An atmospheric, spellbinding fantasy brimming with adventure, magic, and delightfully strange creatures.
Four young friends must put their bravery to the test when dark forces threaten their harmonious world in Rininger’s middle-grade fantasy novel.
As the Gloomlands, a shadowy realm, creeps closer to idyllic Illumara, the parents of spirited pals Karo, Elara, Xander, and Orson are called to battle. Elara’s magic-possessing mother stays behind in Ravenwood, their quiet village, to care for them, but the foursome’s hunger for adventure quickly leads to trouble. Bearing a basket of offerings, they venture into the woods in search of a faerie portal to try to summon one of the mysterious “fae.” Their plan works only too well as they release several mischievous—sometimes menacing—faeries. Among them is a small, flying creature with “delicate wings” and a cunning shapeshifter who wreaks havoc at the market. The youths must find a way to return the fae to their realm before the autumn equinox; if they fail, faeries will flood their peaceful land, and the ancient barrier protecting them from the Gloomlands will be compromised. Karo, meanwhile, is convinced her mothers are keeping a secret about her lineage. Do the faeries have the answers she seeks? From the first page, Rininger deftly immerses readers into an enchanting world occupied by melodic fae, amusing chatty trees, and tiny, whimsical house trolls. The author balances fantastical elements with relatable ordinary life as the characters grapple with issues of identity, disharmony, and long-harbored family secrets while journeying toward self-discovery. The pacing could be improved by trimming some of the dialogue and day-to-day minutiae, but the novel’s diverse cast, fascinating folklore, and beautifully descriptive prose enrich the tale. (“Her long violet hair, adorned with colorful wildflower petals, cascaded down her back, and she wore an opal gown that shimmered like moonlight against her dark skin,” Rininger writes of a fae.) This imaginative debut will capture the heart and imagination of any adventure-loving middle-grade reader.
An atmospheric, spellbinding fantasy brimming with adventure, magic, and delightfully strange creatures.Pub Date: June 9, 2025
ISBN: 9788776351748
Page Count: 356
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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