Genre: Fantasy

A Tale of Magic

Brystal Evergreen is a young girl who lives in the Southern Kingdom, where strict laws created by the town Justices prohibit women from becoming more than wives and mothers. Brystal and other women aren’t even allowed to read (although Brystal finds herself lost in stories of magic that her brother secretly supplies). Brystal considers herself lucky because in comparison to the other four kingdoms which punish magic users with the death penalty, the Southern Kingdom is praised for its mercy – those found practicing magic are sentenced to a life of hard labor at the miserable Bootstrap Correctional Facility. Brystal never expected to be one of them.  

When Brystal reads a magical incantation, she’s caught by the town guard and swiftly sentenced to life imprisonment by her own father, a Chief Justice. Brystal is sent to the Bootstrap Correctional Facility to be “re-educated.” The future seems bleak for Brystal until she is rescued from the academy by a mysterious woman named Madame Weatherberry, a self-proclaimed fairy who recruits Brystal to start an academy of magic. Madame Weatherberry explains to Brystal that there are two types of magic users, witches (who use dark magic for evil deeds) and fairies (magic users who use their power to do good). By creating the academy, training fairies, and using magic to help others, Madame Weatherberry wants to change the world’s perception of magic.  

Once Brystal accepts her place at the academy, she starts to develop her magic, as well as friendships with the other students. She also develops a close bond with Madame Weatherberry, although her teacher keeps disappearing for long periods to fight an evil witch called The Snow Queen whose growing power threatens to cover the world in snow.  

When Madame Weatherberry disappears, Brystal convinces the other students at the academy – her friends Lucy, Xanthous, Emerelda, Tangerina, and Skylene – to save Madame Weatherberry. The destruction of the north is devastating, shocking Brystal, but that is nothing compared to how surprised she is to discover that Madame Weatherberry and the Snow Queen are one in the same. Madame Weatherberry admits she can’t fight the Snow Queen any longer and asks Brystal to kill her, thus proving to the world that it needs good fairies to protect from evil witches. But Brystal believes that the world isn’t so black and white. Despite the evil and anger in Madame Weatherberry, Brystal chooses to see the good. Brystal says, “I’ll never understand why you chose violence as a road to peace, I’ll never understand why you chose fear as a remedy to hate, but I will not repeat your mistakes.” Brystal convinces Madame Weatherberry to keep fighting and allows her to escape. Brystal returns to her friends with a newfound determination to find a peaceful way to change the world’s perspective on magic. 

A Tale of Magic is a prequel to The Land of Stories Series that details how Brystal Evergreen later becomes Brystal Bailey, the Fairy Godmother. This story’s setting is set solely in The Land of Stories making it easier to read than The Land of Stories Series. If you’ve already read The Land of Stories Series, you should definitely check out this prequel series to learn more about the Fairy Godmother and how the Fairy Council (Brystal’s name for the coalition of fairies bringing about change) is formed. If you haven’t read either series yet, even though this book is a prequel, you should start with the Land of Stories because that book sets up the world in detail. A Tale of Magic is written under the assumption that the reader already knows what the Land of Stories is. Start with The Land of Stories to get the context you need to understand A Tale of Magic.  

A Tale of Magic is narrated by Brystal, who is an empathetic narrator. She cares deeply about others and sees the best in them even when they can’t see it themselves. Even though Brystal’s magic specialty is compassion, Brystal still has moments of anger and doubt, but these make her both relatable and realistic.  

This book’s theme may seem contradictory to Brystal’s character: rebellion. At first, Brystal is afraid to go against the path society has laid out for her. However, Brystal questions what she’s been told and aims to prove the innocence of magic, even if it means turning against the people she loves most. One of the most poignant scenes in the story is when Brystal stands in front of her father—the Justice who sentenced her to the correctional facility—and demands that he change his intolerant ways. Brystal questions her faith, her society’s criminalization of magic, and the patriarchy.  

Madame Weatherberry teaches Brystal that, “Ignorance is a choice. Hatred is a choice. Violence is a choice. But someone’s existence is never a choice or a fault, and it’s certainly not a crime.” People can choose to be intolerant, or they can choose to accept people for who they are. And Brystal chooses to support her friends no matter what. Similarly, Brystal extends this compassion to the world and Brystal ends the story determined to ensure that future generations will have a happy ending. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • In most of the kingdoms, the punishment for witchcraft is death. “In the Northern Kingdom, perpetrators and their families were put on trial and promptly burned at the stake. In the Eastern Kingdom. . . [they are] hung in the gallows. In the Western Kingdom, suspected witches and warlocks were drowned without any trial whatsoever.” 
  • When Brystal is imprisoned for practicing magic, she hears prisoners being tortured: “Bloodcurdling screams of prisoners getting whipped echoed through the halls.” 
  • At the Bootstrap Correctional Facility, the young girls are physically abused. Those who deserve worse punishment are subjected to the “dunker.” This is a well where a girl is repeatedly submerged and eventually drowned. Brystal is sent to the dunker but is saved before she is plunged into the icy water. 
  • Mrs. Edgar, one of the wardens of the Bootstrap Correctional Facility, slaps Brystal when she questions Mrs. Edgar’s perception of the Book of Faith and the nature of the Lord. Brystal said, “’What if you’re wrong about the Lord? . . . What if the Lord invented magic so people could help each other and enrich their own lives? What if the Lord thinks you’re the unholy ones for abusing people and making them believe their existence is a –’ WHACK! Mrs. Edgar slapped Brystal so hard her whole head jerked in a different direction. . . blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.” 
  • Xanthous, one of the academy students, reveals that his father beat him after coming home from the pub where he found Xanthous doing something “unspeakable.” Afterward, Xanthous sets his home on fire, and his father perished. Xanthous explains, “As he was hitting me, I became angry – really angry. I felt all this heat building up inside me like a volcano. . . next thing I knew, there was fire everywhere. . . Our house burned to the ground and my father. . . ”  
  • Emerelda, an academy student, tells a story about the Snow Queen. Emerelda says, “Many years ago, the Snow Queen was just a simple witch with a specialty for controlling the weather. One night, an angry mob found her home and killed her family.” Afterward, the Snow Queen turned evil. 
  • Brystal and her friends witness a fight between trolls and goblins. “Brystal and her classmates watched the brawl in horror—they had never seen such violence in their lives. The creatures ruthlessly bludgeoned and stabbed one another, and when their weapons gave out, they resorted to twisting noses and pulling ears.” Brystal and her friends run away before they see anyone get seriously injured. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The academy students find a bottle of “Fabubblous Fizz” when they break into Madame Weatherberry’s office. Xanthous asks, “There isn’t any alcohol in there, is there?” No one knows the answer. The students only have one sip each. It causes them to be able to blow bubbles out of their mouth. 
  • It is mentioned that Xanthous’ father beats him after coming home from the pub drunk.  

Language  

  • Heck is used twice. For example, when a witch breaks into his castle, the king of the Southern Kingdom says, “Who the heck are you?”  
  • Brystal’s friend, Lucy, plays the tambourine. When Lucy says she’s going to give up magic and go back to playing the tambourine, Brystal calls the tambourine “stupid.” 
  • Lucy insults witches by calling them “gizzard suckers.” 
  • The Snow Queen calls Brystal a “stupid, incompetent girl.” 

Supernatural  

  • In this world, magic can be used for just about everything from everyday tasks to creating storms, talking to animals, healing wounds, and more. It can also be used to turn one item into another; the possibilities are endless. 
  • Some magic users have a specialty, a type of magic or spell that they are very good at. For example, Tangerina, one of Madame Weatherberry’s apprentices, controls bees. Magic users also tend to have physical attributes that represent what they’re good at. For example, Tangerina has a beehive of orange hair that drips honey and is home to a swarm of bees.  
  • Madame Weatherberry can create storms. Her body is frostbitten due to creating powerful snowstorms. 
  • Skylene, one of Madame Weatherberry’s apprentices, controls water and has water for hair that evaporates at her feet. 
  • Madame Weatherberry has a magical carriage made of gold that is pulled by unicorns. Inside, there are plants that produce berries in every color of the rainbow. Madame Weatherberry can make the carriage into a brooch for easy transportation, which she does occasionally throughout the story. 
  • Xanthous, an academy student, controls fire. His power is hard to control, so Madame Weatherberry gives him a medal called a Muter Medal, which allows him to suppress his abilities.  
  • The castle that is home to the academy is magical and expands as needed. When new students arrive, a new bedroom grows in the castle. Madame Weatherberry explains, “The castle grows extra bedrooms based on the number of residents and designs the chambers around the occupant’s specific needs.” For example, Brystal’s room is a library, while Xanthous’ room is fireproof. 
  • A few magical creatures, such as goblins, gryphons, and unicorns, are mentioned in the story.  
  • Horence, a knight who protects the school grounds, is a spirit that can’t speak and rides a three-headed horse. Madame Weatherberry tells Brystal a story of how Horence was created. “Horence was in love with a witch. . . after he was murdered, the witch used witchcraft to bring him back to life. The spell was so dark and vile, the witch died in the process.” 
  • Brystal finds a Tree of Truth that can answer any question. The tree can speak to Brystal in her mind. 

Spiritual Content  

  • The Southern Kingdom’s religion comes from the Book of Faith. The religion is not described in detail but there is a “God” or “Lord” that is referred to occasionally with phrases like, “By God” and “God have mercy.”  
  • Brystal reads in a banned book that the Book of Faith has been rewritten many times to fit lawmakers’ political agendas. “If the Book of Faith was as pure as the monks claim it is, there would be no need to amend it or publish versions over time. However, if you compared a current Book of Faith to one from a hundred years ago, you would discover vast differences between the religion of today and the religion of yesterday.” The book says that the law and faith should be separate, but the Justices of the Southern Kingdom have made the Book of Faith and the law the same, thus “any activity or opinion that questions the government is a sin… The Book of Faith no longer reflects the Lord’s will, but the will of men who use the Lord as a tool to manipulate their people.” 
  • Brystal prays to God by saying, “Please, God, I need more than just faith to keep going. . .”  

The Immortal Fire

Is everything in our lives predetermined, or do we truly possess the ability to make choices? This thought-provoking question delves into the depths of human existence and raises profound philosophical inquiries. It forces us to ponder our agency and contemplate the intricacies of fate versus free will.  

This existential exploration forms the core of the extraordinary journey embarked upon by Charlotte Mielswetski and Zachary Miller. As the two protagonists find themselves unexpectedly transported back to the realm of Greek Gods, they become entangled in a web of divine destiny and mortals’ decisions. The collision of these two worlds sets the stage for an epic narrative of monumental proportions. 

In the wake of their encounter with Poseidon, the divine realm undergoes a chaotic transformation that bewilders even the gods themselves. The enigmatic disappearance of Poseidon, the emergence of terrifying monsters, and the relentless battles among the gods all contribute to the mounting tension that looms over Earth. Mortal lives hang precariously in the balance as the very fabric of existence unravels. 

Once again, the weighty responsibility of restoring order falls upon the shoulders of Charlotte and her beloved cousin Zachary, affectionately known as Zee. Their odyssey takes them on a perilous journey to the sacred Mount Olympus, where they face their most formidable challenge yet—none other than Zeus himself. However, this time, they must confront the mighty ruler of the gods without the aid of the Prometheans. As they grapple with the guilt of leaving behind their families and battle their arch nemesis, Philonecron, Charlotte and Zee embody resilience and determination in their unwavering pursuit of justice. Every ounce of their courage and wit are put to the test as they strive to reestablish harmony and balance. 

Throughout the captivating Cronus Chronicles Trilogy, readers will undoubtedly find themselves deeply enamored with the courageous and relatable protagonist, Charlotte Mielswetski. As they journey through the pages of this extraordinary series, their affection for Charlotte will grow stronger with each passing chapter. However, it is in this final installment of the trilogy that the undeniable connection between readers and Charlotte will be solidified, leaving an indelible mark on their hearts and minds. Brace yourself for an unforgettable conclusion that will leave readers yearning for more, as the remarkable journey of Charlotte reaches its climactic end. 

As readers delve deeper into the story and form a bond with Charlotte, they will also find themselves captivated by Zee. With his unwavering determination, sharp intellect, and deep affection for his cousin, Zee becomes a beloved character who will undoubtedly win readers’ hearts. Throughout the narrative, readers will be filled with anticipation and excitement as they witness Zee fearlessly confront and overcome various challenges that come his way. 

The Immortal Fire is an incredibly captivating and exquisitely crafted piece of literature that will undoubtedly engross readers from the very beginning all the way to the end. With its masterful prose and incredibly vivid descriptions, this truly compelling story takes readers on an unforgettable journey alongside the cousins as they courageously embark on the thrilling and perilous last leg of their epic adventure alongside powerful divine beings. Whether you are a devoted fan of Greek mythology or simply someone who is seeking a truly enthralling and deeply immersive reading experience that will transport you to another world, The Immortal Fire is the perfect choice. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Philonecron, a descendant of Poseidon and the arch-nemesis of Charlotte and Zee, finds himself in possession of the trident. He uses it to change Poseidon into a sea cucumber. This gives Philonecron the courage to continue changing gods, so they are not in his way. Unfortunately, Poseidon’s son Triton is no different.  “Triton gasped, as if to suck in the whole sky, and lifted the horn to his lips. But it never got there, for Philonecron swung the trident forward – he was getting really fast with it now – and where there was once a fish-tailed centaur on a life raft, there was now just a very small, fish-tailed weasel with a tiny conch shell around its neck.” 
  • Philonecron stops to visit the Oracle to see if she can tell him if he is fated to overthrow Zeus. When he is unsatisfied with the Oracle’s answer, he uses the trident against her. Philonecron levels “the trident at her. Within a matter of moments, an enormous, festering pimple appeared right in the center of her forehead. The oracle shrieked, hands flying to her face.” 
  • The Prometheans argue over whether it is right to let Charlotte and Zee escape with a boy named Steve, who is the prophesied son who would overthrow Zeus. Mr. Metos (a descendant of Prometheus and the cousin’s English teacher) and another Promethean, Timons, argue over whether to sacrifice Steve. This leads to an almost deadly battle between Timons and Mr. Metos. “Mr. Metos, turning his arm slightly, flicked his wrist. The dagger moved through the air, spinning balletically, and Timon let out something between a grunt and a yell as it pierced his thigh. [Timons] stumbled and grabbed his leg, the gun dropping to the floor. He seemed to be screaming curses . . . And then Timon had the gun in his hands again, and just as Mr. Metos reached for another dagger, he had leveled it at them, his face contorted in pain and rage. And then everything happened at once. There was an explosion from the gun, and at the same time, Timon screamed and wrenched to the side. A bullet flew through the air, whizzing by. . . hitting the wall. Timon fell to the floor, writhing, another dagger lodged in his shoulder.” Thankfully, no deadly harm is brought to either Promethean, but it is at this point the cousins escape with Steve. 
  • While sneaking around Mount Olympus, Charlotte stumbles upon a room full of gods. While she listens intently to their conversation, she is struck in the back with an arrow. “Charlotte could hear her scream hanging in the air like a big flashing neon arrow. Her heart started beating so fast it seemed it might run right off the rails. Everything seized up, and she was ready to burst off running somewhere, except her whole back stuck with pain, and she felt something cold and deadly begin to spread where the arrow had joined with her flesh. She went green, her skin turned cold.” Charlotte starts to slip into death, but Hera commands Appollo to heal her so that she can be brought before Zeus. 
  • Charlotte and Zee finally face Zeus. Zeus quickly shows his strength by pointing his thunderbolt at Charlotte. “Charlotte yelled and ran at Zeus, fists flailing. Zeus smirked before swinging his thunderbolt, hitting her with the flat of the blade. She let out an inhuman cry as she was flung backward, and she landed in a heap on the floor. She did not move.” Charlotte was again brought close to death, but did not die. 
  • Philonecron and Steve join Charlotte and Zee at the top of Mount Olympus for the final showdown with Zeus. Philonecron manages to separate the thunderbolt from Zeus and confine him with the power of the trident, but Philonecron must hand the trident, thunderbolt, and the power to kill Zeus all over to Steve to make the final decision.  
  • In the meantime, Zee grabs the thunderbolt. “As Philonecron screamed at Steve, Zee aimed the thunderbolt and ran toward him, thrusting the sharp point into the god’s back with all his might. Philonecron screeched and arched backward, the trident falling out of his hand. Zee dove for it as Philonecron fell to the ground. And then Zee was standing over him, trident and thunderbolt poised, as his tormentor howled.” Philonecron does not die, but his memory is wiped and he is transported away by two large black birds that come seemingly out of thin air. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Zee and Charlotte begin to grow frustrated with Mr. Metos. While Mr. Metos aims to support humanity, his tactics are not always considerate which leads Zee to yell at Mr. Metos. “You speak to us of these great dangers to us, but you won’t tell us what is going on, so the next thing I know I’m watching Charlotte be carried off by fluffy the Dragon Kitty while you’re skipping around trying to find its nest. So there will be no more locking us in cars, and there will be no more drugging people. We’re involved like it or not. . . You complain about the gods not taking responsibility, but you won’t let us take any . . . it’s arrogant. . . and pigheaded and . . . cruel. And it isn’t nice!” 

