THE MOONLIT SPIRAL

A young orphan’s beliefs that magic doesn’t exist and that there are no hidden treasures left to find are challenged after a fox girl with a spiral horn on her forehead blows through his window during a storm.

Despite being named after the last of the great adventurers, Orion would rather stay put with Henry, his bookseller guardian. But when, beneath the light of a rare Silver Moon, little Quill mysteriously sweeps into his room—just as tantalizing riddles begin appearing on the blank pages of a journal his parents left him—he decides that it’s time to hit the road in search of the fabled titular treasure, accompanied by Quill and his eager best friend, Zyla. During the ensuing journey, Maihack not only fills the clean, bright, digitally rendered panels with stunning architectural and geological marvels, but also trucks in a host of fantastical creatures, like mystically glowing blume snails and a friendly jellylike monster. The last creature is just one of several cute, irrepressible scene-stealers accompanying the author’s grave and methodical protagonist; even a sinister-looking pursuer and his really big cat turn into engaging allies as, after many adventures, the obstacle-strewn trail indeed leads to a long-lost treasure more valuable than gold. Orion is cued biracial, with a brown-skinned dad and blond, white-presenting mom, and Zyla appears white.

Will charm fans of grand but not-too-scary adventures.