EREC REX

Entertaining magics and magical gear, along with polished vignettes from Grant, animate familiar fantasy tropes in this seriocomic debut. Having grown up with a juggling coat rack and other unusual furnishings, one-eyed young Erec isn’t as shocked as he might be when a hidden door near New York’s Grand Central Station opens into kingdoms where magic rules. Working to save his kidnapped mother—with whom he can talk at any time thanks to a pair of special eyeglasses, but who persists in delivering maddeningly vague hints and warnings—Erec finds himself competing for one of three kingdoms offered as prizes for weathering a series of magical games. Tossing in subplots, nefarious schemes, a crew of sneering bullies, sumptuous feasts, allies for Erec, a surprise villain and magic worked by everything from explosive “nitrowisherine” to push-button remotes, Kingsley speeds her tale along to a climax involving an impulsive dragon who gives Erec a two-sided eye to replace his more ordinary glass one. Closing with the news that the young hero still has 12 tasks to fulfill, this light but not insubstantial outing definitely belongs aboard the Potter wagon, but merits a seat toward the front. (Fantasy. 11-13)