Dark and uncanny, Zoe Hana Mikuta takes a Gen Z knife to Victorian gothics in this bloody and unrelenting fantasy about a group of young witches and the horrors of being in love
Just like her mother and her mother’s mother, 18-year-old Vanity Adams is destined to lead a lavish life under the patronship of the Museum, someday taking her place as its premiere necromantic Spectacle and the centerpiece of their weekly soirees thrown for the City’s elite.
But until that day, Vanity (and the other young witches of the Museum) are purged of their magic—magic being particularly unstable for teenagers and often leading to antisocial conduct, mood swings, bloodlust, delusions, and, most concerning, a habitual, violent obsession with one another—and isolated from the outside world.
To all of this, Vanity thinks—well, whatever. Better than being confined to the Sanatorium with the witches of lesser beauty, imprisoned in a chemically-induced coma as her blood is harvested to make World, the City’s favorite designer drug. At least she’ll be dead someday, there’s always that. And at least the Museum has Arrogance—or Ro—Vanity’s twin sister, who might just remember how to do magic, and who might just be where our story begins…
Zoe Hana Mikuta is the author of the YA sci-fi Gearbreakers duology and Off With Their Heads, a dark Korean-inspired reimaiging of Alice in Wonderland. She recently graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in creative writing and is currently based in Seattle. She drinks at least two cups of tea a day and can be found stealing herbs from her neighbors’ gardens. Find her online at ZoeHanaMikuta.com and Instagram @ZoeHanaMikuta.
Dark and uncanny, Zoe Hana Mikuta takes a Gen Z knife to Victorian gothics in this bloody and unrelenting fantasy about a group of young witches and the horrors of being in love
Just like her mother and her mother’s mother, 18-year-old Vanity Adams is destined to lead a lavish life under the patronship of the Museum, someday taking her place as its premiere necromantic Spectacle and the centerpiece of their weekly soirees thrown for the City’s elite.
But until that day, Vanity (and the other young witches of the Museum) are purged of their magic—magic being particularly unstable for teenagers and often leading to antisocial conduct, mood swings, bloodlust, delusions, and, most concerning, a habitual, violent obsession with one another—and isolated from the outside world.
To all of this, Vanity thinks—well, whatever. Better than being confined to the Sanatorium with the witches of lesser beauty, imprisoned in a chemically-induced coma as her blood is harvested to make World, the City’s favorite designer drug. At least she’ll be dead someday, there’s always that. And at least the Museum has Arrogance—or Ro—Vanity’s twin sister, who might just remember how to do magic, and who might just be where our story begins…
Author
Zoe Hana Mikuta is the author of the YA sci-fi Gearbreakers duology and Off With Their Heads, a dark Korean-inspired reimaiging of Alice in Wonderland. She recently graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in creative writing and is currently based in Seattle. She drinks at least two cups of tea a day and can be found stealing herbs from her neighbors’ gardens. Find her online at ZoeHanaMikuta.com and Instagram @ZoeHanaMikuta.
