THE IMMORTAL FIRE

Still battered from her previous encounter with Philonecron and Poseidon (The Siren Song, 2007), Charlotte isn’t ready for another tangle with the Greek pantheon. As her television shows the Mediterranean plagued by an ever-increasing series of freak typhoons, droughts and tsunamis, however, Charlotte realizes that her recent adventure has endangered the world. The formerly secretive gods, who once avoided being noticed by humanity, are now wreaking havoc across the earth. Charlotte and her cousin Zee are determined to save the day, but their erstwhile allies think of them as mere children who need protecting. In a witty, snarky journey from America to England to Greece and finally to the very realms of the gods, these two middle schoolers fight the gods without magical powers or special destiny. Chock-full of clever references for those readers familiar with the Greek myths, Charlotte and Zee’s story balances effectively between ironic distance and a heartwarming story of friendship. It’s hard to argue with a story that intersperses Homeric epithets with the tale of a semi-divine Canadian named “Steve.” (Fantasy. 9-12)