A vivid and inventive fantasy whose blitzkrieg storytelling will leave some young readers bewildered.
This middle-grade fantasy stars a girl who finds a strange being in her yard and begins a series of cosmic adventures.
Eleven-year-old Glory is the adopted child of Jean and Myrtle Willis. Jean was a famous sculptor until his wife died in a car accident six years ago. Now, he depends on the statues Glory sculpts, passed off as his own, to keep up his supply of wine. Glory’s 16-year-old brother, Peter, also drinks heavily, yet the girl retains an unsinkable spirit. One day after an intense thunderstorm, Glory and her best friend, Shaili “Lintie” Chakraborty, explore the garden behind the Willis family’s home. Lintie claims she saw “red and blue” lights descend during the storm. With the help of a tiny dragon that lives in Glory’s palm, the girls locate an “egg-like thing.” Lintie hits the egg with a hammer, and when it cracks open, a baby appears—a baby with the head of an elephant. Glory names the child Roslyn, and the girls take the infant to the library to research their new friend. There they meet the bookworm Teeku, who explains that portals connect various magical realms. Meanwhile, in the hidden Sacred Region, the dwarf Poi speaks with a Sphinx named the Great Lady. They discuss the tragedy of the Mystic Misti, who’s trapped in a comalike state. The Great Lady believes a piece of Misti’s soul is missing, and sends Poi to the cursed realm of Kaiser, where souls dwell. Glory, Lintie, and Roslyn also travel through a portal to Kaiser, where they meet its ruler, Paterfamilias. He tells the girls: “You’re our saviors—our only hope.”
In this fantasy series opener, Tushar brings a grand imagination to bear on a story about resiliency in dark times. The portals, known as “Cameras,” make traveling to and exploring different realms straightforward. In the realms, the girls meet dragons, water giants, and even slow-talking trees, not unlike the Ents in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings saga. Throughout most of the narrative, Tushar’s primary aim is to elicit wonder from the audience. The protagonists travel wide-eyed from one exotic locale to the next, always at the behest of an otherworldly being. Paterfamilias, for example, sends the girls after the Eau Benite, a potion that can lift the curse afflicting Kaiser. But frequently the author doesn’t linger on one miraculous creation long enough before introducing another. This whirlwind approach to storytelling is initially inviting, and readers will feel like they’ve wandered into a colorful museum. Yet the tale rushes past chaotically, and younger audiences, even those familiar with the intricacy of the Harry Potternovels, may wish for the drama to unfold with less clutter. There are many beautiful moments, as when “the light of the thunderstorms far above them shone with countless bright flashes...The Silver Dragon was swooshing down like a shooting star.” True danger doesn’t arrive until later, in the form of the witch Ziltus Blackhead. When Glory and Lintie are separated in the cliffhanger finale, the constant presence of magical beings mutes any true sense of drama or danger.
A vivid and inventive fantasy whose blitzkrieg storytelling will leave some young readers bewildered.Pub Date: Feb. 29, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-61-984099-5
Page Count: 349
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
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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