Supernatural 

  • After Charlotte and Zee’s encounter with Poseidon, things start to go awry near that area in the sea. The whole world is beginning to take notice of the unnatural incidents occurring across the world. “Something weird was going on. It wasn’t just the half-mile-wide hole that had suddenly appeared in the Mediterranean Sea or the behavior of the dolphins. Strange reports were coming in from the whole region. A fleet of ships from the Croatian navy had disappeared. Sharks off the coast of Rome had gone psycho, swimming after fishing boats and patrolling the beaches. A whirlpool had suddenly appeared in a shipping lane. The waters of the Aegean Sea had turned so choppy that no ship could travel on it. A several-mile-long swath in the Mediterranean had turned pitch-black and cold, as if it had simply died.” 
  • Charlotte watches these odd events unfolding on television, “A coastal town was being assailed by wind. . . Not a soul was in sight; it was like not a soul existed on Earth — they had all abandoned it to the wind. And then, just like that, the wind stopped. The trees snapped back in relief. All was calm. And then, suddenly, the debris began to stir, and the wind started up again, the trees bowed exhaustedly — in the other direction.”

Spiritual Content  

  • In the story, Greek Gods are real.  

Our Violent Ends

The year is 1927. The chaos of the previous year has done nothing to quell the blood feud between the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers, and the streets of Shanghai are still rife with death and violence. But this is not only the work of the blood feud—foreign powers have increasingly become intertwined with the rival gangs, leading to talk of a brewing civil war. The possibility of peace feels further away than ever.  

The madness no longer sweeps through the streets like a contagion, infecting everyone it comes across, but that does not mean the madness has left the city for good. Monsters disguised as ordinary people still prowl through the streets, launching targeted attacks in crowded areas that cause everyone in the vicinity to rip their own throats out. It may no longer spread, but it is no less deadly.  

Betrayal, heartbreak, and death make all hope of reconciliation between Roma and Juliette seem impossibly far away. They miss each other terribly, but at the same time cannot forgive each other’s terrible actions. But when their fathers, in a rare show of cooperation between the Scarlets and the White Flowers, order Roma and Juliette to work together to find a cure for the new madness, they are once again thrown together and forced to cooperate. Their reconciliation is a relief to both of them as they realize how powerful they are together. But are they enough to save their city? The universe is never kind to star-crossed lovers, and they may just have to choose between saving Shanghai or themselves. 

Our Violent Ends is a dazzling conclusion to Roma and Juliette’s story. The prose is vivid, rich, and imaginative, and it fully immerses readers in Roma and Juliette’s world. While Our Violent Ends is on the longer side, there is never a dull moment – scenes packed with action transition smoothly into heartfelt confessions that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. Several subplots create many moving parts that all work together to culminate in a grand finale.  

The rich cast of characters is another factor that makes this novel a thrilling read. The narration switches between many points of view, allowing readers to inhabit many of the characters’ heads and get to know them and their motivations. The relationship between Roma and Juliette is an extremely complicated one, and these nuances are fully explored; neither character is perfect, and their circumstances often force them to hurt each other, but they ultimately work through their flaws to find a middle ground. 

Our Violent Ends is a great modern retelling of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet. Like the play, this novel emphasizes the immense harm that hatred causes and reminds readers that unfounded hate leads to dreadful violence. Teens who enjoy intricate plots and cutthroat characters will love this book and think about Roma and Juliette’s story long after they close the final page. It is a satisfying conclusion to the duology begun by These Violent Delights. Fans of Romeo and Juliet may also want to read Crossing the Line by Simone Elkeles and Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine. 

Sexual Content  

  • Roma and Juliette kiss in a safe house. “Roma pressed his lips to hers with such ferocity that Juliette gasped, the sound immediately muffled when she pushed herself up and drew closer. Despite his burning energy, Juliette felt Roma’s mouth move with sincerity, felt his adoration while he trailed kisses all down her neck. ‘Juliette,’ he whispered. Both of their coats came off. Roma had the zip of her dress pulled in seconds too, and Juliette lifted her arms to accommodate. ‘My darling, darling Juliette.’ The dress fell to the floor. With some disbelief, Roma suddenly blinked, his eyes clearing for the briefest moment while she worked at his shirt buttons.” It is implied that they have sex, but not explicitly. 

Violence  

  • Juliette shoots a White Flower, wounding but not killing him. “Her pistol kicked. Juliette pressed back into her seat, her jaw hard as the man below dropped his weapon, his shoulder wounded.” 
  • During an altercation between the Scarlets and the White Flowers, Roma shoots, aiming for Juliette. “Roma reached into his jacket pocket and drew his gun, and Juliette had no choice but to jolt herself out of her daze. Instead of combating the would-be assassin, he had decided to shoot at her. Three bullets whizzed by her ear. Gasping, Juliette struck the floor, her knees grazing the carpet hard as she threw herself down.” The shot misses Juliette.  
  • Roma attacks Juliette. “He slammed her into the pipes. The effort was so forceful that Juliette tasted blood inside her lip, sliced by her own sharp teeth. She stifled a gasp and then another when Roma’s hand tightened around her throat, his eyes murderous.” Juliette defends herself: “Just as Roma shifted forward, perhaps intent on his kill, her hand closed around the sheath beneath her dress and pulled her blade free, slicing down on whatever she came in contact with first. Roma hissed, releasing his hold. It was only a surface cut, but he cradled his arm to his chest, and Juliette followed close, leveling the blade to his throat.” The fight stops when they call a truce and agree to talk. 
  • A monster attacks unnamed patrons at a bar. “The cabaret becomes enswathed in black, an ever-moving blanket of infection, and in seconds, the first succumbs, hands flying to throats and clutching, clutching, clutching, trying to squeeze the insects out. Nails break into skin, skin splits for muscle, muscle parts for bone. As soon as blood spurts from one victim, inner flesh exposed and veins pumping red, the next is already tearing before they have a moment to feel the visceral disgust that comes with being soaked in hot, sticky gore.” All of the patrons die. 
  • Benedikt, Roma’s cousin, is attacked by Scarlets. “He didn’t even have the chance to pull a weapon. A blow came to the side of his face out of nowhere, then Benedikt was reeling, crushed to the ground amid shouting and cursing and someone calling for the death of his whole family. His arms were bent back and his head was pushed hard into the cement, before something ice cold, something that felt like the butt of a gun, jammed up against his temple.” He escapes uninjured when the Scarlets are all shot by a third-party sniper. 
  • Tyler, Juliette’s cousin, shoots and kills two White Flowers. “Tyler pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession, two White Flower heads cracking with an explosion of red, crashing to the ground. Chenghuangmiao [the market] erupted with a wave of screaming, but most shoppers reacted quickly and hurried out of the way, in no mood to be caught in a gangster dispute. They didn’t have to worry. This was no dispute; there were no other White Flowers nearby to retaliate.” 
  • Marshall, Roma’s best friend, kills a Scarlet who recognizes him. “The bullet landed true. With a harsh clatter, the Scarlet’s weapon fell to the floor. It might have been a gun. It might have been a dagger. It might have even been a throwing star, for all the consequence it held. But in the hazy dark, all Marshall cared about was it being out of reach, and then the Scarlet collapsed too, a hand clasped over the hole studded into his breastbone.” 
  • Tyler sets fire to a building full of White Flowers as a targeted attack because of the blood feud. “Juliette could see him, holding a plank of wood swirling with flames. Behind him, the building’s roaring inferno drowned out the screams, drowned out the whole occupancy burning to death. Juliette heard nothing save that they were pleading–women in nightgowns and elderly banging on the closed windows, muffled Russian crying to stop! Please stop!” 
  • Juliette kills a White Flower who is attacking Tyler. “Without slowing her run, Juliette jumped over the threshold of the temple entrance and pulled the knife sheathed at her thigh. When she threw, the blade pierced into the White Flower’s neck smoothly, striking its target with nary a sound before the White Flower pitched sideways and fell.” 
  • During a fight, Roma throws a knife at Juliette, wounding her shoulder. “The pain did not come at first. It never did: a blade entering always felt cold and then foreign. Only seconds later, as if her nerve endings had finally registered what happened, did intense, sharp agony reverberate outward from the wound. . . Juliette managed, turning to look at the blade half-embedded in her shoulder, then at Roma. His jaw was slack, face drained of color. The wound, meanwhile, immediately started to bleed, a steady stream of red running its way down her dress.” Roma and his younger sister, Alisa, help stop the bleeding. Juliette is left with a scar. 
  • An unnamed foreman in a factory is killed by revolutionaries. “One slash, that’s all it takes. A knife over [the foreman’s] throat and he’s twitching on the floor, hands clasped around the wound in a futile attempt at holding the blood in. The red seeps regardless. It does not stop until he is naught but a body lying in a scarlet pool. It soaks the shoes of his workers, his killers. It is carried from street to street, the faintest red print pressed upon crumbling pavement and into the roads of the Concessions, marring stains upon the clean white sidewalks. This is what revolution is, after all. The trailing of blood from door to door, loud and violent until the rich cannot look away.” 
  • Lord Cai has Rosalind, Juliette’s cousin, whipped after finding out that she was spying for the White Flowers. “The lash came down again on her back, and Rosalind cried out, her whole body shuddering. They didn’t allow her to crumple to the floor: there were four Scarlets around her, two to hold her upright, one with the whip, and one standing just to the side.” Juliette defends her by “striking her fist across the guard’s face.” 
  • In a duel between Roma and Tyler, Juliette shoots Tyler, killing him. “Both her hands came around her smoking pistol. There was no room for regret now. She had done it. She had done it, and she could not stop there. She turned, and with a sob choked on her tongue, she shot each and every one of Tyler’s men before they had even comprehended what was happening, bullets studding their temples, their necks, their chests.” 
  • A Scarlet shoots a man named Da Nao because he is helping Roma and Juliette escape the city. “The Scarlet fired, and Da Nao fell with a spray of red, the bullet in his head killing him instantly.” 
  • Dimitri, a White Flower, shoots a group of Scarlets who are holding Roma hostage. “The Scarlets didn’t have a chance to fight back. Some managed to retrieve weapons, some managed one shot. But the workers had them surrounded, rifles already aimed, and with a pop-pop-pop! reverberating along the whole street, the Scarlets all dropped, eyes blank and glazed, fleshy wounds studded into their chests. The blood splashed generously.” 
  • The madness infects a crowd of people. “Destruction tore through the scene: a bloodbath, infecting those who hadn’t run fast enough. Juliette’s eyes swiveled to the side. A woman: dropping to her knees, fingers sinking into her neck and pulling without any hesitation. A scream–a figure, running to her. Her husband: cradled over her corpse and keening a loud, desolate noise. then he too gouged at his own throat and fell to the ground.”

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • “Shit” is used a few times as an exclamation. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None

Lost in the Mushroom Maze

Coop Cooperson lives in the Land of Eem, a fantastical realm where many different species live together, and there is always more magic to be discovered by those up to the task. The Dungeoneer Academy trains future explorers with classes like Dungeons and Mazes, Creatures and Critters, and Swords and Sorcery.

Coop believes in the academy’s mission and the Dungeoneer’s Code, but being the only human student can make it difficult to fit in. Lucky for Coop, his best friend Oggie the bugbear has his back. Oggie and the two other members of their exploring team—Daz the boggart and Mindy the imp—will have to rely on each other more than ever as the test for their Junior Dungeoneer Badges looms closer. If Coop and his friends fail to run the final gauntlet in the fungal jungle, they will have to leave the academy.  

As future dungeoneers, Coop and his team know to expect the unexpected, but nothing could prepare them for the adventure that lies in store. Coop and the Green Team must defeat the Zarakna’rawr (a dangerous spider monster), or the mushrums (a group of mushroom-like people) will turn the friends into soup!  

Lost in the Mushroom Maze takes readers on an epic adventure deep underground. Right from the start, readers will connect to the Green Team—Coop, Daz, Oggie, and Mindy—a group of misfits who struggle with typical middle-grade conflicts. Coop wants to break free from the mold that society has cast for him. Daz’s absent parents make her feel lonely and unwanted. Oggie wants to be an artist, but his father wants Oggie to be a great warrior. And Mindy works too hard, which doesn’t allow her to have any fun.  

Adventure-loving readers will be introduced to a wide array of characters, frightening monsters, and an unexplored mushroom civilization. Large, black-and-white illustrations appear on almost every page, which helps readers visualize the imaginative world of Eem as well as heightens the suspense. The fast-paced story includes heart-stopping action scenes, humor, and mystery. And the book’s rich language adds to the story’s fun tone. 

The book is wonderful to read aloud because it’s filled with alliteration, onomatopoeias, silly names, and made-up words. However, some readers will struggle with the liberal use of idioms such as on thin ice, a piece of cake, etc. In addition, the story uses difficult vocabulary such as grudgingly, calamitous, pulverized, mycelium, and juggernaut. Another thing that may cause confusion is that Tymbo, a mushrum, speaks his own dialect of English. For example, when encountering a monster, Tymbo says, “The Oo’graw’nok is the creature we are seeing. The almighty Zarakna’rawr is a creature we are not seeing.” Despite this, readers will be so caught up in the story that any language difficulties will not prevent them from reading the entire book.  

Through it all, the Green Team succeeds by working together and using their unique talents. Readers will connect with the Green Team’s conflicts and root for them as they face a bully, an exiled rebel, and a multitude of monsters. Through the Green Team’s experiences, the story encourages readers to embrace their unique differences. 

