A delightful fantasy debut.
Lowry’s middle-grade fantasy novel charts an unexpected arrival in a small coastal town.
In the tiny coastal town of Seaside, everything is always the same: Life is unimaginatively ordered, and nothing ever deviates from the dull, dreary uniformity that most of its inhabitants prefer. Until, that is, the day that a castaway washes up on its shores after a storm. The survivor—who mysteriously slumbers for days on end after being rescued—is deemed an “Unnecessary” visitor by most of Seaside’s residents, who wish him dead until Damon Farrier, an orphaned young man, saves his life. Damon sets in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across their world, because when the castaway (called the Navigator) eventually wakes up, he proves to have magic in his veins, magic connected to fantastical creatures from the deep sea and also to Damon’s 14-year-old sister, Sophie, whose imagination starts to run even wilder than it did before the Navigator appeared in their lives. When the Navigator leaves Seaside, Sophie follows him, setting out on a journey that will shape her future and possibly even determine the fate of Seaside. The author’s debut novel is charming and whimsical, featuring a delectable writing style with plenty of subtle humor: “Seaside was given its unimaginative name by its unimaginative people. In fact, hostility toward creativity and change is a central feature of the Seasider mentality, a proud tradition handed down from generation to generation.” The narrative, which resembles a fairy tale both in structure and tone, is full of unexpected depth and follows a surprisingly interwoven, complex arc as it explores topics of change, agency, and growth as both Damon and Sophie struggle to fit into a world they feel uncomfortable in. The bonds between brother and sister—and between mentor and mentee, as forged between the Navigator and Sophie—are heartfelt and celebrate family, with members both blood-bound and found along the way.
A delightful fantasy debut.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9798986491202
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An engaging, puzzle-centered page-turner.
A tween enters into a high-stakes and high-rewards hunt for a life-changing treasure.
After years of financial instability, and moving from place to place with her mother, Everly “Benny” Benedict, 12, is poised to come into a large inheritance from her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Evelyn “Sparrow” Terry of Greenport, Long Island—but only if Benny can solve Evelyn’s riddles and find a mysterious island within the deadline, less than two weeks away. If she fails, Benny will lose the entire estate. As the pressure mounts, Benny and her newly acquired Greenport friends, Zara and Ryan, unravel clues tied to a rare Blood Orange Moon, a deadly 1825 Yellow Fever epidemic, and family connections spanning generations; in addition, events from Evelyn’s timeline shed light on the present day. Incorporating text messages, the young detectives’ notes, and 19th-century newspaper articles, journal entries, and letters, Calonita deftly transitions between the past and the present. Greenport is rich in magical elements that gradually play a larger and larger role in the plot, setting this book apart from other inheritance treasure-hunt stories and creating an added layer of interest. Severe weather phenomena and other challenges contribute to the building tension. The worldbuilding contains several unexplained developments, and the book ends on a frustratingly major cliffhanger, but this series opener is clearly setting up for a sequel in which more answers will hopefully be forthcoming. Main characters are cued white.
An engaging, puzzle-centered page-turner. (Fantasy adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781728277035
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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