A review by speculativebecky
Solace and Grief by Foz Meadows

4.0

I picked this book up years ago out of interest in reading Meadows’ writing and without knowing much about it, so I didn’t realize that it’s the first in a YA duology about a seventeen year old vampire named Solace. Despite not aligning much with my usual interests within the fantasy umbrella, I was pretty charmed by this book. The writing style is whimsical, and I enjoyed Solace’s journey from reluctance to accept her suspicion that she’s a vampire to totally owning it after falling in with a group of other “Rare” young people. Her group of drifter buddies, each with their own supernatural talents, are one of the most enjoyable aspects of the novel, evoking that precious feeling of finding your people for the first time as an adolescent, further sweetened by first tastes of freedom and independence. Things are complicated for Solace and her friends when mysteries of her birth are revealed, and a clandestine supernatural war comes knocking. This is a fast and fun read, I would recommend it to fans of YA fantasy or urban fantasy, especially folks who love those stories to center friendships and found family and supernatural cats.