Fans of The Last Kids on Earth and The Treehouse Series will also enjoy reading Lost in the Mushroom Maze. Not only is the book exceptionally entertaining, but the Dungeoneer’s Code, which is referred to often, also teaches important lessons such as working together and “always do what is right, even if other options are easier.” Lost in the Mushroom Maze is the perfect book for any reader who enjoys humor and adventure.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • The Green Team is on a practice mission when Coop accidentally steps on a pressure plate and “something sharp and pointy whizzes by my head. . . Gouts of flame blast from jets in the floor and ceiling . . . All of a sudden, a pendulum blade swings toward us from the darkness above.” No one is injured. The scene is described over six pages.  
  • While in the cafeteria, the school bully, Zeek, throws food at Coop. “Something wet and slimy hits me hard in the side of the face. A blob of mystery casserole.” Coop wants to retaliate, but his friends stop him.   
  • Zeek corners Coop. “Zeek wrenches my neck into a headlock, stuffing my face into the crook of his sweaty armpit. It stinks like fish butts and cabbage. . .” Oggie steps in, but Zeek’s minion, Axel, “lifts him off the ground. . . Axel hisses as he slams Oggie into a locker.” 
  • Coop gets angry and finally begins fighting back. “With a swift tug and a nimble roll, I break free of Zeek’s grip and sprint to my feet. Digging in my heels, I draw my finger like a sword and poke Zeek in the chest. . . Zeek pushes me so hard, I trip and land on my tailbone with a thud. Sprawled on the ground, I watch Zeek and Axel laugh.” Coop’s friend appears and Zeek takes off. The scene is described over five pages. 
  • Headmaster Munchowzen and his friend, Lazlar Rake, founded The Dungeoneer Academy. But Lazlar “was banished after three students were killed while under his negligent leadership during an unauthorized exploration mission.” No other information is given.    
  • While on a sputter-train, Zeek takes Coop’s journal and reads it aloud. Oggie gets up to help, “but Axel kicks him, and Oggie stumbles back into his seat.” Then the sputter-train crashes and “things go topsy-turvy.” 
  • While in the Mushroom Maze, the Green Team, Zeek, and Axel hear a “roooooarrrrrr!” They run and hide, but the monster follows. “Somewhere above, we hear skittery clicking sounds. . . one of those crablike insects I saw before, red and shiny, crawls down from above us. We stare at it. It stares back with black, unwinking eyes. . . Suddenly it leaps onto Zeek’s leg. . . Zeek smacks it and the bug goes flying. . .”  
  • After Zeek hits the bug, “there’s a thunderous thump as a toadstool tree topples over, and hundreds of these hidden red insects skitter in random directions along the jungle floor.” Then a beast appears. “The monstrous creature [called a gwarglebeast] opens its powerful jaws wide enough to scoop up two more crab-bugs and then bellows. . .” The Green Team befriends the gwarglebeast. 
  • Zeek mocks Coop and calls him names. Then, Coop describes how Zeek’s fist “connects squarely with my nose. Crunch! I feel the rush of blood spurt out, and I fall to my knees.” Afterward, Zeek takes off. 
  • While lost in the Mushroom Maze, the Green Team runs into a group of mushroom-like people called mushrums. The team begins to back away, but “before we can leave, an array of crystal weapons juts out from the bushes surrounding us.” 
  • The mushrums take the friends to their leader, who plans to eat them. “The mushrum guards grab us by the arm and march us toward a boiling cauldron. Steam blasts our faces, so hot that we have to turn away.” Coop bargains with the leader: if they let them go, they will kill the Zarakna’rawr—a dangerous monster. 
  • While underground, the Green Team falls into brackish water. “Suddenly tentacles slither from the water and coil around Tymbo with ferocious speed!” The Green Team grabs Tymbo, “when suddenly countless more glowing yellow eyes peer at us from below.” The kids fight the terrible beast for seven pages. Everyone makes it out of the water alive, except for Tymbo. The beast cuts Tymbo in half, but thankfully, “Mushrum folk can reconstitute themselves after dismemberment.”  
  • While trying to find a way out of an underground tunnel, the Green Team sees a mysterious boy, who turns out to be an exiled student. The boy blows up the tunnel entrance. The explosion is not described. 
  • Chromadytes, large crystal beasts, attack the Green Team and Tymbo. “One of the chromadytes swipes at Tymbo with its jagged crystal-covered arm, but the mushrum trackers deftly dodge in opposite directions. . .” Daz uses a shield as a battering ram. “The force of her charge knocks the chromadytes aside, buying us enough time to duck past them down the tunnel.” The group runs safely away.  
  • In a multi-chapter battle, the Green Team must defeat a Zarakna’rawr, “a titanic mushrum spider monster.” The monster tries to stomp on Coop, but “Oggie tackles me just in time. Our bodies thud to the ground, and we roll clear of the spider’s massive stomp.” 
  • Daz jumps in to help Oggie. “Daz tosses one of her gemmed daggers into the air and catches it by the point between her fingers. With a swift spin, she hurls the dagger into the spider’s leg. The Zarakna’rawr lets out a bloodcurdling roar. . .” 
  • The Green Team learns that Dorian Ryder, an exiled student, has a scepter that allows him to control the Zarakna’rawr. Dorian commands the Zarakna’rawr to attack. “The monster roars, its sound so loud. . . and we all reel back in horror. With reckless abandon we sprint away as the spider creature pursues us, its tremendous bulk crashing through the Fungal Jungle. . . with its enormous, scorpion-like tail it plucks toadstool trees from the ground and hurls them after us.”  
  • As the battle continues, the spider creature “sprays us with ropes of spittle and slime.” Most of the Green Team’s fighting does little to stop the Zarakna’rawr. Coop raises his sword to strike, but “the creature’s powerful forelimbs strike so hard that the wind is knocked out of me. I slide across the floor wheezing. . . my ribs ache. My back throbs. The metallic taste of blood is in my mouth.”  
  • When defeat seems imminent and all of Coop’s friends are down, Coop yells at the beast. “The spidery horror turns its creaking, chittering head toward me. Its mandibles jitter wetly as saliva drools to the ground. . .” With his sword raised, Coop runs towards the spider. He cries “out defiantly as I fall toward my enemy and strike!” The illustration shows the monster’s brain being sliced off.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Often, the students call each other names; however, the school bully does most of the name-calling. The name-calling includes jerk, loser, twerp, nerd, and hairbrain. 
  • Zeek calls Coop, “Pooperson.” Later, Zeek mocks him, saying Coop is a “no-good, river-rat human” and that he doesn’t belong in the academy.  
  • Heck and dang are both used a few times. 

Supernatural 

  • This fantasy world has imps, bugbears, shrym, and other types of characters.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Middle School Mischief

Nadia loves fun facts. Here are a few about her: 

  • There was a magical—and hilarious—ancient Egyptian teacher named Titi trapped in her hippo amulet until she freed him last fall. 
  • Her school is choosing a new mascot and her idea is totally going to win! 
  • She’s going to kick butt writing for the school newspaper this term. . .  

A couple of weeks in, the newspaper is a big mess. The mascot contest is mayhem, too. (Who knew choosing a costumed character could cause such controversy?!) Then Nadia and Titi discover that the hippo amulet holds a second secret, one that’s super powerful—and super scary. Too bad they have no idea how to stop it. But Nadia is on the case! If she can solve the mystery of an ancient amulet, then winning the mascot contest and acing her reporter assignments should be easy. . . right? 

In the second installment of The Magical Reality of Nadia Series, Nadia learns that sometimes good intentions go awry. In hopes of bringing the student body together, Nadia proposed that the school’s mascot, the petunia, be replaced with something that represents everyone. Unfortunately, the contest to find a new mascot causes unexpected drama. In an effort to be heard, Nadia writes several articles. However, the first one is off-putting because it is preachy and the second one gives false information. Through it all, Nadia learns the importance of checking the validity of internet sources.  

Readers will connect with Nadia, who is imperfect and often makes mistakes. Like many middle school students, she unintentionally hurts people’s feelings which causes friendship problems. Since Nadia loves to tell people fun facts, she often comes off as a know-it-all. Despite this, Nadia’s imperfections and good intentions make her an extremely likable protagonist.  

Titi, an ancient professor, becomes a substitute teacher at Nadia’s school. Nadia begins to feel jealous when Titi has less time for her. Plus, Nadia begins to wonder if Titi is a true friend or if he is just using her. Nadia’s relationship with Titi adds suspense and humor to the story as well as reminds readers not to make assumptions.  

Middle School Mischief’s fun format and fast-paced plot will appeal to many readers. While most of the story is in traditional text, the book includes sections of black-and-white comics and lively black-and-white illustrations throughout. Several times throughout the story, Nadia mentions admiring Nellie Bly, which may spark the reader’s interest in the journalist. Unlike the first installment of the series, in Middle School Mischief Nadia’s fun facts are not integrated into the story; instead, they appear in the margins which makes it easy to overlook them.  

Middle School Mischief has many positive aspects that will appeal to middle-grade readers. While the story is full of humor, it also has many important life lessons including how mistakes are an important part of learning. The entertaining story also shows the importance of inclusion. In addition, the book briefly mentions microaggressions and explains that “just because something isn’t familiar to you doesn’t mean it’s weird.” Middle School Mischief is a highly entertaining book that reminds readers that no one is perfect.   

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Titi’s enemy, the magician Khefren, is determined to get revenge. The magician “turned on the news. And there it was—the scene of the ‘accident’ he’d orchestrated—the crushed chandelier, the broken glass, the flashing lights of the ambulances.” A news anchor goes on to explain, “A deranged squirrel caused massive destruction to the foyer of Elvis Presley’s historic home. The rodent chewed through a cable, causing a chandelier to fall on a local tour guide and Elvis impersonator.” No one is injured.  
  • When Titi lived in ancient Egypt, his friend Khefren became “very powerful. There were rumors that he had put a dark spell over the pharaoh. Our good and noble leader was now weak and confused. Anyone who questioned Khefren was put to death or imprisoned.” 
  • During lunch, Nadia was speaking to the student body. Someone gets upset and then, “Something hit the megaphone, then oozed off. Someone had thrown coleslaw at Nadia.” A food fight breaks out, but no one is injured.  
  • While in a classroom at Nadia’s school, Khefren gets angry and “pulled back his hand, fathering red smoke and sparks, and threw them toward Titi. The sparks bounced off him, hitting a gigantic seahorse and shattering it.”  
  • Khefren threatens to hurt Nadia and her friend Adam. “Titi dove to block the green and yellow sparks that flew from Khefren’s hand toward Adam. Adam hightailed it out of the classroom. . . Then [Khefren] threw electric blue sparks at the gigantic fish net hanging above. It landed on Nadia and Titi as Khefren disappeared down the hallway.”  
  • Khefren chases Adam down a hallway. To help Adam, Titi uses magic. “Suddenly, Nadia, Titi, and Adam were tiny animated versions of themselves, standing on the bake sale poster. ‘Eat us! Eat us!’ The cupcakes cried, jumping up and down.” As the three jump from poster to poster, the animated items on the poster chase them. 
  • Nadia, Titi, and Adam lock themselves in the gym. Khefren turns into a crocodile. “Croc-Khefren. . . rammed into the doors with his massive body. The lock broke like it was made of cheap plastic.” The students in the gym think the crocodile is part of Titi’s magic show. After an epic magic battle, Khefren is sent into an amulet.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • After the magic fight in the gym, Titi uses his magic to give everyone cotton candy. Titi says, “That delectable delight is filled with memory-erasing magic. Once everyone has a taste, all they’ll recall from today is that they saw a really amazing magic show. . .” 

Language  

  • Heck is used twice. 
  • Titi has many interesting ways to show surprise. For example, he exclaims, “Heavens to Mentuhotep” (an Egyptian pharaoh), “Cleopatra’s needles,” “for the love of Iris” (goddess of the rainbow), and more. 
  • Khefren calls Titi pathetic and a fool. 

Supernatural 

  • Khefren can shapeshift. To get revenge, he takes over another human’s body. 
  • Titi can dive inside a comic book “to any point in history and bring Nadia and Adam along.”  
  • Titi is sent into a poster. For example, “Titi snapped his fingers and—POOF!—suddenly appeared on a poster of Pompei next to the whiteboard, a tiny animated version of himself.” 
  • Khefren takes over Principal Taylor’s body. Khefren believes Titi is in an amulet, so he plans to destroy it. “Taylor began chanting some ancient words, presumably the spell that would destroy the amulet forever. Purple smoke, then sparks began to form around his hand. . . Titi recites the backward words out loud and . . .purple sparks bounced off the amulet and head back toward Taylor.” This forces Khefren out of Taylor’s body. 

Spiritual Content  

  • Nadia makes a comment about how hawks “were revered in ancient Egypt—there was even an all-powerful hawk-headed god named Horus.”  

City of Magic

In the third installment of Avi’s Midnight Magic series, Fabrizio and Mangus the Magician are back for a final adventure. It is Pergamontio, Italy in 1492, and King Claudio and the tax collector call the elderly Mangus to them. As Pergamontio is losing money, Mangus must find the “magical” book about numbers written by Franciscan monk Luca Pacioli. If Mangus and Fabrizio don’t succeed in their mission, they risk death. The biggest issue: the book – and the monk – are in Venice. 

City of Magic mirrors the first book, Murder at Midnight, in a few ways. The king is especially superstitious and requires Mangus to sort out any foreign entities that may enter the kingdom. In this case, accounting has become Mangus’s new domain, which Fabrizio and Mangus realize is not something they understand. Since Mangus is elderly and in poor health, they are reluctant to take a long and arduous journey to Venice. The tax collector, like the other villains of the series, is obviously evil. The similarities to the first book did make certain plot elements, like the villains, feel a bit repetitive. 

In this installment, Fabrizio is less wide-eyed than in previous ones. However, he has become more interested in earning respect for using his illusions and tricks. As a servant and a child, he doesn’t have the same access to power that Mangus the Magician or King Claudio have, so he sometimes makes bad choices because he’s looking after his interests – in this case, being respected and honored by others. Fabrizio pressures Mangus into traveling to Venice. While there, Fabrizio realizes that he’s made a series of horrible mistakes and tries to atone for them by saving Mangus.  

As the characters enter Venice, the reader learns that Venice values secrets and money more than anything else. In many ways, it is a different world than Pergamontio, including the secret Black Hoods who act as an undercover police force and take people to prison. As Fabrizio is liable to give away excess information to strangers, he inadvertently gets Mangus arrested. Fabrizio also gets several other characters wrapped up in his adventure. The difference in location adds interest but also shifts the tone in a slightly darker direction. 

Similar to the first book, City of Magic has many historical references, including the Franciscan monk Brother Luca Pacioli, who during his lifetime was a philosopher and friend of Leonardo Da Vinci. Avi provides further historical notes at the end of the book. As usual, the story’s pacing is fast and upbeat, which moves the characters along at breakneck speed through the mystery, weaving in and around the narrow Venetian streets. Fans of the previous two books will enjoy this one as well, and they’ll find  

Fabrizio’s journey into maturity is compelling. Young readers will identify with Fabrizio’s desire to be respected for his intelligence and ultimately prove himself useful, even if it sometimes gets him into  trouble. Learning how to gain this respect is something readers and Fabrizio can learn through the course of the book. This was a solid new installment to the series, even if it reuses some key ideas from the previous books. Readers who want to be drawn into another magical series should read The Magic Misfits Series by Neil Patrick Harris.

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • Fabrizio and Mangus enter Venice and are not greeted very kindly at the immigration port. A man warns them of another man lying at the base of one of the columns, saying, “he’s dead. Executed for breaking our laws.” Fabrizio looks at the man initially and only thinks that he’s sleeping. Other details of this body are not given. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • The tax collector shows up at Mangus’s home and demands that he come to see King Claudio immediately. Fabrizio comments to the tax collector that his master no longer practices magic, which is illegal, and the tax collector responds, “I don’t give a fig what Mangus does.” 
  • Light language is used throughout. Terms include fool and stupid. 

