TOWER AND PIT

A boy contends with a demonic underworld in the fifth installment of Genzano’s middle-grade fantasy series.

Hunter, a young boy, has had many adventures traveling alone through the once closed, now open Doors to the Stranger World. His exploits—which include exploring the realm of Faeries, working aboard a pirate ship, and escaping the mazelike museum of Aloysius Greel—have left him with a magic bag of treasures that once belonged to the Dark Child, a mysterious villain who came from Hunter’s own world in the past and attempted to cut off its magic by closing all portals to other worlds. When Hunter’s father visits a hospital for a cut finger on Thanksgiving, the boy finds a narrow stairwell leading to a wizard’s tower overlooking floating islands, and doors leading to a range of places. The experiment–obsessed, morally ambiguous wizard expounds on the nature of magic and insists that what Hunter needs next is the time glove, which can create temporal paradoxes. Why Hunter needs it is unclear, even when Raven shows up to offer prophetic riddles (“You carry it with you all the time, and open it often, though it can take you a day or more to reach it. The easiest to use – you can stumble on it by mistake – but often hardest to find when you go looking for it”). Hunter must retrieve the time glove from where it lies in an ancient pyramid, guarded by a dragon. Along the way, Hunter discovers that the Dark Child knows he is back. The author’s brand of fantasy reveres classic sword-and-sorcery tropes and his narrative is engineered for a young audience that craves variety, occasional humor, and a quick pace. His wide-eyed, powerful boy protagonist often feels derivative; however, the crystal caverns, constant action, and an elaborately unfolding plot may well scratch a fantasy itch for young readers who have not yet traveled to Narnia, Albion, or The Old Kingdom.

The ante is upped and the magic bag is a little fuller in this diverting adventure for middle-grade readers.