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Jade Evergreen and the Perils of Polybius
THE SORCERESS APPEARS...
High school is even weirder than Jade Everly could have imagined. After the Maidensong chose her to become JADE EVERGREEN, Portland's first magical girl, she's had to deal with slime monsters, hauntings, and a nosy student reporter. But not even her favorite girl detective books could prepare her for THE PERILS OF POLYBIUS!
Jade Evergreen and the Perils of Polybius is a new novelette in the Maidensong Magica queer magical girl universe, the setting of 2024's Magica Riot. It tells the story of a pivotal adventure in the early career of Portland's original magical girl, Jade Evergreen, in the year 1981.
This novelette is a tie-in with the Magica Riot sequel novel, Magica Full Bloom, but can also be enjoyed as a standalone magical girl story! Elements and characters from this novelette will appear again in Full Bloom in the present day.
Approximately 16,082 words.
High school is even weirder than Jade Everly could have imagined. After the Maidensong chose her to become JADE EVERGREEN, Portland's first magical girl, she's had to deal with slime monsters, hauntings, and a nosy student reporter. But not even her favorite girl detective books could prepare her for THE PERILS OF POLYBIUS!
Jade Evergreen and the Perils of Polybius is a new novelette in the Maidensong Magica queer magical girl universe, the setting of 2024's Magica Riot. It tells the story of a pivotal adventure in the early career of Portland's original magical girl, Jade Evergreen, in the year 1981.
This novelette is a tie-in with the Magica Riot sequel novel, Magica Full Bloom, but can also be enjoyed as a standalone magical girl story! Elements and characters from this novelette will appear again in Full Bloom in the present day.
Approximately 16,082 words.
- GenresLGBT
65 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 25, 2025
9 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 31, 2025
After Jade Evergreen hears the Maidensong she summons the courage to tell her parents what she's always known; that she's a girl. Well, she's a magical girl but she really can't tell her parents that part. Wanting to be as supportive as they can her family packs up and moves to Portland, OR where Jade can start fresh as a girl. This would be great except during a fight with a magical deck of tarot cards her classmate Catherine who just happens to be a journalist discovers all of Jade's secrets and blackmails Jade into letting her tag along on her supernatural battles. So far the enemies the girls have seen Jade come up against have been relatively easy for her to take down, but, after students across Portland start disappearing Jade realizes that this new enemy is on a whole other level. Will she have the strength and the courage to save her classmates before it's too late?
I'd like the next book now! Hooked from page one, hell the first sentence! Jade Evergreen is such a fantastic character and this is such a wonderful nod to older magical girl anime that it was like I was fourteen again! Everything about this had such a wonderful nostalgic feeling that I ended up reading it in like 30 minutes, 45 tops.
What I loved the most about this though is I think this novella really demonstrates Buchanan's gift of writing. Magica Riot had a more young adult feel to it, the characters are in their early twenties, they've gone through some stuff, and they've got baggage. Jade Evergreen is *clearly* a teenager, she's worrying about teenage things while fighting interdimensional monsters. It is a wonderfully, damn near perfect middle-grade read. And to be able to pivot from Magica Riot's more mature writing to something like this after only writing one full-length novel is something you simply don't see very often.
I genuinely can't recommend this series enough, and what's great about this novella is you don't have to read Magica Riot first to read this one. Although I can't imagine why you wouldn't have read Magica Riot yet! Seriously go read this absolutely beautiful celebration of not just gender identity but simply the joy and the power of being yourself whatever that may look like.
I'd like the next book now! Hooked from page one, hell the first sentence! Jade Evergreen is such a fantastic character and this is such a wonderful nod to older magical girl anime that it was like I was fourteen again! Everything about this had such a wonderful nostalgic feeling that I ended up reading it in like 30 minutes, 45 tops.
What I loved the most about this though is I think this novella really demonstrates Buchanan's gift of writing. Magica Riot had a more young adult feel to it, the characters are in their early twenties, they've gone through some stuff, and they've got baggage. Jade Evergreen is *clearly* a teenager, she's worrying about teenage things while fighting interdimensional monsters. It is a wonderfully, damn near perfect middle-grade read. And to be able to pivot from Magica Riot's more mature writing to something like this after only writing one full-length novel is something you simply don't see very often.
I genuinely can't recommend this series enough, and what's great about this novella is you don't have to read Magica Riot first to read this one. Although I can't imagine why you wouldn't have read Magica Riot yet! Seriously go read this absolutely beautiful celebration of not just gender identity but simply the joy and the power of being yourself whatever that may look like.
August 27, 2025
As a novella skeptic, this won me over hard. I listened to the audiobook and am starting with this entry rather than Magica Riot proper - I don't feel this was intended, but I was able to follow Jade's story just fine.
This felt like an episode of a magical girl show, and I mean that as a high compliment. Buchanan does a sterling job not only playing with the familiar tropes, and writing breezy, fun action but captures the emotionality that only the best magical girl media can manage. There's the lightness of friendly banter, creeping apprehension, the depths of despair...
All pitch perfect. ^^
(It's also got some cool lore? Coming into this without the context of the novel I'm not sure how much is new, but the concept of Resonators other than the Maidensong is fascinating. And as someone familiar with Polybius, I'm curious where that plot seed may be going. )
I am very much looking forward to Magica Riot and Full Bloom now!. I'm a firm fan and already talking it up to all my friends. Thanks for a great book!
This felt like an episode of a magical girl show, and I mean that as a high compliment. Buchanan does a sterling job not only playing with the familiar tropes, and writing breezy, fun action but captures the emotionality that only the best magical girl media can manage. There's the lightness of friendly banter, creeping apprehension, the depths of despair...
All pitch perfect. ^^
(It's also got some cool lore? Coming into this without the context of the novel I'm not sure how much is new, but the concept of Resonators other than the Maidensong is fascinating. And as someone familiar with Polybius, I'm curious where that plot seed may be going. )
I am very much looking forward to Magica Riot and Full Bloom now!. I'm a firm fan and already talking it up to all my friends. Thanks for a great book!
August 1, 2025
It's a high school freshman Magical Girl story.
It's 1982, and that means video arcades.
For me this side story in the Maidensong Magica universe was a quick comfort read over morning coffee - and has prompted me to re-read Buchanan's first entry in the series, Magica Riot.
It's 1982, and that means video arcades.
For me this side story in the Maidensong Magica universe was a quick comfort read over morning coffee - and has prompted me to re-read Buchanan's first entry in the series, Magica Riot.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews