MORIAH JONES

On a quest to save her friend, a young girl finds her identity and purpose in this YA fantasy novel.

Fifteen-year-old Moriah Jones is self-conscious about appearing different from most of the other residents of the small Welsh village of Maple Ridge. Her skin is dark tan in color, unlike the pale skin of the White girls in the village, and she has tiny fairy wings that she binds beneath her clothes; her grandmother, a Romani fortuneteller, has wings as well. Moriah is also currently recovering from an attack by a group of strangers a month ago. As the story begins, she sets out to spend May Day, also known as Beltane, with her best friend, Gwen. Their usual custom is to celebrate the holiday with tea in the forest and attempts to try to entice Mav, queen of the fey, with offerings of food and finery. This year, though, Gwen has other ideas involving boys and wine. But all is not well in the fairy realm, and Queen Mav awakens on May Day to discover that her kingdom is in danger and that King Arthur’s sorcerer, Merlin, may be the only one who can help her. It’s against this tumultuous backdrop that Gwen goes missing and Moriah sets out to find her. Along the way, the young woman will contend with human evil and malignant magic and make discoveries about who she really is. In this crowded novel, Kashim not only borrows figures from Welsh mythology and Arthurian legend, but also evokes Atlantis and lets the queen of the fairies create a golem. It’s an offbeat tale in which a magic cauldron, friendship bracelets, and tarot cards exist side by side. There are moments when it feels as if the overstuffed narrative gets away from the author; for example, Moriah is surprised to learn that she’s half fairy, which seems rather odd given that her wings are mentioned at the very beginning. That said, young fans of stories of enchantment and adventure are likely to be charmed by this unusual work.

A slightly uneven but inventive fantasy coming-of-age tale.