Supernatural 

  • Mangus the Magician no longer practices his magic, but Fabrizio does. Fabrizio notes that Mangus refuses to teach him magic. Fabrizio says, “[Mangus] claimed he didn’t know any. How exasperating. How annoying. How regrettable. If I’d known even a bit of magic, I would have done all manner of marvelous things.” 
  • Fabrizio says he once learned that “if you don’t cover your mouth when you yawn, evil spirits can slip into your body.” He believes in many superstitions like this and occasionally brings them up. 

Spiritual Content  

  • City of Magic is set in 1492 Italy, in the Kingdom of Pergamontio. All the characters are Catholic and will frequently make exclamations of God’s name or saints’ names, and they will pray in times of fear. Mangus’s wife Sophia, for instance, exclaims “Dearest Saint Monica” and crosses herself when the king summons her husband. 
  • Fabrizio and his new Venetian friend Bianca hide out in a church during what Fabrizio notices is “Midnight Mass.” Bianca notes, “I come here often and pray…I like to be alone with Saint Antonio.” She prays for her father’s return. 

Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed!

Welcome to Dungeon Academy, where monsters and creatures train for the dark world that awaits just beyond the dungeon walls! But Zellidora “Zelli” Stormclash is a bit—different. She’s the one thing monsters and creatures of the Forgotten Realms fear the most: Zelli is a human!  

Knowing she’ll never be accepted, Zelli’s parents disguise her as a minotaur in hopes she’ll blend with the academy’s monstrous surroundings. Zelli does her work, keeps to herself, and becomes “invisible” to everyone.  

While in History of Horrible Humans class, Zelli learns of the great human adventurer, Allidora Steelstrike, who oddly resembles her. Could Zelli also be a Steelstrike? Seeking answers to her true lineage, Zelli embarks on a dangerous adventure.  

But she won’t be alone. A vegan owlbear, a cowardly kobold, and a shapeshifting mimic will join Zelli on her quest for truth in a world that holds no place for them. And who knows? Perhaps these monstrous misfits may discover some truths of their own.  

Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! is told from Zelli’s point of view. Like many middle-grade readers, Zelli wonders where she belongs. At first, she tries to isolate herself from others. But when she stops a bully, Zelli gains a group of unlikely friends. Each creature in the friend group goes against the usual stereotype for their species. For example, Hugo is an owlbear who is kind and has no desire to use his strength to defeat others. This allows the author to reinforce the importance of embracing each other’s differences.  

Readers who are not familiar with the world of Dungeons & Dragons may have difficulty understanding Zelli’s world. In addition, some readers will struggle with the book’s advanced vocabulary such as rudimentary, vambrace, begrudgingly, baldric, surreptitiously, and necromancy. The book also uses made-up words which at times can be confusing. For example, “The goblins ate with goblins, the oozes slorped with the oozes, and the myconids multiplied with the other myconids.” 

Since the story takes place in a fantasy world full of strange monsters and creatures, the book includes illustrations that are black and white with pops of orange. The illustrations, which appear every two to five pages, give readers a visual of all of the strange creatures as well as the battle scenes. Even though the battle scenes are described in detail, the illustrations do not show any gory details.  

Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! is best suited for readers who are already familiar with Dungeons & Dragons. The unique characters highlight the importance of accepting yourself, even if you’re different than others. In addition, the story makes it clear that everyone makes mistakes—the important part is to learn from those mistakes. While the story has positive life lessons, the book’s long descriptions slow down the book’s pacing which breaks up the action and suspense. In addition, most of the action begins in chapter 11, which makes some of the adventure unexciting. Despite this, readers who are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons will enjoy entering the world where monsters, creatures, and humans come together to defeat evil. Readers who enjoy Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! should also read the Dungeoneer Adventures Series by Ben Costa & James Parks. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • While in the forest, Zelli and her friends are surrounded by a pack of wolves. The group believes they are doomed, but Zelli’s friend Bauble transforms into a tambourine. “Zelli couldn’t believe what she was seeing—the banging and the noise actually worked. The wolves shied, showing their teeth, yellow eyes glowing with hungry intent, but gradually their shaggy gray heads bowed. . .slinking back toward the edge of the forest. . .” 
  • Zelli’s classmates are put under a spell and walk mindlessly into a deep cave. Zelli and her friends follow and discover a human, Allidora Steelstrike, fighting a necromancer. Steelstrike is cornered and “five skeletal warriors dove at Allidora Steelstike, overwhelming her, slamming her to the ground . . . Steelstrike’s sword tumbled out of her grip, spinning away uselessly, lost under a tide of skeletal feet.” The battle is described over four chapters. 
  • Zelli and her friends jump in to help Steelstrike. Zelli’s “sword collided with the nearest skeleton, and the impact hit her not as a human, but as a minotaur. Swinging her weapon, throwing her weight around, she felt strong and sturdy. . . she bowled [the skeletons] over easily while [Zelli’s friend] lashed out with his shield at any that managed to get by.” 
  • Soon, Zelli and her friends are surrounded by skeletons. Then Bauble [a mimic] turns into a ball and bounces through the skeletons. “Flash [a blink dog] popped out of Hugo’s bag, appearing the next instant inside the rib cage of the skeleton. . . making the skeletal minion explode in a shower of bone fragments.” The fight against the skeletons continues for a page.  
  • A necromancer, Lord Carrion, creates a fire, but Zelli’s friend, Snabla, who is a kobold, uses his shield to get through the flames. “Lord Carrion turned on the kobold, striking with the end of his staff. . . the heavy wooden weapon connected hard with Snabla’s shield, sending him flying to the floor. Dazed, Snabla tried to rise again, but Lord Carrion’s skeletons descended. . .”  
  • Lord Carrion uses a spell to freeze Steelstrike and others. Then, Lord Carrion puts the owlbear, Hugo, under his spell. Hugo’s eyes, “Suddenly filled with hatred. . . Hugo gnashed his beak and lashed out at [Nelli and her friends] with lethal claws, gouging a long scratch into Snabla’s mighty shield. His eyes flashed purple, his claws elongating, glowing like otherworldly dangers. . . Again and again, Hugo’s glowing claws beat against the shield, and Snabla did his best, but he was just a young kobold . . .”  
  • Zelli attacks Hugo with her sword, but “the owlbear’s crushing grip landed around her upper arm and with ease, he hoisted her into the air, opening his beak wide to tear out her throat. Zelli kicked and punched but to no avail . . . She thrashed and hoped he would at least miss her neck and land somewhere less vital.” 
  • When Hugo attacks Zelli, his “sharpened beak came down with a snap on her shoulder joint, and she heard the crunch of bones and felt the hot splatter of blood against her chin as the owlbear took the first bite.” The taste of flesh brings Hugo to his senses and he stops his attack on Zelli. 
  • The fight with the skeletons continues. “Hugo, now enraged in his own right, bashed [the skeletons] with his heavy fists . . . Minion after minion flew across the cave, crumbling as their frail bodies hit the stone.” The blink dog “popped up just in time to catch a broken leg bone before it could reach the floor.” 
  • Once the skeletons are defeated, Snabla goes after the necromancer. “Snabla slammed right into his legs, sending the necromancer end over end and into a dusty, musty corner. . .” The necromancer begins a speech, “But Bauble had heard enough. . . The mimic changed rapidly into an iron pan, and Zelli had the strength left. . . knocking the necromancer out of his wits before he could finish his vile spew.”    

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • There is some name calling including sneak, slimeball, fart breaths, dummy dumb, fiend, and witless worm. 
  • “By Bane’s Black Hand” is used as an exclamation once. 
  • After Zelli and her friends leave the school without permission, one of the teachers says, “By all the gods and oaths, what were you four thinking?”

Supernatural 

  • The world has magic and many monsters and other creatures. 
  • Bauble is a mimic that can change shapes. For example, when it gets scared, “the mimic shrank down into a small box with a lid and enameled handles, a miniature dancer turning behind a glass pane, gentle, tinkling music drifting out into the icy cold dungeon. Then it transformed again, this time into a quill; then it returned to its initial book form.” 
  • One of the instructors is “undead” and he is “merely a floating bespectacled skull engulfed in blue flames.”  
  • When Zelli and her friends run away from the school, they go through the Endless Forest. “The forest recognizes those who are welcome and allows us passage but anyone else will wander and wander for days until, well. . .” 
  • Part of the story deals with necromancy, which is communicating with the dead. 
  • Zelli and her friends find a blink dog, which can disappear and reappear someplace else. 
  • The necromancer opens a portal and sends monsters and creatures through it where his master will turn them into his army.  
  • Zelli is given a Steelstrike emblem that is “enchanted with powerful magic. They call to each other. . .” Her biological mother says, “Should you need me, simply hold the emblem tight and speak the words, ‘By sword and by light, Talos guide my sight, summon my kin, call the Steelstrike.’” 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Nic Blake and The Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

Nic Blake has a secret to keep from the rest of the world—she has a magical power called the Gift. This makes her, like her father, a Remarkable. Nic explains her life as a Remarkable in an Unremarkable world, “an Unremarkable . . . doesn’t have the Gift or any supernatural ability.” Nic knows that the majority of people in her town are Unremarkables and that “a majority of Unremarkables don’t know about the Gift or know that Remarkable creatures exist. Though Nic knows she has these powers, she still does not know how to use them. As she is about to have her twelfth birthday, Nic is excited that, “My dad’s gonna teach me how to use the Gift so I can finally be a real Manifestor.” Nic reveals, “Although we Manifestors are born with the Gift inside of us, we still have to learn how to use it, and there are lots of ways to use it, too.”

In Jackson, Mississippi, Nic is happily living with her father, Calvin, and hanging out with her best friend, JP. Her world is about to change, however, when Nic’s mother, who Nic has not seen since she was a baby, suddenly reappears in her life—along with a twin brother, Alex, whom Nic didn’t know she even had. Nic’s twin brother Alex and Nic’s mom reveal that they had to find Nic because her father has been accused of stealing a magical weapon by the Remarkable government. Nic’s mom and her brother have come all the way from the land they call home, Uhuru, a super technologically advanced city where only Remarkables live, to find Nic.

When Nic’s dad is accused of stealing a dangerous, magical weapon, Nic, JP, and Alex must set out on a quest to find the magical weapon and prove that Nic’s father is innocent. Along the way, Nic shows herself to be an extremely insightful Manifestor, even though she doesn’t know how to control the Gift. Throughout the novel, Nic learns more about her powers as well as how they connect with her ancestry. For instance, Nic recalls a story about how some of her ancestors who were caught by slavecatchers were freed by a Manifestor who “whispered ancient words to them, and they remembered who they were . . . They flew off like birds to freedom.” Nic recognizes that the Gift “helps us when we need it,” and gradually learns how to use her powers.   

Nic is an extremely empathetic character, who struggles to comprehend having a mom and brother enter her life unexpectedly. Nic explains, “It feels like my world was made of sand and I didn’t know it, and a gigantic wave has crashed in, wiped it out, and left me with something that doesn’t resemble my life.” Readers will appreciate the sacrifices Nic makes to prove her father’s innocence, even though her family dynamic is completely uprooted. Nic thinks, “I never would’ve thought that my dad would be a wanted criminal . . . it’s hard to believe this is my life.” Nic’s father admits his mistakes in keeping secrets from her. Nic’s dad says, “No matter my reasoning, I kept you from an amazing mom and brother.”  

Another reason readers will love Nic is that she is a very open-minded character and treats each new person she meets with respect, Remarkable or not, because her father has taught her that “some Manfestors like to make sure other Remarkables know that [Manifestors] are the most powerful Remarkables. Dad says it’s silly; that as Black folks we’ve seen people like us get treated as inferior and we shouldn’t do that to others.”

A major theme in Nic Blake and The Remarkables is reconnecting with estranged or lost family. Nic is dealing with a lot: “finding out I was kidnapped, that my dad may be a criminal, and that I have a mom and a twin brother.” Throughout the novel, Nic has to learn to trust and rely on Alex to help her navigate through Uhuru. Alex shows Nic how to use Uhuru’s technology. But Nic also helps Alex by demonstrating bravery, such as when she approaches a dragon for help, while “Alex whimpers.” In this way, both Nic and Alex bring something to the table and help each other on their journey. Alex and Nic’s relationship adds a great deal of heart to the story, as they realize that they actually have a lot in common, they even begin to call this “twin telepathy.”

Nic Blake and The Remarkables ends on a cliffhanger, with Nic receiving a threatening message from an anonymous source because she has found and returned the magical weapon. The threat tells Nic, “You think you’re gonna get away with finding what I hid?” This ending will certainly keep readers on their toes and excited to read the next book. Readers who enjoy stories with fantasy, action, and family will find this book absolutely delightful. Nic’s journey leaves readers with an amazing message about trusting in your own abilities. As Nic says, “The power to save myself, it lies within me.” 

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • Nic’s powers accidentally knock out her Uncle Ty. Nic explains, “Our hands touch, and everything happens in a flash. Uncle Ty’s Glow goes out like a fire doused with water, and a jolt shoots through my palms, making my own aura glow so bright, it blinds me . . . [Uncle Ty] hits the ground with a thud.” Uncle Ty recovers quickly, but Nic feels extremely worried that she accidentally hurt someone.  
  • Nic and her dad visit a Civil Rights Museum when her dad tells her what happened to Emmett Till. Nic explains what her father taught her about the event, saying, “[Emmett] was accused of whistling at a woman. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but Dad said that back then because Emmett was Black and the woman was white, some people did think it was a big deal. The woman’s husband and brother-in-law kidnapped Emmett in the middle of the night and killed him. [Emmett] was fourteen; a kid like me.” 
  • Nic and JP encounter a Boo Hag, which Nic explains is like a vampire except that these creatures “live off breath instead of blood. They climb on victims at night and suck the oxygen from their bodies, and sometimes they steal the person’s skin.” 
  • Nic and her friends encounter a ghost-like creature called a haint. JP asks the haint how he died: “[the haint] points at a tree, hangs his head, and holds his hand up as if it’s a rope. ‘Oh,’ JP murmurs. ‘You were lynched.’” 
  • Based on his interpretation of a prophecy, Uncle Ty believes that he is meant to defeat Nic and attacks her. Nic says, “My brain doesn’t process what he’s said until the lightning bolt whizzes straight for me.” Nic is able to escape Ty with her mom and dad’s help.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

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Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • Nic’s father gets her a hellhound as a birthday present: “The woods dissolve, revealing my backyard, and that fire-breathing, gigantic hellhound is a tail-wagging little hellhound pup.” 
  • Nic explains the difference between the Gift and magic. “The Gift is an innate power that lives in us Manifestors. Magic, on the other hand, is a corrupt form of the Gift. It’s hard to control and super destructive. Also, magic in real life can only be performed with a wand, and the magic in wands runs out after a while. We Manifestors don’t need wands.” 
  • While Nic is in the kitchen, “a deep growl rattles the door to the basement.” Nic asks, “Is that the demon you caught at the governor’s mansion?” Nic’s dad explains that it is a demon, saying, “I swear, demons can’t stay away from that place.” 
  • Nic can identify other Remarkables. Nic says, “the Remarkables light the place up a bit thanks to the Glow, different-colored auras that tell you the kinda Remarkable they are.” 
  • Nic’s dad creates an illusion of stars on her ceiling. “With the wave of his hand, my ceiling disappears and a night sky takes its place.” 
  • Nic’s father’s best friend, whom she calls Uncle Ty, gives Nic a G-Pen. Uncle Ty explains that the “Gift-Infused technology” can only be bought in Remarkable cities. The G-Pen allows Nic to “write to any [Remarkable person] with it, and they’ll see it wherever they are . . . You simply think about the person and write to them in midair.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • JP has very religious parents. JP’s parents tell him, “Phones are quick access to the Devil.”  
  • Nic’s neighbor, Mr. Zeke, takes a trip to “a Remarkable city or historic site” each year, and this year “he went to Africa to see the Garden of Eden.” 
  • Nic and her friends encounter a woman named DD, but they realize something about her real identity. Nic says, “You’re the Devil’s daughter,” and then Nic hears, “Countless voices wail as a cackle echoes in the distance, sounding as evil as the Devil himself. That’s because it is the Devil himself.” 
  • JP saves Nic from the Devil’s daughter by chanting “Jesus” and “holding a cross made of forks, spoons, and rubber bands like a shield. [JP] points it in DD’s direction. ‘Jeeee-suuus!’ The skeletal hands explode into dust, freeing [Nic].” 

