CLARA THORN

A teenager with a newfound ability finds a magical world that’s threatened in this YA fantasy.

Clara Thorn constantly feels that she doesn’t belong. As she and her parents move a lot, the 13-year-old girl has been changing schools without making any friends. Las Vegas is no different; copious bullies zero in on her, mocking her for such things as her family being “poor.” That’s why she’s surprised to see a trio of bullies on her side of Vegas—the less affluent residential neighborhoods. Clara follows them and stumbles into Underhill, a place outside the ordinary world where magical people live. The teen is later shocked to learn that her birthparents, who wielded magic, were forced to abandon her as a baby. As she’s now at the age when her own talents will surface, Clara starts to see magic in the form of floating, multicolored numbers and symbols. But things could go wrong if she doesn’t learn to control her powers, so she attends Liginbaum’s School for Witches in Underhill. Clara gains some friends, but even a magical world unfortunately has bullies. It’s likewise not immune to dangers, as someone seems to be targeting Borders, the hidden passageways between Underhill and the ordinary world. Outside of Underhill, paladins, or witch hunters, chase down magical people like Clara. But she and her friends suspect an individual right there in Underhill is working with paladins in a Borders scheme that may be harmful for everyone, including “Ordinaries” such as Clara’s beloved, adoptive parents.

Jones’ series opener brims with wonderful characters. Both sets of Clara’s parents are especially memorable. Her softhearted adoptive mother and father have raised her as their own daughter. Clara’s birthparents, paladin-battling “counter-hunters” who vanished 12 years ago, have become legendary in Underhill. While a school for magical youngsters has become a popular subgenre all its own, this novel unfolds as an engrossing mystery. For example, Clara and her pals, to unearth information on their suspect, scour a library for specifics on Underhill’s complex history. At the same time, Underhill teems with magicians who create fire or teleport as well as numerous otherworldly creatures, from wolflike beasts to Oilliphéist (lake dragons) and velvety direbunnies with pink noses and two rows of long, sharp fangs. Clara’s ability, meanwhile, is even greater than it initially seemed; she can “tweak” someone else’s magic and proves capable of much more as the story progresses. Her synesthesialike power showcases the author’s radiant prose: “Clara realized that the room—the very air—was filled with glowing equations—not the usual soft reds, blues, and greens she was used to seeing, but angry, bright primary colors muddied with brown and black.” Jones caps off this story with a special recipe for fizzycider, a fruity Underhill beverage, written for Ordinaries (no magic required). By the end, a few sequel-teasing mysteries linger, most notably an enigmatic, apparently formidable villain only mentioned in passing.

An animated, indelible cast drives this entertaining, otherworldly tale.