OTTO AND THE BIRD CHARMERS

Plot trails setting for inventiveness in this overstuffed return to the hidden City of Trees, but if the whole doesn’t quite shine, there’s plenty of sparkle in the details. Once again, the magic-working Karmidee, marginalized by the Muggle-ish Normals, are threatened by a coup in the city’s government, and once again, young Otto Hush sees a rift grow between his Karmidee father (the town librarian), and Normal mother over whether to encourage or suppress their children’s budding magical abilities. Into a main thread involving a protracted spell of violent winter weather, extortion schemes and old, unsettled wrongs, Haptie weaves numerous subplots, along with such beguiling characters as Bird Charmers, who control birds by delicately “playing” invisible lines of magnetic force, and a pair of intrepid needleworkers who practice the martial art of “combat knitting.” Divided into a zillion short chapters, the various adventure and family stories tumble along episodically to a set of, mostly, bittersweet resolutions. The City and its colorful populace will engross readers, though despite the author’s recaps, those unfamiliar with the prequel may flounder at first. (Fantasy. 10-13)