Above by Leah Bobet
Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee’s wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above—like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers.
But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe’s history and the shadows’ attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home—not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads
But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe’s history and the shadows’ attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home—not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads
If you're into urban fantasy by authors like Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Charles DeLint, and Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) I would recommend you give this one a try. It has lots of elements I love from those authors- unique language, a dark/rich/strange setting filled with fairytale creatures alongside street kids, and moments of genuine horror.
Ariel, the bee-winged girl on the cover, is not the protagonist, which was slighlty disappointing. But that's ok, as it means this isn't the paranormal romance I had been kind of expecting from the summary, and Matthew is a good, somewhat meta narrator (he's the Teller, the keeper of stories for his people, so a great deal of the book has to do with the nature of stories we tell each other and ourselves). Also, I kind of wish this book had been called Safe, since so much time is spent on what that means. Eh, quibbles.
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