The Stars of Mount Quixx: The Brindlewatch Quintet, Book One

(Paperback)

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Age range 13 to 17

A delightful new series for a younger YA audience with charming and relatable characters, lively dialogue, a huge amount of LGBTQ+ representation, and a focus on friendship and found family. In The Stars of Mount Quixx, two sisters must team up with a dapper spider monster to clear a sleepy mountain town of its mysterious and dangerous fog.

Even the best intentions can bring down a mountain

Sent away for the summer, the Ivyweather sisters were promised a family vacation by their wealthy, indifferent parents. Two at-odds opposites Constance an anxious society sweetheart and Ivory an adventure-struck rebel the sisters arent sure what to make of the dangerously decayed town of Quixx and its creeping fog that never seems to lift.

When Ivory disappears after a spat with her sister, Constance tracks her to the mountain, where the Ivyweathers learn the towns hushed talk of monsters is more than just a rumor. There, the sisters meet Derrek, a dapper and talented astronomer who also happens to be a spider-like creature with a scientific mind, the best of intentions, and a tragic past. Together, they all must find a way to lift the dangerous fog that has ensnared the town and return Quixxs long-lost stars. But they soon discover that something far more monstrous than beasts lurks in Quixx, and its poised to crush this sleepy mountain town, along with the dreams of those in it.

Death and discarded memories haunt every corner of Quixx, but kinship, romance, and family the one we choose are at the heart of this cautiously optimistic, unabashedly queer modern monster story.

Reviews

"In the fantasy novel The Stars of Mount Quixx, two sisters find the courage to change each other and their community." -- Foreword Reviews
"Fans of Diana Wynne Jones and TJ Klune will find much to love in this wholly original novel that blends science and magic, modernity and tradition, and features a sweet monster romance, found families, kooky characters, and a pair of sisters whose fraught relationship is central to their coming-of-age stories." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Quixx is a delightful and wildly inventive place, with kind monsters, monstrous humans, and eerie magic afoot. Constance and Ivory are likeable and appealing heroines, and I was totally rooting for them (and their romances!). A splendidly magical, happily queer, charmingly kind-hearted book." -- Tina Connolly, author of the Seriously Wicked trilogy
"Beiko's latest novel, The Stars of Mount Quixx, will forever lodge in my heart, alongside the other classics of storytelling magic I've read over the years and will never forget. It has everything I want in a fantasy, from wondrous surprise and reckless awe, to real people you love (and sometimes want to give a stern talking to) who rise to be their best selves. I can't wait to read it again. And I will." -- Julie E. Czerneda, author of The Gossamer Mage

Author Bio

S.M. Beiko is a Winnipeg-based fantasy author and an award-winning graphic novelist. Her work includes The Lake and the Library, the Realms of Ancient trilogy, and the webcomic Krampus Is My Boyfriend! Beiko won the 2020 Best Graphic Novel Aurora Award and was nominated for the 2020 Joe Shuster Award.