THE CAVES OF WONDER

Conflicting priorities and pursuing imperial soldiers ramp up the tension for two young fugitives and the emperor they’ve promised to protect.

Transported to an Asian-inspired fantasy realm in The Silk Road (2022) and charged with keeping sheltered teen emperor Yidi safe from malign witch Xixi, white friends Dee and Lucy seek strong allies. They head for a distant community of fighting monks where the White Tiger of the West, a demigod of war with access to a legendary Jade Army, is said to be imprisoned. Picking up a small but smug dragon and other allies on the way, the growing company fends off repeated attacks. As Lucy focuses on developing her own witchy powers in the face of Dee’s accusations that she’s more interested in that than in helping him find his missing parents (not to mention his stubborn insistence, despite much evidence to the contrary, that magic is really just science), rifts develop between them. Meanwhile, encounters with rebellious common folk and widespread injustices, like a sudden imperial order to round up the ethnic minority Moon people, provide Yidi, who is at least trying to travel incognito, with food for thought about right behavior. Characters develop somewhat more than the plot or setting do, but if all the inner searching slows the tale down, Marion does insert occasional comic relief to lighten the load and leaves her young cast poised for a counterattack.

Quests both public and personal proceed in a deliberate but steady way.