We’re hurtling towards the end of the year, that time when Best of the Year lists are upon us. I try to cram in as many recommended reads as I can before the calendar turns over, at which time I inevitably give up in defeat, clear off my To Be Read pile, and start the year off with a fresh slate. Needless to say, I’m forced to be a lot more selective in my reading choices in the hectic weeks of December than I am the rest of the year. New releases usually suffer the most as I try to get caught up on the books everyone has been talking about.

But Kari Maaren’s Weave a Circle Round, published last week by Tor, has bucked that trend, and currently rests atop my To Be Read pile. Publishers Weekly calls it “Dazzling… an ambitious, intricate, joyful coming-of-age tale,” and Elizabeth Haydon says ” It rings many of the same chimes as The Phantom Tollbooth and A Wrinkle in Time, with a few notes charmingly reminiscent of Monty Python.” That’s exactly what I need right now.

Kari Maaren is a webcomic artist and writer; her previous publication was West of Bathurst, a complete 710-page collection of the webcomic which ran between 2006 and 2014. Weave a Circle Round is her debut novel. It was published by Tor Books on November 28, 2017. It is 367 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The striking cover was designed by Jamie Stafford-Hill. Read the complete first chapter here., and see all of our recent New Treasures here.