MUSTANGS ON THE RUN!

A plucky tween heroine must protect her loved ones and exotic wild creatures in Collins’ young-adult thriller.

Etta isn’t your average tween girl: Like her grandparents, Etta can communicate telepathically with animals (“She could direct messages to an animal using just thought, what she called her ‘inside voice.’ The animal would reply, and Etta could ‘hear’ the animal’s voice inside her head”). Not surprisingly, that talent comes in handy in this second volume of author Collins’ Etta the Brave series. In this outing, Etta and her extended family travel to a desert town in Nevada to the wedding of Joy Morrison and Albert Gomez, who rescued Etta’s grandfather in the series’ first book. At the wedding, Etta makes a new friend: Albert’s niece, E. J. The next day, E. J. and her older brother, Cole, lead Etta, her mother, her younger cousin, Jules, and her aunt, Anne, on a horseback ride to Noah Gorge, where the wild mustangs roam. That’s also where their troubles begin; the party witnesses a helicopter herding horses and comes under fire. Etta and Jules are separated from the rest, who are captured by three ATV-riding armed rustlers. Etta and Jules, who, Etta discovers, also can talk to animals, must evade capture while making their way back for help, and gain some much-needed animal allies along the way. Etta’s adventure proves to be more than a little predictable—a writer doesn’t give a character a superpower if they don’t plan to employ it. But it’s how Etta gets to that point that makes this book so enjoyable. What’s intriguing about the cousins’ power is their inability to control the animals; they can only suggest that the creatures do something. Collins introduces more and more characters as the story approaches its denouement, skillfully keeping them from tripping over each other. The characters’ collective shrug after the climax strains credulity, yet that can be forgiven when set against the colorful backdrop of Etta’s engrossing journey.

This enthralling exploit is built on humanity, not magic.