Next book

THE LAND OF THE STRAYS

Indelible animal characters headline this winsome tale of fellowship and magic.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

A barn cat’s new city life comes with a slew of new friends and a petnapping case to solve in this fantasy sequel.

Grey the Kitten runs away from the farm where she was born and grew up. Her recently discovered magical voice—her words literally build or break things—allows her to navigate a wooden fence with ease (“Grey saw the circle of words cut through the center of the fence before disappearing into a cloud of wooden dust”). The farm owner’s niece finds and adopts Grey, whose new home is in a pet-friendly apartment building in a busy city. The feline sniffs out affable animals, including one of her roommates, Lane the Labrador. The chocolate Lab has magical ears; he can hear others’ thoughts when they need help. The talented pair’s abilities may prove necessary when pets disappear during an animal party, including the host. It’s likely an abduction, and many of the attendees quickly point their paws at the strays who hang out in the weeds near the city’s popular park. Grey is torn; as she comes from a family of feral cats, she relates to and sympathizes with the homeless animals. She joins the rescue mission but may have to decide if she’s a stray or a pet. Fantasy elements in Nilsson’s second installment are sublimely understated. Grey and Lane rarely use their magical powers, while bright stars, like Polly the North Star, intermittently appear and subtly guide the animals. The author tells this good-natured story entirely from the animals’ perspectives even when humans occasionally show up. She lovingly describes four-legged characters—a colorful variety of dog and cat breeds and even a lizard. They pop up in entertaining situations, such as domesticated pets holding a board meeting in a 21st-floor maintenance closet. The simple but concise prose, coupled with Harrison’s sharply detailed black-and-white artwork, will appeal to readers of all ages—as will the uplifting message of acceptance.

Indelible animal characters headline this winsome tale of fellowship and magic.

Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-954401-02-0

Page Count: 280

Publisher: Loodor Publishing

Review Posted Online: June 2, 2022

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • Kirkus Reviews'
    Best Books Of 2024


  • New York Times Bestseller

Next book

IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES

From the Impossible Creatures series , Vol. 1

An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • Kirkus Reviews'
    Best Books Of 2024


  • New York Times Bestseller

Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.

When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.

An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024

ISBN: 9780593809860

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024

Next book

THE LION OF LARK-HAYES MANOR

A pleasing premise for book lovers.

A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.

When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)

A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Pub Date: May 2, 2023

ISBN: 9780316448222

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

Close Quickview