The Siren Song

Charlotte Mielswetzski and her cousin, Zachary “Zee” Miller, may appear to be typical middle-school students, but their lives are far from ordinary. Only the realm of Greek Gods is aware of their extraordinary adventures. After successfully saving the Underworld from a coup by a god named Philonecron and restoring the lost shadows of their peers, they are forced to return to their mundane existence. Despite their heroic acts, Charlotte is faced with an indefinite grounding, while Zee is treated with extreme caution as if he is fragile. This lack of recognition for their bravery leaves them feeling unappreciated and misunderstood. However, they find solace in each other as they navigate the complexities of the hidden world they have become part of, and they form a bond that grows stronger with each passing day. 

But their newfound sense of normalcy is disrupted when Zee starts dating her best friend and seems to forget every aspect of their adventures. Charlotte becomes perplexed by her cousin’s sudden change in behavior and struggles to make sense of it all. Meanwhile, she must also contend with the challenges of being grounded, which leads to her feeling trapped and restricted in her everyday life.  

Just when it seems like things couldn’t get more complicated, Charlotte’s parents announce that they will be going on a special cruise for spring break. Initially, this appears to be a haven for Charlotte, a place where she can finally escape from the clutches of Philonecron. However, Charlotte doesn’t know Philonecron is the descendant of Poseidon, a powerful god of water who does not take kindly to being made a fool of. As Charlotte sets sail on the cruise, she unknowingly becomes the target of Philonecron’s and Poseidon’s wrath. The open sea that once seemed like a place of safety now becomes a battleground where Charlotte must face new challenges and dangers. 

While Charlotte is off on the cruise, facing her personal battles and grappling with the repercussions of her recent heroic act, Zee falls victim to a nefarious plot orchestrated by Philonecron and Proteus, a cunning and shape-shifting god. Proteus, in his quest to deceive and manipulate, assumes the form of Zee, ensuring that no suspicions are raised about the true nature of his absence. Under this guise, he cunningly delivers Zee into the clutches of Philonecron. Once in the clutches of Philonecron, Zee is immobilized on Poseidon’s luxurious yacht, a vessel that serves as a symbol of the god’s power. Unbeknownst to Zee, his fate intertwines with that of Charlotte’s, as she unexpectedly stumbles upon the captive duo during her final, climactic showdown with Poseidon himself. 

In a twist of fate and a convergence of destinies, Charlotte must confront not only the wrath of Poseidon but also the treacherous plans of Philonecron, all while navigating the tumultuous waters of her personal struggles. As the tension reaches its peak and the stakes grow higher, Charlotte’s path intersects with that of Zee, leading to a high-stakes battle that tests their courage, resilience, and the depth of their bond. 

If readers didn’t fall in love with Charlotte in the first novel, The Shadow Thieves, they will undoubtedly find themselves deeply enamored with her by the conclusion of The Siren Song. Throughout the story, Charlotte’s character shines as a remarkable embodiment of determination and strength, showcasing unwavering resolve and unyielding fearlessness in the face of adversity. Her unwavering determination and indomitable spirit make her an irresistible character that readers will surely cherish and admire. One of her greatest lines in the novel is when she addresses Poseidon before their final battle and says, “I’m afraid you’re just not that powerful, and now everyone here knows it. I mean, really, you’re all scared of him, but I beat him and I’m only in eighth grade.” 

The Siren Song is a captivating read that seamlessly continues the story of Charlotte and Zee’s thrilling and unforgettable adventures within the mythical world of Greek Gods. With its vivid and descriptive prose, the book effortlessly transports readers to a realm where ancient legends come to life, where the lines between reality and mythology blur, and where the power and allure of the Siren’s song beckons. Whether you are a fan of Greek mythology or simply looking for a captivating and immersive reading experience, The Siren Song is an absolute must-read that will leave you craving for more.   

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • Charlotte has recurring nightmares of dying in the River Styx. “Charlotte felt a shuffling around her, and before she could react she was being pushed toward the Styx. She wanted to fight back, to turn, to run, but she had no strength, no will. She could do nothing. She found herself on the banks, the heat from the river hitting her face . . . Charlotte stared at [Hades] as she fell into the River Styx.” 
  • Zee, similar to Charlotte, also is plagued by nightmares from the things they saw in the Underworld. “You would think that after the tenth time you dreamed that Harpies were attacking your family while you were chained to a cliff and forced to watch, it would become less upsetting — but, Zee could tell you, it had not.” 
  • Two men kidnap Zee, but he doesn’t go down without attempting to fight. “As panic welled up inside him, Zee kicked his left foot back as hard as he could toward the knee of the man on his left. Instead of making hard contact, his foot kept going past the plane of the leg, plunging right into the watery body. He heard a rippling sound and felt a strange vibration on his arm, and for a moment, the man’s grip loosened. Zee wrenched his body forward violently, bracing himself to kick the other man, when his eyes caught some sort of strange shifting in front of him. Suddenly the man in the aqua suit was gone, and Zee found himself face to face with — himself. Zee’s whole body went slack, his vision blurred, his stomach turned, his skin turned to ice.” 
  • Poseidon displays his rage by killing or torturing anyone who defies or questions him. A waitress that works for him asks him a question and he becomes enraged. “‘I’ll show you,’ he boomed, lifting the trident. The waitress screamed, and in one fluid motion, Poseidon pointed it directly at her. As Charlotte watched, frozen, a stream of green light came shooting from the trident and hit the women.” Poseidon turned her into a goldfish and left her struggling for air, but Poseidon made all his wait staff immortal so she couldn’t die.
  • Charlotte steals Poseidon’s trident which proves a struggle as she tries to harness the power of one of the strongest gods. It also enrages Poseidon causing a fight between him and Charlotte. Poseidon “stopped and, raising his arms above his head, summoned a spinning column of water from the choppy sea. The column moved rapidly toward Charlotte, who took a single step back, clutching the trident to her chest. Then a tremendous force slammed her into the wall of the ship. Her head hit the wall hard, and that was when everything went black. Charlotte awoke to find the trident lying next to her and a cackling Poseidon galloping toward her… Then a tentacle swopped down and crashed into Poseidon’s chariot . . . While Poseidon’s attention was diverted, Charlotte got up groggily and ran around to the stern to make her stand against the Ketos [another god], clutching the trident.” She is aided in her fight by a giant squid named Sir Laurence and Zee. Together, the three defeat Poseidon and take his trident to save Charlotte’s parents who are trapped on the cruise ship.  
  • The cruise ship that Charlotte’s parents were trapped in drifts off course and the damage to the ship causes a gas leak that renders everyone unconscious. Afterward “the ship’s doctor began examining everyone immediately and discovered that everyone seemed to survive the experience unscathed — everyone except one thirteen-year-old girl [Charlotte]. She had suffered a concussion and a lumbar sprain in her back. She also had big black and green bruises all over her body, tiny lacerations on her face, a sprained wrist, small cuts in her hands and knees, blisters on her hands, and bruised ribs. When questioned, she had no memory of what had happened to her — no one could press her, because they didn’t remember what had happened to them, either.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

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Language  

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Supernatural 

  • The beginning of the book explains how Charlotte and Zee are tied to the world of Greek mythology through their last adventure in the Underworld. “The thing is, a few months before, in order to save all the sick kids, Charlotte and Zee had to sneak down to the Underworld — the Underworld as in the Greek mythology Underworld, which is actually real. In fact, as Charlotte learned last fall, much to her surprise all of Greek myths are real — Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, the whole bit . . . Hades is the god of the Underworld, and a minor god named Philonecron tried to overthrow him, and to make an army he’d stolen and enchanted kids’ shadows.” 
  • Charlotte steers a small lifeboat towards Poseidon’s yacht but encounters the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Poseidon positioned them to prevent mortals from finding the boat.  “The water was moving, at first slowly and then in a rush, into the cave on a the right, and as Charlotte steered the boat away, she saw that there was a smaller cave inside the first. No, no, not a cave, but a mouth. A huge, gaping mouth, rimmed with pointy yellow teeth. There was a monster in the cave — green and around and the size of a house, with pink eyes on six wavering tentacles and an open mouth that seemed to take up its whole body.” Charlotte escapes death with the help of a friend. 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Midnight Magic

Princess Teresina of the kingdom of Pergamontio is being haunted by a ghost, and the former magician Mangus is called upon to help solve the mystery. But not all is what it seems in a kingdom that outlaws magic and once convicted Mangus for magic. Now, Mangus’s assistant, Fabrizio, joins his master at the castle to discover what secrets lie within the secret passageways. 

Avi’s Midnight Magic is the second book in the series, though the books do not need to be read in order to be understood. The book’s protagonist and narrator, Fabrizio, sets up the story and explains the context well for those who are unfamiliar with the previous installment. Fabrizio is aiding his master, Mangus the Magician, as the magician tries to solve the mystery of the ghost in the castle. Fabrizio is a likable but naïve boy, who wants to impress his master. Mangus is older and more jaded, and he occasionally mocks his young assistant; however, Mangus does like Fabrizio and praises him when he does well. 

The Kingdom of Pergamontio outlaws magic, and it becomes clear early on that Mangus the Magician is more Sherlock Holmes-clever rather than magical. He doesn’t believe that the princess is being haunted, despite Fabrizio’s clear belief in this supernatural specter. Instead, Mangus uses the power of reasoning to uncover the secrets of the castle. Although magic isn’t used, Fabrizio uses tarot cards throughout the book, something for which Mangus mocks him. Much of the book discusses the way faith and reason interact, leaning heavily on reason and logic being the wisest ways to learn about the world. Fabrizio, despite being overly trusting in others, does note that stories and context link together otherwise meaningless facts. To solve the mystery of the princess’s ghost, faith and reason must work together.  

As he spends time wandering the castle, Fabrizio learns about the royal family and accidentally befriends the princess. He also does his best to avoid the king’s terrifying advisor, Scarazoni, who wants Mangus killed, and who is rumored to have killed the missing prince. Each character’s personality, even the classic stereotypes like the evil advisor and brash, manipulative princess, brings further intrigue into an otherwise twisting mystery. The intrigue is fun and fast-paced, and readers will find themselves unable to put the book down. 

For younger readers, Midnight Magic is a great introduction to both the medieval fantasy and mystery genres because it discusses the real and unreal, and the characters are able to uncover the mystery thanks to their ability to come together and use both logic and faith. The tone of the story is mostly serious, though the inclusion of magic adds a hint of whimsy and wonder that helps bring the story to life. Fabrizio notes that stories, though sometimes fictitious, can speak the truth in spirit and emotion rather than content. To help solve the mystery, Fabrizio is able to seek out context to paint a larger picture; this highlights that there are many pieces to a good story, and sometimes they come from the most unlikely places. 

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • Fabrizio notes that there’s a stick near the doorway. He describes it as “a cudgel with which he was supposed to beat away anyone who tried to enter the house.” 
  • Mangus becomes upset with the impossible task of dealing with a ghost, and he “in a pique of frustration, pushes [Fabrizio] away.” He apologizes after. 
  • Princess Teresina explains that she believes the ghost is her brother. She says, “A few months ago he was sent as an emissary to the pope, in Rome. He never reached the holy city. I believe he was murdered and the ghost we saw is . . . his.” There are no further details about his alleged murder. 
  • Fabrizio overhears the royal advisor, Scarazoni, conspiring with the princess’s tutor. Scarazoni confirms that “the prince was killed. There is no more to say.” 
  • The queen and Fabrizio come across the dead body of the princess’s tutor. No further descriptions of the dead body are given, but it is established that he was murdered. 
  • After Mangus, Princess Teresina, and Fabrizio see the supposed apparition, Mangus alerts the king and Scarazoni of the situation. Scarazoni becomes enraged, wanting to prove the princess wrong. Scarazoni “grabs hold of Mangus’s robe at the throat and shoves the old man hard against the wall.” Scarazoni proceeds to yell at Mangus for answers, and Mangus has difficulty speaking as he’s being held at the throat. This scene lasts for about a page. 
  • Scarazoni raises his hand to hit Mangus, and Fabrizio throws himself between them. Fabrizio describes, “When [his hand] came, [it] struck him down.” 
  • Fabrizio finds the kitchen boy, Rinaldo, in the chapel. “The boy’s clothing was torn in many places and streaked with blood. His face was marked with what also looked like blood. All around him were bits of broken candles. A sword was at his side. What’s more, he was writhing about, clutching his left leg tightly.” It is revealed that Rinaldo is the supposedly murdered prince, alive and well, living in the castle. 
  • Scarazoni’s plot is revealed, and he is sentenced “to be executed.” The reader does not see this execution scene. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • Fabrizio encounters a soldier who wants to speak with the magician Mangus. Fabrizio has some practiced replies that he uses to deter people, but the soldier responds in a mocking tone, “Well spoken, cur.” 
  • Mangus refers to the princess’s tutor as “a dolt.” 
  • Fabrizio announces that he believes in ghosts, and Mangus, unimpressed, says, “You are the living proof that even someone who reads can be a fool.” 
  • Light language such as stupid and fool is used often. 

Supernatural 

  • In the Kingdom of Pergamontio, there is magic as well as magicians. However, magicians are forbidden in the kingdom. Mangus was, “arrested and brought to trial in that same castello, had, under threat of torture, confessed and repented of being a magician.” The book occasionally uses Italian terms like castello, which in this case means castle. 
  • Fabrizio uses tarot cards to help divine events come. He notes, “These cards, he believed, could fashion the future. Since he could envision no life for himself other than as a servant, it was his master’s fate he wished to shape.” Mangus dislikes tarot cards and says “tarot cards are nothing but ignorant superstition.” 
  • The king’s daughter, Teresina, is being haunted by “a terrifying ghost.” Teresina recounts, “What I saw could not, would not, be felt. My hand passed right through it.” 
  • While wandering through the castle, Fabrizio sees the ghost. “It stood – or rather floated – four feet above the ground, with a fluttering radiance that kept within a specific niche. The more Fabrizio stared at it, the more convinced he grew that the illumination contained the shape of a person.” This is the central mystery of the book, and it is later revealed to be a trick of reflections. 

Spiritual Content  

  • Mangus, when summoned by the king, makes “the sign of the cross over his own heart” and says, “The Lord knows I’ll need all the help I can get.”  
  • When Mangus’s wife, Sophia, hears the ominous news that her husband has been summoned by the king, she exclaims, “God have mercy!” These expressions are used occasionally. 
  • The punishment for witchcraft and wizardry is to be burned at the stake, but Mangus escaped this fate. One government figure named Scarazoni states, “If you dance with the Devil, your feet will feel the heat.” These beliefs are strongly rooted in Christianity, which Mangus notes when he proclaims that “I am not now – nor have I ever been – a dabbler in ways of evil. I seek to be a good Christian.” 
  • After seeing the ghost for the first time, Teresina says that she “hastened to say a prayer.” 
  • After speaking to the princess about the ghost, the princess’s lady-in-waiting “joined a nunnery and [had] taken a sacred vow of silence.”
  • Many characters say prayers, but the prayers themselves are not written out. The text usually states, for instance, “Mangus said a prayer.” Further detail is not given. 
  • In the castle, there is a statue of the Mother Mary. It becomes a focal point as it is where the princess sees the ghost several times. 
  • Mangus prays in front of a “portrait of the Blessed Martyr, Saint Stephano, so pierced with arrows.” 

