A well-told story of one girl’s growing confidence and strength in a magical land.
Rausin’s debut children’s fantasy novel offers a story of magic, family and trust.
Sixth-grader Amelia grew up in foster and group homes and never knew her parents. She suffered a mysterious accident in the woods that left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair. Amelia deals with the aftermath as best as she can, supported by her friend Greg and his Grandma K. She feels alienated at school, and she prefers to read fantasy novels, telling herself, “Focus on the words, read, escape; you’re not really here in this classroom. You’re far away in a land where wheelchairs don’t exist.” On the way to a camping trip, Amelia, Greg and Grandma K are in a terrible car accident in which Grandma K dies; Greg and Amelia are transported by a strange vortex to the middle of an ocean, where they meet a queen disguised as a tortoise, who informs them they are in the land of Mystic. They’re told that the first lesson they need to learn is that they “must trust in order to learn to survive.” This advice serves them well in their ensuing adventure; the pair becomes emotionally closer, and Amelia learns things she never knew about herself and her family. The pace picks up when Greg is captured by a minion of Ralient, an evil wizard who aspires to kill the queen and become the powerful Guardian of Mystic. During Amelia’s journey to rescue Greg, she learns how to trust herself fully and taps into great reserves of courage and magic. Overall, this well-written fantasy novel provides a strong, self-reliant female protagonist. Rausin depicts the children realistically and handles the subject of Amelia’s disability with compassion and accuracy. The world of Mystic is portrayed as geographically and politically complex, with a variety of wizards and magical creatures. Toward the novel’s conclusion, the plot moves very quickly, and the fast pace will likely keep young readers’ attention.
A well-told story of one girl’s growing confidence and strength in a magical land.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1480002463
Page Count: 172
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
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