kept your lips thickly sown shut, casting dimly eyes to the ground.

“Shall I send for the steward so he may sell—”

“No need.”

“Hmm, most stubborn, are we? Then I—”

“I am least stubborn,” you wedged your fingers beneath her palm, prying the door loose, “—it is you, who strays your own counsel, unmoving as a mountain.” ending with the trudging shut of your door, ceasing in silence.

[++ bonus excerpt from act 2, scene 1]

“Uh–huh..” she draws out. Legato; a sarcastic reply, and wipes her tongue through the press of her lips together, “This far out? You must rebel quite often to have made a friend, I bet?” she tilts her head, a bit playful.

“You bet well— a lot, I assume?” 

Cannily, she winks, “Indeed I do.” and aligns her face onward. Gesturing to her horse's rump a second— third? Eh, whatever time— she jerks her brow with a head cock back, “Hop on, I'll take you there.”

Both brows fall, and you flinch bemused, “Wh– uh,” as you hem and haw for words, grating a stutter, “But not a moment ago you spoke of the roads recent perils—”

“Surely it's not far?” she spoke presumptuously, “I mean, you've come this far, My Lady. Nobody would travel the woods past sunset, besides you it seems.” now a matter–of–fact vocal barricade that shoves itself into your ears and winds the cogs to think cleverly.

You shan't know my transgressions, sweet Knight. You may talk.

Trust is sparse as a puddle marched in.

“‘Tis but a mile out. Bravo on your convincing, Williams.” you wry and scoff. 

“Can't fumble that name, huh?”

“I would not want to dishonor your knighthood.” 

“You honor me with your coincidental presence, Princess.”

“Honor in your mind.”

"Hmph," her breathy chuckle, a sweetness you luckily caught with ears even numbed by the snowsquall. Do not blush. Do not smile. Fuck. Guess you'll be visiting Malina after all, the gale of a displeased sigh icing your lips over as you approach that dangling stirrup.

[drastrochris]

Page 377.

Obviously there are spoilers.

I'm imagining that they've just come outside, and the courtyard is filled with what is essentially the armies of the four houses, all of them ready to kill whomever they need to to stop whatever is happening.

And then the gang just all starts talking at the same time, explaining whatever part of the story seems the most important to them, and everybody who was just getting ready to fight to the death is now trying to understand the cacophony of everyone speaking over each other.

Like, I'm imagining the soundtrack is swelling with a horn fanfare that builds and builds

Only to immediately be replaced with like this. Just a complete tonal shift, and I love it.

Kashire's still an ass, and I love him.

[adriannestrickland]

Here’s the cover for my next dark YA fantasy, Court of the Undying Seasons! (Designed and illustrated by the amazing Rich Dias.)

The book is about an initiate to a school for vampires trying to get revenge before she becomes a vampire, dies trying, or, worse, falls for one. I can’t wait for it to be out in the world 5/16/23 from Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan! (With perhaps more publisher announcements to come...)

Preorder here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250832627/courtoftheundyingseasons