These Violent Delights

The year is 1926. Shanghai is a city torn apart by violence and bloodshed. Two rival gangs–the Chinese Scarlet Gang and the Russian White Flowers–have long been engaged in a blood feud that leads to perpetual chaos in the streets. Nobody knows exactly how this feud started, but neither side shows signs of stopping, preferring instead to fan the flames by continuing to match action for action. 

Not only that, but new, much more obscure powers are also slowly seeping in, threatening to divide Shanghai even further. Growing numbers of Europeans are arriving, attempting to reform the ways of the city in the name of “progress.” There’s also a monster that now lives in the Huangpu River, identified only by its massive form and glittering eyes. In addition, a madness is sweeping through the city like a contagion, possessing ordinary civilians and causing them to suddenly rip their own throats out. 

Caught in all this chaos are Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov. Juliette has just returned from her four years abroad in America. Now, she must assume her rightful place as the heir to the Scarlet Gang. Roma, on the other hand, has been performing his duties as heir to the White Flowers. Despite the feud between their families, and their own complicated history, Roma and Juliette come to realize that everything plaguing Shanghai is interconnected. They must combine powers–secretly, of course–to save their city. After all, they had been lovers once, before betrayal on both sides sent Juliette away. But is their former relationship enough of a buffer between their families’ complicated history to allow them to work together? As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule. 

These Violent Delights is a stunning fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This novel takes a familiar story in wildly unfamiliar directions, transposing it onto a landscape that is closer to our modern world while retaining a historical element. This is not the Shakespeare you read in English class – the fantastical elements and action-packed scenes are sure to hook readers from the start. The characters themselves are also compelling because the point of view shifts between characters, allowing readers to get to know both Roma and Juliette and sympathize with them despite their cutthroat actions.  

Because this story has many moving parts to it, with several subplots and historical commentary woven throughout, the pacing of the plot feels off at times – too slow in some parts and not nearly slow enough in others. The prose, too, often oscillates between lush and imaginative, and clunky and awkward. However, the wide array of characters in this book greatly redeems its lacking qualities, and readers will root for Roma and Juliette in their quest to fix both the problems in their city and in their relationship. 

Overall, These Violent Delights is a fantastic debut novel, perfect for teenagers who want a fresh spin on a classic tale. It ends in a dramatic cliffhanger, setting the scene perfectly for its sequel, Our Violent Ends. 

Sexual Content  

  • Several passing references to brothels are made. For example, Juliette comments that, “In Shanghai, it was easier to count the establishments that didn’t double as brothels than the ones that did.”  
  • Roma and Juliette accidentally walk in on a couple who are implied to be having sex. “Juliette opened the first door she came upon. Two distinct yelps of surprise sounded as light seeped into the tiny room. Juliette squinted and saw a man with his pants down. ‘Get out,’ she demanded. ‘This is my room,’ the woman on the bed protested.”  
  • Roma and Juliette kiss in a private room. “Juliette hooked her legs around his and twisted her hips until Roma was the one flat on his back and she loomed over him, kneeling on the sheets . . . his hand was moving higher and higher, brushing her calf, her knee, her thigh. Juliette’s palm sank lower, until it was gripping the space underneath the smooth collar of his white shirt . . . They both gave in at once. Roma’s kiss was just as she remembered. It filled her with so much adrenaline and exuberance that she could burst. It made her feel too ethereal for her own body, as if she could tear out of her own skin.”  

Violence  

  • A group of Scarlets and White Flowers get ready to fight. “In a blink: guns upon guns. Each arm raised and steady and trigger-happy, ready to pull.” The police stop them before any further violence ensues. 
  • Juliette watches a man possessed by the madness kill himself. Juliette “saw the man thrashing on the ground, his own fingers clawing at his thick neck. . . most of his nails were already buried deep into muscle. The man was digging with an animal-like intensity–as if there was something there, something no one else could see crawling under his skin. Deeper, deeper, deeper, until his fingers were wholly buried and he was pulling free tendons and veins and arteries. In the next second, the club had fallen silent completely. Nothing was audible save the labored breathing of the short and stout man who had collapsed on the floor, his throat torn into pieces and his hands dripping with blood.” Many similar scenes occur throughout the novel. 
  • Juliette verbally provokes her cousin, Tyler, who physically attacks her. “Quick as a flash, Tyler slammed her into the wall. He kept one hand scrunched against her left sleeve and the rest of his arm splayed against her clavicle, pushing just enough to make a threat.” Juliette retaliates in self-defense. “Her right hand jerked up–fist clenched, wrist hard, knuckles braced – and made centered, perfect contact with her cousin’s cheek . . . Then Tyler stumbled, letting go of Juliette and whipping his head to look at her, hatred stamped into the hollows of his eyes. A red slash buried the line of his cheekbone, the result of Juliette’s glittering ring scraping through skin.”  
  • Juliette remembers an explosion caused by the White Flowers that killed many of her family members. “Her ears were screeching – first with the remnants of that awful, loud sound, then with the shouting, the panic, the cries wafting over from the back, where the servants’ house was. When she hurried over, she saw rubble. She saw a leg. A pool of blood. Someone had been standing right at the threshold of the front door when the ceiling caved in.” 
  • Juliette has a cutthroat reputation. “[The Scarlets] were killers and extortionists and raging forces of violence, but as the rumors went, Juliette Cai was the girl who had strangled and killed her American lover with a string of pearls. Juliette Cai was the heiress who, on her second day back in Shanghai, had stepped into a brawl between four White Flowers and two Scarlets and killed all four White Flowers with only three bullets. Only one of those rumors was true.”  
  • Roma tries to accost Juliette with a gun to her forehead, and Juliette defends herself. “Before Roma could so much as blink, her right hand came down hard on his right wrist, twisting his gun-wielding hand outward until his fingers were unnaturally bent. She slapped down at the gun with her left hand. The weapon skittered to the ground. Her jaw gritted to brace for impact, Juliette twisted her foot out from behind Roma’s and jerked it against his ankles–until he was falling backward and she followed, one hand locked on his neck and the other reaching into her dress pocket to retrieve a needle-thin knife.” Roma surrenders, stopping the fight. 
  • To get information, Juliette physically attacks someone with a garrote. “Madame squawked when Juliette pulled the garrote wire tight, her fingers flying up to scrabble at the pressure digging into her skin. By then the wire was already wrapped around her neck, the micro-blades piercing in.” Madame survives this, left with a bleeding cut on her throat. 
  • Roma participates in a sparring match that starts out as a game, but takes a turn when he realizes that his opponent, Dimitri, has a blade. “Dimitri kicked out and Roma took the hit. A fist flashed in his periphery, and in his haste to get away, Roma dodged too hard, overjudging his balance and stumbling. Dimitri struck again. A flash of the blade: a slit opened on Roma’s jaw.” The match ends when Roma is declared the winner after he “[reaches] out and [grabs] a fistful of Dimitri’s shoulder length black hair…[slams] a knee right into his nose, [takes] his arm and twists backwards until Roma [has] a grip on his neck and a foot stomping down on the back of his knees.”  
  • A British soldier draws his gun on Roma and Juliette, and Roma shoots him in self-defense. “A bang sounded from the space between them. Juliette immediately whirled around to catch the British tail collapsing where he stood, a bright-red spot blooming on his chest.”  
  • Marshall, Roma’s friend, hits Juliette, and she attacks him back. “From his seat, Roma bolted up and shouted, ‘Mars!’ but Juliette was already pushing Marshall back, her throbbing jaw giving way to anger and her anger intensifying the pulsating pain making its way to her lip.” The match ends abruptly when Marshall starts laughing, and Juliette helps him to his feet; this altercation ends as quickly as it began, and Marshall and Juliette work together for the remainder of this scene. Neither is seriously injured.  
  • Juliette shoots the man she and Roma believe to be the cause of the madness, Zhang Gutai. “Juliette fired. Zhang Gutai looked down, looked at the blotch of red blooming on his white shirt.” Zhang Gutai dies as a result of this wound. 
  • Juliette attempts to shoot the monster in the Huangpu River. “Juliette aimed her gun and fired – again and again and again in hopes that it could kill the monster, or, at the very least, slow it down – but the bullets bounced off its back like she had shot at steel.” 
  • Paul, a British man, tries to drown Juliette when she discovers a secret. Paul “grabbed a fistful of her hair and stuck her head in the water . . . Juliette bucked and kicked, harder and harder with no avail.” She gets away by stabbing a needle into his wrist.  
  • Juliette kills the river monster’s human host, Qi Ren. “Juliette raised the pistol. Her hands were shaking. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. Once again, she pulled the trigger. The bullet struck his heart. The bullet was as loud as the bang at the end of the world. But Qi Ren’s sigh was soft. His hand came up to his chest gingerly, as if the bullet were nothing but a heartfelt compliment. Rivulets of red ran down his fingers and onto the wharf, tinting his surroundings a deep color.” 
  • Juliette shoots Marshall and his “head lolled back. He was motionless. Motionless.” It is later revealed that Juliette and Marshall staged this “murder” and Marshall is alive.   

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Several references to opium are made: for example, the narrator describes fighting between the Scarlet Gang and the White flowers as “more commonplace in heady Shanghai than the smoke of opium wafting from a thick pipe.”  
  • One key plot point is that the British supply lernicrom, a fictional opiate, to various groups. 
  • Benedikt, Roma’s cousin, drinks vodka at a bar. “Roma lifted the cup in front of Benedikt and took a cautionary sniff. His cousin snatched it from his hands. ‘Don’t drink that,’ Benedikt warned.” 
  • Roma and Juliette play a drinking game with someone they want to get information from: one shot in exchange for one question. Roma gets drunk enough to fall down; Juliette gets “woozy enough to see in doubles but not enough to lose balance.” 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Magical Reality of Nadia

Nadia loves fun facts. Here are a few facts about her: 

  • She collects bobbleheads — she has 77 so far.
  • She moved from Egypt to America when she was six years old.
  • The hippo amulet she wears is ancient…as in it’s literally from ancient Egypt.
  • She’s going to win the contest to design a new exhibit at the local museum. Because how cool would that be?!

Okay, so that last one isn’t a fact just yet, but Nadia has plans to make it one. But then a new kid shows up and teases Nadia about her Egyptian heritage. It’s totally unexpected and totally throws her off her game. 

Then something else happens that Nadia can’t explain: Her amulet starts glowing! She soon discovers that the hippo is holding a hilarious — and helpful — secret. Can she use it to confront the new kid and win the contest? 

Nadia often acts like a know-it-all who loves telling people interesting facts about random subjects. Despite this, Nadia is a likable protagonist who learns that “being a leader didn’t mean telling people what to do or doing it all yourself. It was about guiding everyone else to come to a solution together.” Nadia’s quirky personality will draw readers into the story, but it is Titi who is the star of the story.  

While living in Ancient Egypt, a magician curses Titi by sending him into a hippo amulet. When Nadia purchases the amulet, she discovers the secret to breaking the curse—Titi can only be set free by helping Nadia six times. Titi is energetic, optimistic, and funny. And as a teacher, he has plenty of wisdom to impart. For instance, Nadia and Titi jump into the parable of “The Eloquent Peasant.” The parable comes to life in comic-style panels that educate about Egyptian history in a unique and entertaining way. While in the comic, Nadia learns a powerful lesson about how to deal with a bully. Even though Titi lived in a different time period, he is still able to help Nadia with her friendship problems.  

One of Nadia’s problems is that the new kid, Jason, is very vocal about his dislike of Nadia’s Egyptian heritage. For example, he makes fun of Nadia’s lunch because “it smells weird.” In addition, he says he only eats “American food. . . not desert people food.” However, Jason’s mean comments are not just confined to school. While at the fall fair, Jason asks the DJ to play the song “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Then, Jason “took a couple of staggering steps forward with his arms in the awkward position. He moved his head forward and back like a pigeon, too, a huge grin on his face.” In this situation, Nadia uses the parable of “The Eloquent Peasant” to find a solution, but not everything goes as she planned. 

At first, Jason’s behavior makes Nadia want to hide her Egyptian heritage, but her parents explain how they handle microaggressions. When a cashier at the local supermarket made rude comments, Nadia’s Mama began talking about things they had in common. Mama said, “It showed her that we aren’t so different after all. . . Getting to know me has allowed her view to shift.”  

The Magical Reality of Nadia uses humor to highlight the importance of finding common ground with others. Nadia points out that, “Unless you are Native American, we all have an immigrant story in our past. Each of us is here today because one of our ancestors came to America and started a life for their family.” While most of the story is in traditional text, the book includes sections of black-and-white comics as well as lively black-and-white illustrations throughout.  

While The Magical Reality of Nadia is humorous and entertaining, the story hits on topics of prejudice, friendship, and courage. Nadia’s story will help readers have empathy for people who are different from them and in the end, the lessons from The Magical Reality of Nadia will stay with readers long after they put the book down.  

Readers looking for another book about immigrating to another country should also read Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga and Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros. However, if you’d like to learn more about Ancient Egypt’s culture, check out the Kid Detective Zet Series by Scott Peters and the TombQuest Series by Michael Northrop. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • During summer vacation, one of Nadia’s friends went to London. Afterward, Nadia asks, “Did you know they used to display chopped-off heads on the original London Bridge?”  
  • Jason goes to the museum and destroys Nadia and her friends’ project. 
  • While at an ice cream shop, Jason starts making fun of Nadia’s heritage. Nadia gets upset with “her hands balling into fists. She’d never hit anyone before, but there was a first time for everything. She lunged at Jason . . . and tripped over her backpack. Jason laughed, but as Nadia fell, she knocked into him and he lost his balance falling backwards onto the table.” Jason falls onto an ice cream sundae. One of Jason’s friends says, “It looks like you pooped your pants!”  
  • Nadia’s parents left Egypt during the Arab Spring. Her mom says, “People who opposed the government were still being imprisoned, and tortured, and killed. We realized we did not want to raise you in that kind of environment.”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • A teacher teases a magician. Afterwards, the magician calls the teacher a fool. 
  • Titi tells Nadia to “close your mouth. You look like Hatmehit’s hat! Hatmehit was an ancient Egyptian fish goddess.”  
  • Freakin’ and heck are both used once. 
  • After reading a parable, Nadia says one of the characters is a doofus and a fool. 
  • When Nadia tells her friend they “can’t toss a football in a museum,” her friend tells her to “Calm down, Grandma.” 
  • Jason calls one of his friends an idiot. 
  • Jason calls Nadia an “Egyptian Queen.” Then he says, “You don’t even belong here. Why don’t you just go back where you came from?!”  

Supernatural 

  • A teacher is cursed by an angry magician. “The next thing the teacher knew, there was a great wind and a loud sucking noise. Then everything turned black.” The teacher is confined to an Egyptian necklace.  
  • “Ancient Egyptians wore hippo amulets to ward off evil.” 
  • Nadia held her hippo amulet and asked for help. Then, “Nadia went over to the desk . . . There, on the college-ruled pages of what was to be her math notebook, a little animated man was jumping up and down, waving wildly at her.”  
  • At first, Nadia is confused when she discovers “a little animated man [Titi] haunting her math notebook!” But then she realizes that if she shuts the notebook, the man disappears. However, Titi and Nadia soon set boundaries that allow the two to communicate when appropriate.  

