INTO THE GLADES

Friends Larkin and Cordelia, along with their younger brothers, set off on a journey to try to bring Cordelia’s father back from the dead.

Larkin, 11, and Cordelia, 12, have known each other all their lives and are best friends despite the fact that they have very different personalities. Larkin, who is more timid and anxious—the magic that runs in her family hasn’t manifested itself in her yet—looks up to self-assured but hot-tempered Cordelia. Their brothers, Dash and Zephyr, are also best friends. When Cordelia’s father dies suddenly in his sleep, all four children are devastated, but Cordelia is unable to heal. She overhears their mothers talking about how Astrid, an aunt of Larkin’s only vaguely familiar to Cordelia, has dark powers and can bring back the dead. Cordelia determines to find her and get her to do just that. She enlists Larkin’s help, and the two brothers want to come too. The journey that ensues has some sparkling moments of insight and poignancy, although the fantasy worldbuilding is light, evoking elements of the Everglades with slight name changes. The third-person narrative alternates chapters between Cordelia’s and Larkin’s points of view, but these are often not readily distinguishable by tone or sentiment, so it’s sometimes confusing at first whose perspective is being referenced. Main characters read default White.

A fantasy with limited worldbuilding but poignant messages of friendship, loss, and agency.