A delightful, engaging otherworldly adventure sure to charm.
An action-filled tale brimming with real-world and fantastical tensions.
Twelve-year-old Ainsley Galloway has moved to the town of Lowry with her parents and brother, 10-year-old Tobin. The area is the setting for the famous movie trilogy The Legend of Greyhallow, and Ainsley’s parents have bought long-missing director Ambrose Ripley’s mansion to renovate into an inn dedicated to its fantasy world. After Ainsley and Tobin are gifted a wooden box from a mysterious woman at the town’s Greyhallow-themed movie festival, they discover inside it a brass key that unlocks Ripley’s attic. The attic contains a magical projector, movie costumes, clapperboard, and more, transporting the duo into the world of Greyhallow. Only all is not well there, and the siblings must work to help the characters of the medieval fantasy setting while navigating between their world and ours—something that becomes especially critical as the line between the two blurs. This fun read artfully combines our reality with Greyhallow’s, allowing readers to explore Ainsley’s realistic relationship struggles with Charlotte, her best friend back home, and cheer her on as she spars with gargoyles and other magical creatures. Watching the siblings gain confidence as they solve puzzles both real and cinematic is satisfying, and fans of The Lord of the Rings and portal fantasies will find much to enjoy. Main characters present White; Charlotte is cued Korean American.
A delightful, engaging otherworldly adventure sure to charm. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781665918879
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A smart sequel that’s filled with surprises and heart.
In this follow-up to The Rhythm of Time (2023), young time-traveling adventurers face their biggest challenge yet, forcing them to question themselves and one another.
Rahim looks forward to starting eighth grade with best friend Kasia even though he anticipates a tough transition after homeschooling. Kasia makes friends as seamlessly as she makes the cool beats that Rahim skillfully raps over. Although Rahim, who’s a target for bullies, feels a bit left behind, the duo still has their music and a rather unusual extracurricular: on-demand time-travel adventures at the behest of their future selves and the mysterious Aevum Organization. Rahim’s parents place a lot of pressure on him and dismiss his hip-hop dreams as impractical. Adult Rahim and Adult Kasia present the pair with a mission to 1978 Honolulu, where temporal anomalies have been detected. They’ll be facing Chrononauts, time travelers who are trying to change the world to suit their own selfish ends. This entry markedly raises the stakes in ways that challenge even Kasia’s genius. Rahim’s intuition and emotional development are thoughtfully plotted as the kids leave their parents in the dark and take big risks. This nuanced story centering on Black middle schoolers explores trust and care, putting friendship to the test even as the Hawaiian setting offers a provocative allegory for being thoughtful about our global (and interdimensional) impact. Final art not seen.
A smart sequel that’s filled with surprises and heart. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9780374393175
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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