Spiritual Content   

  • One of Nadia’s fun facts revolves around the Ancient Egyptian’s beliefs about death. The Book of the Dead says “When a person died and was judged by the ancient gods, they had to swear to two things: that they had not lied, or cheated, or killed, or harmed others; and that they preserved the Nile River and kept it pure. . .” 

Siege and Storm

After narrowly escaping the Darkling and his army, Alina and Mal are on the run. They try to make a new life for themselves in Novyi Zem, but they have to be careful. Alina, the Sun Summoner, is hardly inconspicuous wearing her amplifier made from Morozova’s stag as a collar, and the Darkling has spies everywhere. 

But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies. They aren’t in Novyi Zem long before the Darkling finds them. He captures them and brings them on a ship led by Sturmhond, a famous privateer. The Darkling intends to drag Alina and Mal back to Ravka and continue expanding the Fold. But first, he is determined to hunt down the sea whip – the second in the triad of Morozova’s legendary creatures that can be used as powerful amplifiers – and force Alina to kill it and claim its scales as a second amplifier. This would magnify her summoning abilities and give the Darkling access to even more of Alina’s power.  

But Sturmhond and his crew are not what they seem. When they turn on the Darkling, Alina finds herself with powerful allies and renewed hope. Her new alliance with Nikolai Lantsov, the ever-witty and incredibly charming second-born prince of Ravka, throws her into Ravkan political dealings. Ravka’s precarious position in world politics means the country cannot be saved with Grisha power alone. Alina begins accompanying Nikolai to war council meetings as Ravka attempts to broker peace treaties with its neighboring countries, and she quickly realizes that Ravka was in much greater danger than she ever imagined. But will all of Alina’s efforts be enough to stand against the Darkling, who remains Ravka’s greatest domestic threat? And can Alina and Mal’s strained relationship survive Alina’s growing power and importance? 

If writing a good first book in a trilogy is hard, then writing a good sequel is even more strenuous. But Siege and Storm electrically picks up Alina’s story right where it left off and keeps the momentum going all the way to the end. The plot involves many twists and turns and never lets readers be lulled into a false sense of security. From heart-stopping action scenes to breathtaking exchanges between characters, there is never a dull moment. 

In Siege and Storm, Bardugo fleshes out her world even more, expanding on Ravka’s function as a country by placing it into a larger “world” context. Readers learn about this complicated history along with Alina, so the new information is masterfully woven throughout the story. Alina is a fascinating narrator, and readers get to experience her thought process and understand how and why she makes her decisions. Alina is not a perfect heroine by any means, but her flaws are what make her relatable. Even when she makes mistakes, she strives to fix them, and her self-awareness, compassion, and perseverance are traits that make her an admirable protagonist.  

Siege and Storm brings back all of the fan-favorite characters from the first book in the series, Shadow and Bone. Plus, several new characters are introduced that are equally quotable and loveable. Bardugo delves even deeper into her characters, forcing them to confront their darkest demons and complicating their relationships with each other. As tensions rise and power dynamics shift, Alina and her friends and allies must fight to remain united in the face of the real threats instead of turning against each other and letting their jealousies and vulnerabilities win. Siege and Storm ends on a dramatic cliffhanger that will leave readers excited beyond measure to get their hands on the next (and final) book in the series, Ruin and Rising.  

Sexual Content  

  • Mal kisses Alina harder than usual when they are in private. “His tone was light, but when his lips met mine, there was nothing playful in his kiss. He tasted of heat and newly ripe pears from the Duke’s garden. I sensed hunger in the slant of his mouth, an unfamiliar edge to his need that sent restless sparks burning through me. I came up on my toes, circling my arms around his neck, feeling the length of my body melt into his. He had a soldier’s strength, and I felt it in the hard bands of his arms, the pressure of his fingers as his fist bunched in the silk at the small of my back and he drew me against him. There was something fierce and almost desperate in the way he held me, as if he could not have me close enough.” 
  • During a fight, Mal tells Alina that he distances himself from her to protect her position as a leader. “‘Why do you think people asked me on the royal hunt? The first thing? They wanted to know about me and you.’ He turned on me, and when he spoke his voice was cruel, mocking. ‘Is it true that you’re tumbling the Sun Summoner? What’s it like with a Saint? Does she have a taste for trackers, or does she take all of her servants to her bed?’” 

Violence  

  • Alina has nightmares. “Sometimes she dreamed of broken skiffs with black sails and decks slick with blood, of people crying out in the darkness. But worse were the dreams of a pale prince who pressed his lips to her neck, who placed his hands on the collar that circled her throat and called forth her power in a blaze of bright sunlight.” 
  • The Darkling describes how he will punish Alina if Mal refuses to track the sea whip [a dragon]. “Because every day we don’t find the sea whip, I’ll peel away a piece of her skin. Slowly. Then Ivan will heal her, and the next day, we’ll do it all over again.”
  • The Darkling and Sturmhond’s crew capture and kill the sea whip. “Beads of water flew from [the sea whip’s] mane, and its massive jaws opened, revealing a pink tongue and rows of gleaming teeth. It came down on the nearest boat with a loud crash of splintering wood. The slender craft split in two, and men poured into the sea. The dragon’s maw snapped closer over a sailor’s legs and he vanished, screaming, beneath the waves.” This scene is described over three pages. 
  • After Sturmhond’s crew turn on the Darkling and become Alina’s allies, the Darkling and his army attack them. “Pistol shots rang out. The air came alive with Inferni fire. ‘To me, hounds!’ Sturmhond shouted, and plunged into action, a saber in his hands.” This scene occurs over 10 pages. The following two bullet points happen during this scene. 
  • Ivan, the Darkling’s right-hand man, is killed by Tolya, one of Sturmhond’s crew members: “The fingers of Tolya’s outstretched hand curled into a fist. Ivan convulsed. His eyes rolled up in his head. A bubble of blood blossomed and burst on his lips. He collapsed onto the deck.”  
  • The Darkling unleashes his nichevo’ya, or shadow monsters, on Alina and her allies. “The nichevo’ya reached the masts of the schooner, whirling around the sails, plucking sailors from the rigging like fruit. Then they were skittering down onto the deck. Mal fired again and again as the crewmen drew their sabers, but bullets and blades seemed only to slow the monsters. Their shadow bodies wavered and re-formed, and they just kept coming.” Sturmhond’s crew manages to confuse the nichevo’ya long enough to escape. 
  • Sturmhond tells Alina she needs to be more ruthless, and tells her how he earned the respect of his crew. The first time he ever tried to board an enemy ship, the captain laughed at him and mocked him, so Sturmhond “cut off his fingers and fed them to [his] dog while [the captain] watched.” 
  • Mal spars with other Grisha soldiers in practice fighting matches. “Eskil [a minor character who is Grisha] let out a loud oof as Mal clamped his arms around him, keeping the Grisha’s limbs pinned so that he couldn’t summon his power. The big Fjerdan snarled, muscles straining, teeth bared as he tried to break Mal’s hold. . . Mal tightened his grip. He shifted, then drove his forehead into [Eskil’s] nose with a nauseating crunch. Before I could blink, he’d released Eskil and hammered a flurry of punches into [Eskil]’s gut and sides.” This scene occurs over three pages. 
  • Alina wanders outside the city and encounters the Ravkan peasants who congregate outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sankta (or Saint) Alina. They crowd around her, trying to get close to her and touch her. “The bodies pressed tighter, pushing and shoving, shouting at each other, each wanting to be nearer. My feet lost contact with the ground. I cried out as a chunk of my hair was ripped from my scalp. They were going to tear me apart.” Tolya and Tamar, Alina’s bodyguards, rescue her before it’s too late, and Alina is left shaken but uninjured.  
  • The Darkling and his nichevo’ya attack the Grand Palace after Vasily, Ravka’s lazy and arrogant crown prince, double-crosses his brother, Nikolai. Nikolai is Alina’s ally and friend, and he had plans to save both Alina and Ravka. However, many people die in this nichevo’ya attack. Vasily, Alina, and many others are injured. This scene occurs over 13 pages, with several interludes for dialogue.  
  • During the fight, “Vasily lifted his saber high and charged, bellowing with rage. Mal stepped in front of me, raising his sword to block the blow. But before Vasily could bring down his weapon, a nichevo’ya grabbed hold of him and tore his arm from its socket, sword and all. He stood for a moment, swaying, blood pumping from his wound, then dropped to the floor in a lifeless heap.” 
  • Alina attacks the nichevo’ya to save her friends. “Another pack of nichevo’ya descended from the windows, clawing their way toward Nikolai and his mother. I had to take a chance. I brought the light down in two blazing arcs, cutting through one monster after another, barely missing one of the generals who crouched cowering on the floor. People were screaming and weeping as the nichevo’ya fell upon them.” Alina and many of her friends, including Mal, escape, but they don’t know whether or not Nikolai was able to get to safety. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Novyi Zem is the center of the jurda trade. Jurda is a stimulant people use to stay awake. For example, “Zemeni men liked to tuck the dried [jurda] blooms between lip and gum, and even the women carried them in embroidered pouches that dangled from their wrists. Each store window [Alina] passed advertised different brands: Brightleaf, Shade, Dhoka, the Burly.” 
  • When Mal returns from a hunt, he tells Alina about how he and the other Grisha who went on the hunt entertained themselves. “We spent more time every day playing cards and drinking kvas [an alcoholic beverage analogous to beer] than anything else. And some duke got so drunk he passed out in the river. He almost drowned. His servants hauled him out by his boots, but he kept wading back in, slurring something about the best way to catch trout.” 
  • Alina complains about how boring war council meetings are, and Nikolai jokes, “Next time, bring a flask. Every time [Vasily] changes his mind, take a sip.” Alina replies, “I’d be passed out on the floor before the hour was up.” 
  • After missing his guard shift, Mal is found hungover. Alina and Tolya find him the next morning. “[Mal] hadn’t changed his clothes from last night. There was stubble on his chin, and the smell of blood and kvas hung on him like a dirty coat.” 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • Siege and Storm involves a magic system known as the Small Science, which is a way of manipulating matter that appears supernatural or magical. Those who can wield the Small Science are known as Grisha; many of the main characters in this novel are Grisha.  
  • The Grisha are split into three orders: Corporalki (the Order of the Living and the Dead), Etherialki (the Order of Summoners), and Materialki (the Order of Fabrikators).  
  • The Darkling and Baghra, Alina’s tutor, are Shadow Summoners, while Alina is a Sun Summoner. These are unique abilities that no other known Grisha possesses. For example, Alina uses her power when Sturmhond steers his ship through the Fold: “Hurriedly, I braced my feet against the deck and threw up my hands, casting a wide golden swath of sunlight around the [ship].” 

Spiritual Content  

  • When she and Mal reach Novyi Zem, Alina prays, “Let us be safe here. Let us be home.” 
  • Ravkans worship Saints, and some have started to worship Alina as a living Saint, calling her Sankta Alina (Saint Alina) and Sol Koroleva (Sun Queen). 
  • Some Ravkan peasants sell relics of Saints, such as fake bones supposedly once belonging to different Saints. Nikolai tells Alina, “There are rumors that you died on the Fold. People have been selling off parts of you all over Ravka and West Ravka for months. You’re quite the good luck charm.” 

Battle of the Beast

The beast wraps his slimy tongues around Bethany and brings her to his sharp teeth to consume her in one bite. Right before she is devoured, she wakes up in a pool of her own sweat.  She calms herself by remembering the beast is locked away, far away. However, Bethany was not the only one left with scars after the beast’s last attack. After being in the care of D.O.R.R.I.S, Claudette is returned home to the Wintloria Forest. She is too weak to walk, fly, or even sing. The beast took a lot from Claudette and left her with painful memories. Claudette’s dearest friend from the forest, Mortimer, is determined to travel to the beast and avenge her. 

Although Ebeneezer no longer has the beast to worry about, he sure has the green-eyed monster– Jealousy. The whole town is praising all of Bethany’s “good doing.” The town’s people are so grateful for her good work that Miss Muddle, the sweetshop owner Bethany apprentices for, decides to throw her a not-so-surprise surprise party. Everywhere Ebeneezer and Bethany go, someone asks if they can take her pictures and they compliment her. On the other side, Ebenezer is ridiculed for his “Wise Tweezer business’’ that consisted of poor solutions to the neighbor’s problems like smelling rose-scented candles instead of healing the garden. For Bethany, life was better than it ever has been. At least it was until they find out that the beast has escaped. 

Meggitt-Phillips does a great job keeping The Battle of the Beast entertaining by being unpredictable with the beasts’ fate, and it’s true identity. Although it is the third book in the series, the story isn’t repetitive because the reader gets a new perspective on the villain, the beast, and the theme of forgiveness. Bethany has an extremely hard time trusting the beast since she believes there is no way he will ever be good. But she realizes everyone in the neighborhood thought the same thing about her. Battle of the Beast makes the reader choose between Bethany’s belief that the beast will never change or Ebenezer’s belief that the beast has changed. This aspect keeps the reader engaged and connected with the story. 

Battle of the Beast is the most exciting book in the series; the tension between characters makes the reader unsure who is telling the truth, which keeps the reader on edge. There are many black-and-white illustrations in the book that show up every couple of chapters. Some of the illustrations can be as simple as a few feathers at the bottom of the page and others can be so big it covers both pages. And, although the beast is in a dog costume, the reader also gets to see the beast for the first time with these illustrations. On the other hand, the beast uses a lot of “baby talk” which becomes tedious. Despite this, the story highlights the theme of friendship, but the theme of forgiveness and guilt are more prominent. The reader must decide for themselves if the beast is worth an “I forgive you.”  Readers ready for more monster-related humor should check out Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon and Evil Alien Warlord Cat Series by Johnny Marciano & Emily Chenoweth. Meggitt-Phillips teases the reader at the beginning of the fourth book. But the new monsters may be Bethany’s parents. 

Sexual Content 

  • Geoffrey asks Bethany on a date. Ebenezer makes fun by saying, “OOOOH, Bethany’s got a crush, Bethany’s got a crush. . . . Bethany and Geoffrey sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I–” However, he is interrupted when Bethany says, “Shut up, gitface. If you dare say anything like that again, I’ll unleash a plague of moths into you knit-wear lounge.”’

