THE PLENTIFUL DARKNESS

Children disappear into a strange world of darkness.

In the town of Warybone, several orphans collect and trade magical moonlight (a power source). Three orphans band together as the “roughhouse boys”—including one tomboy. But 12-year-old Rooney de Barra is still going solo after losing her parents to the feather flu. For Rooney, the only thing worse than her rival roughhouse boys is the growing problem of children disappearing from the streets at night. Until one day it happens to her. Rooney follows Trick Aidan into a strange “splotch of darkness” created by a magician. As the pair fall into the “starless, moonless murk,” they find themselves in a “warped mirror” of the real Warybone. Other stolen children eventually greet them in a forest, singing a creepy tune that ends with the lyrics “There’s no escaping / The plentiful darkness.” As the realm unravels its mysteries, the darkness tightens around them. Can the children escape before they become part of it? Kassner’s latest is deliciously on-brand, with inventive magic, lyrical writing, and that just-right creep factor. Third-person narration switches between focusing on Rooney and on the mysterious magician, creating a slow reveal to a shockingly tender twist. Vivid descriptions help establish a strong sense of place that feels imaginatively expansive yet forebodingly claustrophobic. With the exception of one secondary character, the majority of the cast reads as White.

Well worth the plunge.