KINGSTON AND THE ECHOES OF MAGIC

Kingston; his cousin, Veronica; and his best friend, Too Tall, return to the Realm after King realizes they’re stuck in an echo, or time loop.

Days may often feel the same, but King and everyone else in his Brooklyn neighborhood are actually reliving the same 26 hours leading up to Christmas Day. Once King realizes this feeling of déjà vu isn’t just in his head, he seeks Sula and Sol, the children of Maestro, his father’s former friend. They inform King of Maestro’s nefarious plan to destroy the current timeline and make a new primary timeline in which magic reigns supreme—and their world is no more. With the help of King’s Pops—who is stuck in his own echo—they can reopen the portal in the now heavily guarded Mercury Theater. Armed with the Echo Stone, a powerful artifact that can be used to see throughout the Realm, and their knowledge of ancient Egypt, King and his friends follow Maestro through various portals, a journey that offers King insight into his family lineage and Maestro’s motives. Their hope is to prevent Maestro from ending the world as they know it. Readers who enjoyed Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found (2021) will welcome this brisk sequel that maintains the engaging tone of the first series entry and entertainingly incorporates information about ancient Egyptian gods. King and most other characters are Black.

An illuminating sequel.