A sublime, magical tale with likable young heroes leading an effervescent supernatural cast.
Siblings brave a world of mythical beings to rescue their baby sister in Salten’s middle-grade fantasy.
Late one night, 13-year-old Thomas Pinbrook spots creatures resembling goblins inside the family home. He watches them replace his infant sister, Isabelle, with a “revolting,” baby-size one of their own—it’s clearly a dream. The following morning, however, his mother is convinced Isabelle isn’t really Isabelle, despite her unchanged appearance. After doing some research with his younger know-it-all sister Libby, Thomas concludes that faeries have kidnapped Isabelle and left behind a changeling. Luckily, the kids’ grandmother Millie once encountered a fae and knows all about Faylinn, where the creatures hail from. As Millie must use her “basic” magic skills to protect Thomas and Libby’s parents from the changeling, it’s up to the siblings to cross a portal into Faylinn. This world has magic, assorted fantastical creatures, and even a winged carriage. Some of the otherworldly beings, like sidhe (lanky faerie metal workers), gnomes, and elves, prove affable and accommodating. Salten unspools a delightful, breezy adventure. While Thomas and Libby certainly run into their share of troubles, their bond is strong (the kids occasionally argue but it’s never serious; there’s no doubt they care for one another as well as for the baby sister they’ve vowed to save) and their irresistible allies are abundant. The narrative practically overflows with familiar mythical characters, including pixies and mermaids alongside less-friendly goblins and trolls. Others may be new to some readers, from a rideable, furry pooka (a creature that takes on many hybrid forms) to a terrifying amarok (a huge, wolf-like, yellow-eyed beast with razor-sharp teeth). Salten’s prose shines throughout, especially when describing Faylinn and its seemingly endless forests, vast rolling hills, and a palace room “made of clear glass, with the sparkling water from the palace’s moat flowing underneath, giving the illusion that they were walking on water.”
A sublime, magical tale with likable young heroes leading an effervescent supernatural cast.Pub Date: March 19, 2025
ISBN: 9798992801217
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Brilliant.
Young heroes rise to the challenge of protecting their home, family, and world when a new villain threatens the Glimouria Archipelago and the Immortal in this third series entry.
“New trouble” comes to the sanctuary of Glimt when Irian Guinne is kidnapped and Teren, the young Immortal, is threatened. Christopher Forrester, former princess Anya, jaculus dragon Jacques, and ratatoska navigator Ratwin undertake a series of herculean tasks to fulfill the kidnappers’ demands and free Irian, all without Nighthand’s knowledge or help. Christopher seeks knowledge from Naravirala the sphinx to understand his new, deeper connection to creatures (“It is the people you love who anchor you”), while Anya leans into her warrior nature (“What if I was born to be brave?”). Meanwhile, bandits with ouroboros bracelets pillage and burn across the Archipelago at the command of Astor Morax, and a fearsome tiger spies through mirrors. The white-presenting leads’ quest to save Irian is central, but brief sections visit Irian, Nighthand, and beautiful, deadly Carla Venasque. The climactic Battle of Glimt features ferocity, cleverness, sacrifice, and bravery, and the ending is more Shakespearean comedy than tragedy—but the danger to Teren is not over, leaving eager readers to await the fourth installment. This is a perfectly paced, mythology-laced tale of action, adventure, and heart that reminds readers that “the only thing stronger than fear is love, unceasingly and exultantly given.” Final art not seen.
Brilliant. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9780593809945
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
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