A feel-good, enthralling fantasy that adults and children alike will savor.
In Evans’ middle-grade fantasy novel, a tween and her friends hope to show their dragon-fearing world that the scaled, feathered beasts are no danger.
Twelve-year-old Eliana Fallond only just learned that she’s a rare Dragon Speaker. She has befriended Winston, a dragon who, along with his parents, stays hidden from humans. But some people in the medieval-like kingdom of Southern Land have seen the dragons, refuting the conventional wisdom that the creatures are extinct. Now Eliana and others, including her Dragon Speaker mentor, Doryu, want to take Winston and his parents to Denross, the Overking of the Southern Land; if they can prove to the king that the dragons are benevolent, humans surely won’t see them as a threat. Meanwhile, at the Overking’s castle, a 13-year-old Shadow runs into a few suspicious individuals who each crave a mysterious item, from an old parchment to a glowing orb. It seems something nefarious is afoot, and Winston, upon reaching the castle, is unnerved by the possible sighting of a villain everyone believed was long gone. Taking place about a week after the events of the previous book in the series—True North: The Dragon and the Girl, Book 1 (2021)—the author’s second installment hits the ground running. Evans skillfully mingles returning characters with new faces, including Shadow, whose self-imposed name befits her nature of avoiding attention. The story keeps the huge cast in check with quick, helpful reminders of names and titles. Most of these characters are good company; bighearted Eliana, for example, simply wants others to see how virtuous and downright lovable Winston is. Even the villains, at least for a time, are more ambiguous than explicitly malicious. Throughout, the pithy prose packs details into breezy, memorable passages: “...beside him was a short, frazzled-looking man with a slightly tarnished crown perched askew on his fluffy gray hair.”
A feel-good, enthralling fantasy that adults and children alike will savor.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
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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