PLOTTING THE STARS

A 13-year-old pursues adventure—and finds danger—on Venus.

Following the events of Moongarden (2022), Myra, now a second-year student at the Scientific Lunar Academy of Magic, goes with friends to the Venusian Academy of Magical Arts as an exchange student. It’s an opportunity to follow up on her missing friend, Hannah, and perhaps to discover how the clones known as Repetitions are being stopped from using their magic. The new school is a revelatory experience. The students at V.A.M.A. use their Creers to create art using principles of math, chemistry, and electricity. Myra’s own Creer combination of botanical prowess and magic blooms unexpectedly on Venus when seeds she rescued from the moongarden’s plants get spilled into the artificial sea surrounding the school. Noah, a classmate whose Creer lies in the culinary arts, assists her in nurturing and guarding the resulting garden. In these planetary colonies, most characters are cued white, but a few, including Noah, are described as having dark skin; race holds no significance. Myra struggles with feeling like an outsider as her lunar friends find new friends on Venus, while her pursuit of corporate cover-ups around food production creates larger, more dangerous challenges. The satisfying cliffhanger of an ending to this second book in the series will leave readers eager for the next installment.

Richly imagined and excitingly paced.