Violence 

  • Like many of the other parrot’s in the Wintloria forest, Mortimer’s parents were killed by trophy hunters. This is never described, but it is mentioned because Claudette “had acted as a mother to him after his parents had been killed by trophy hunters.”
  • Bethany has nightmares of the beast. One night she has a nightmare that the beast is going to eat her and Ebenezer dies. “Bethany cried, as the beast’s two fat tongues slithered around her neck like a pir of greedy cobras. She was trapped in the glowing red walls of a D.O.R.R.I.S laser cage. Her best friend, the young 512- year-old Ebenezer Tweezer was lying dead on the floor…As Bethany was dragged closer to her death, she realized that this was inevitable. She’d never had a chance of defeating the beast. And then, just as she was about to be chomped to pieces, Bethany woke up.” There is a black and white illustration of Bethany being wrapped in tongues and Ebenezer lying dead with X’s on his eyes. After this, she sees Ebenezer, and says, “I’m really glad you haven’t been horribly murdered.”
  • The nightmare wasn’t Bethany’s first.  Bethany’s other nightmares are described too. For example, “Sometimes her mind had devised elaborate scenarios involving exploding teapots and volcanic beehives; other times it had kept things classic with simple head-chomping.” 
  • When Bethany is at the orphanage, she is told that Timothy, the new orphanage director, forgot to feed the children because he was too busy organizing files. Bethany storms into his office and throws his papers out of the window. “Timothy screamed as if Bethany had just thrown a bunch of babies out of the window.”
  • Bethany and Ebenezer are transported to the D.O.R.R.I.S headquarters to be informed of the beast’s escape. While there, Mr. Nickle tells them there is “extremely good news.” Bethany becomes infuriated by his lack of concern. “Bethany decided she would give Mr. Nickle a kick in his stupid shins. She charged at him, but the old man used his sticks to karate-chop her to the ground.”
  • As the beast is being released from his laser cage, it falls “flat on its face, and a nail from the metallic floors got jammed in one of its eyes . . . The beast pulled the nail out and licked its eye until the cut healed.”
  • After finding out Ebenezer is helping the beast, Bethany attacks him. “She pinned him down and started beating him around the head . . . Ebenezer pulled Bethany’s hair. She kicked him repeatedly where she knew it would hurt most – his beloved waistcoat.”
  • The beast vomits out a machine to help clean for Miss Muddle, but Bethany is skeptical about the beast’s intentions. She tries to warn Miss Muddle. “Bethany tried to say something, but Ebenezer slammed the door and kept his hand over her mouth, until Miss Muddle left. Bethany eventually got some teeth free and used them to bite Ebenezer hands.” The bite makes Ebenezer bleed.
  • Mortimer wants to avenge Claudette, so he plans on killing the beast. He says, “I’m going to kill the beast. I’m going to pluck its eyes out and tear apart its flesh with my talons. I plan on taking my time with it– and I promise I’ll make sure that it receives three dollops of pain for every ounce of suffering it has caused Claudette.’” 
  • Bethany warns Mortimer that she believes the beast is pretending to have lost its mind. She tells him, “it could reveal its true self at any moment.” Mortimer responds, “‘I hope it does,’ said Mortimer. ‘That way I can see the evil in its eyes before I pluck them out.’”
  • Ebenezer reminds Bethany she once shoved worms up Geoffrey’s nose. 
  • Mortimer attacks the beast. “Mortimer dived, still screeching – aiming its kitchen-knife talons at the beast’s middle eye, like a dart about to plunge into the bull’s-eye.” The beast protects himself with its “mouth spread wider than the beast could have ever thought possible. Then just as quickly and instinctively, the mouth snapped shut again – snapping off Mortimer’s lovely, sharp talons . . . As the beast chewed the crunchy spikes, other things started to return to its mind as well.”
  • The neighborhood finds out Bethany was going to help Mortimer kill the beast. As Geoffrey tries to stand up for Bethany, Geoffrey says, “We wouldn’t be friends if I thought she was in any way a killer.” 
  • The “gifts” the beast gave everyone turn rogue. The scarf he gave the zookeeper “wrapped itself tighter and tighter around the lizard lady’s neck, until it made her croak for mercy.”
  • The beast turns frisbees into axes. “The axe-shaped Frisbees started flying around the room– making everyone duck, out of fear of decapitation.” People scream in fear. 
  • The beast tells Ebenezer what he would do to Mortimer if he wanted to. “I’ll drink the insides out of that parrot’s talons like a sippy cup! I’ll wiggle my fingers and chop off the heads of every stupid neighbor here if you want me to.”
  • In order to wake people up, “the beast started waking people up by slapping the Frisbee’s across their faces.”
  • The beast tells Mortimer to “stay absolutely silent or I’ll boil you into a soup.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Miss Muddle gives Bethany a Super-Duper Deluxe hot chocolate. After this, “Bethany woke up late in the sweetshop with the worst sugar hangover in the world . . . She was surrounded by empty mugs and Super-Duper Deluxe Muddle Hot Chocolates.” 

Language 

  • Mortimer gets angry at a parrot and calls it a “blithering twerp!”
  • Bethany calls Ebenezer “gitface” throughout the book. 
  • Bethany says “flipping” as an expletive. For example, she says, “It’s actually going pretty flipping awesomely” and, “How should I know you flipping idiot?!”
  • Bethany frequently tells people to “bug off.” 
  • When Ebenezer hangs his self-portrait around town, someone writes “useless” and “I am a twerp” on them.  
  • Hell is used several times. For example, Miss Muddle answers the phone and says, “Oh hell?” She says, “Sorry, I mean– hello?”
  • Occasionally characters call each other idiots. 
  • Bethany calls someone a “traitor” and a “dim-witted nincompoop of a buffoon!”
  • When the beast vomits a box, someone asks, “What the bleedin’ hell is that?”
  • The beast calls Bethany a “snot-brain.”

Supernatural

  • The home of Claudette, the Wintloria forest, is described as “magical”. “The trees were said to possess an ancient and beguiling form of magic – leaves that could wipe away scars, fruit nourishing enough to sustain an entire family for a week, bark that could scratch any itch, no matter how irksome or inconveniently located.”
  • The workers at D.O.R.R.I.S travel via “puddle portals.” These portals allow people to transport quickly with minimal dampness.
  • There is an illustration of the D.O.R.R.I.S headquarters. In this illustration, there are aliens with three heads and walking fish with briefcases.   
  • Like the other books in the series, the beast vomits out items. However, his vomit is gifts for the neighborhood like toys for the orphanage and hearing aids for the elders. 

Spiritual Content 

  • When Mortimer is about to kill the beast, the beast asks, “Why?” Mortimer responds saying, “Because you’re a monster. You’re the devil in blob form who deserves a long, slow, punishing death.”

The Shadow Thieves

Charlotte Mielswetzski and Zachary Miller are both normal middle schoolers leading different lives. Charlotte is an introvert who finds solace in books and a new kitten. Her cousin Zachary, on the other hand, is a talented soccer player from London who loves living life in the fast lane. 

After people around him start getting sick, Zachary is forced to leave his hometown and move to the United States to live with Charlotte’s family. Charlotte is excited to have her cousin around, but she soon realizes that there is something unusual about him. Strange things keep happening around him, and she is determined to get to the bottom of it. 

One day, when the kids in their town start getting sick with magical illnesses, Zachary finally confides in Charlotte about the phenomenon that seems to be haunting him. Charlotte is both shocked and intrigued by what she hears. She knows that they must take action to stop this mysterious force that is causing so much harm. Together, Charlotte and Zachary embark on a dangerous journey to the Underworld to put an end to the uprising that seems to be at the root of it all. As they navigate through a world of darkness and unknown powers, they learn more about themselves and their capabilities. In the end, Charlotte and Zachary emerge victorious, having saved their town from certain doom. 

The Shadow Thieves is an incredibly captivating and enthralling story that will have readers completely hooked from start to finish. The seamless combination of reality, magic, and Greek mythology creates an immersive and truly unique experience that will transport readers to another world. The author’s masterful use of descriptive language and vivid imagery allows readers to fully visualize the story’s world, making it all the more engaging and enjoyable. 

Furthermore, the author has created a richly detailed world for the characters to inhabit, with vivid descriptions of the landscape, architecture, and culture. The characters themselves are not only expertly crafted but also multi-dimensional, with complex backstories and intricate relationships with one another. This level of depth and complexity enables readers to fully immerse themselves in the story, forming deep connections with each character and becoming fully invested in their individual journeys. For example, Charlotte’s endearing personality and kind heart make her an incredibly lovable character, while Zachary’s fierce determination to save everyone makes him a strong and admirable protagonist. 

The Shadow Thieves is a book that anyone who enjoys a good story filled with adventure, magic, and mythology should read. From the very first page, the reader is immersed in a world that is both intricate and fascinating, with well-developed characters that are easy to connect with. Whether you are a fan of fantasy or simply looking for a great story, The Shadow Thieves is a book that is sure to keep you engaged and invested from beginning to end. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • An older man, named Frank, is mean to a grasshopper by stomping on it. Frank “knew what was about to happen, and he still used all his might to stomp his foot down on the grasshopper with a great thwap. If he hadn’t, perhaps he could have been saved — but he did. So, then and there Frank died killing himself through his own meanness.” His death is not prevalent to the rest of the story but helps to introduce the underworld.  
  • Charlotte’s cousin Zachary, also referred to as Zee, gets a concussion during one of his first soccer games in America. “The goalie for the other team was an All-Metro senior and had a particularly high drop kick, which he aimed at a very burly midfielder, and Zee ran in to make the steal. The two jumped for the ball at the same time, and the midfielder threw his elbows out to push off Zee, headed the ball, then headed Zee. The heads knocked with a sickly thud . . .” This causes Charlotte’s parents to lock Zee inside for a few days.  
  • While Zee is absent, the other school kids come down with a mysterious illness. Nobody knows the cause. “Physical examinations were normal, blood tests were normal, everything was normal. Nothing was wrong with the kids, except they were clearly sick.” 
  • Grandmother Winter, Zee’s grandmother, passed away naturally.  “It would be her last breath, and with it she said two distinct syllables to Zee. . .metos.”  
  • After his grandmother’s death, the kids around Zee get a mysterious illness and he feels as if there is always something following him. One day when he is walking, Zee discovers the strange beings that seem to be the cause of it all. “That’s when he heard the scream. Zee whirled around and ran back around the corner. And then he froze. The boy was no longer alone. Two men, or something very like men, were with him. The man-like men were extremely tall, extremely thin, and extremely pale . . . One of the man-like men were holding the boy, the other was reaching into the boy’s chest, which was giving way like jelly. The boy was screaming. Zee stood, absolutely unable to move, while the second man-like man started pulling out something long and black and flimsy from the boy’s chest. And then the boy stopped screaming and seemed to collapse on the spot.” The boy was now mysteriously ill.  
  • Charlotte and Zee find a man who is being attacked by Harpies. “A man was chained to a cliff, a shirtless man dangling against the rock face, with blood all over his stomach. Three Harpies were circling around his head. And even though she could not see his face,” Charlotte knew that it was Mr. Metos, their teacher. 
  • Philonecron, a god who wanted to control the Underworld, can make Zee do anything he desires because he has some of Zee’s blood. He commands Zee to punch Charlotte. Then Zee “turned toward Charlotte. His face was contorted, his eyes burning, his every muscle clenching. Yet he began to move to her stiffly, slowly, painfully, looking like a very uncomfortable zombie . . . Charlotte could only stare as her cousin stopped right in front of her. He looked at her helplessly, then closed his eyes. Charlotte squirmed again, and the Footman [Philonecron’s creation from Zee’s blood] held her tightly . . . suddenly a truck ran into Charlotte’s stomach, and everything went black for a moment.” Charlotte was okay after the punch but bruised and out of breath. 
  • After taking Zee with him, Philonecron orders the Footman to drop Charlotte in the river Styx. “The Footman stepped forward and death was before Charlotte, and something surged through her veins. She exploded into action. Quick as she could, she leaned over, bit the Footman on the shoulder (gross), kneed him in the stomach (payback) and elbowed him in the neck (for good measure). With a soundless cry of surprise the Footman dropped her . . . She lunged behind him, and with a great breath she pushed, with all her might she pushed, his feet slipped on the rocks, and the Footman went headlong into the Styx.” One of the many Footmen created by Philonecron dies in the Styx and Charlotte escapes.  
  • Zee attempts to kill himself to foil Philonecron’s plan. “If Zee were dead, he couldn’t utter the words of the spell. All he would have to do was run, run as fast as he could. If he could get to the Styx before the Footmen got to him, he could jump in and save the world. . . He was almost there, he was ready to make his break, and then – And then he felt Philonecron’s hand on his shoulder.” Philonecron makes Zee unconscious and uses his power over Zee’s blood to keep him from escaping or killing himself. 
  • Zee realizes that the shadows created by Philonecron have to listen to him because they are bound by his blood. When Philonecron’s shadow army starts to tear down the center of the Underworld to try to overthrow Hades, Zee orders them to attack the Footmen. “Some shadows stretched out like snakes and slithered over [the Footmen], cutting swaths through their bodies. Others grew themselves long legs, which they used to wrap around the Footmen’s waists, and long arms, which they used to pull the Footmen’s arms from their shoulders and smash them to the ground. Others wrapped themselves around the Footmen’s legs and squeezed until the legs fell off.” The Footmen holding Zee captive were destroyed.  
  • Philonecron was not allowed to set foot on the ground near the center of the Underworld because of Hades’ orders. If he does, he will be burned. To get around this, he is carried to Hades’ castle in a chair. In the middle of the fight between the Shadows, Hades, Philonecron, Charlotte, and Zee, Charlotte acts. “Charlotte reached down, picked up the largest rock she could find, held it above her head, and crashed it down as hard as she could on the chair under [Philonecron’s] feet. A great crack splintered through the air – Philonecron’s mouth opened, his eyes bugged, and the chair broke into pieces underneath him. Philonecron went tumbling backward, his bottom hitting the ground, followed by his hands, followed by his feet. A hissing noise emanated from the ground. Philonecron yelled and pushed himself up in the air, ready to dive back onto the litter, but he was too late. His feet started smoking, then they burst into blood-red flame. The fire traveling up to his legs, and screaming, he propelled himself onto the litter — leaving a pile of ash where his legs had once been.” Philonecron’s legs will eventually regenerate, but he is banished to the upper world by Hades. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • Frank, the older gentleman who died, is brought to the door of the Underworld. “A few moments after Frank’s death the door in the Mall opened. A form slipped through, a messenger of sorts, with winged sandals and a winged hat, and he moves so quickly through the air no one saw him at all . . . He arrived at Frank’s house in moments, where he found the dead man sprawled in his garden . . . And in the blink of an eye Frank and the Messenger were standing in front of the nondescript door.” When they pass through, the door between the two worlds remains open for a short period of time.  
  • Before Zee’s grandmother passed, she had a premonition on what would happen to Zee. “Grandmother Winter took a big breath in, a loud, urgent breath – and then Zee saw something flash in her eyes, and what he did not know was that his grandmother was having her last premonition.” Zee does not know what the premonition is, besides that she told him the word “metos.” 
  • The entirety of chapter nine outlines King Hades, the god of the Underworld. “The underworld was no hell of course; at least Hades didn’t think so. Sure, if you had been really, really bad — like, in the upper one half of one percent of all bad — his department of Eternal Rewards would send you to Tartarus and devise something suitably punitive . . . Hades may have been a Greek god, but that didn’t mean his leadership practices had to be ancient. There were any number of great business minds in the Underworld, and Hades could spend as much time as he wanted picking their brains, sometimes literally.” Under the idea of running the underworld like a business, Hades has different departments and tiers of people who work for him. This allows him to stay in his castle most all the time. 
  • Philonecron, a being of the underworld who wants to create an uprising, notices the shadow of a boy. “Philonecron could not believe what he was seeing. But it was true. There was no denying it. The boy’s shadow was loose.” The shadow being loose, means that Philonecron can steal it and use it. 
  • Philonecron learns he can steal the shadows of children because they are not fully connected to the individual yet. “Philonecron sought out as many children as he could find, Life Essence and all. Much to his delight, he learned that the boy, whom he had begun to think of affectionately as Patient Zero, was no aberration. If shadows were caused by interplay between light and Life, a child’s was still forming. An adult’s was inextricably bound to his body, but a child had a tenuous relationship to his own permanence, and thus, his own shadow.”
  • Mr. Metos, Charlotte, and Zee’s teacher, reveals his true identity so that he may help them in their journey against the Underworld. Mr. Metos says, “I am a descendant of Prometheus . . . We are sworn to protect humans against the whims of their creators. It is quite a task . . . I have Titan blood, yes. A little, though I am mortal. More important, I have the charge of Prometheus. The gods created man but do not help him. They’re like parents who abandon their children. Humanity is nothing but a plaything to them, and now, Philonecron is treating people like lab rats.”  
  • Upon entering the Underworld, Zee and Charlotte find large, bird-like creatures that swoop down at them. “The Harpy – for that is what the woman-faced, eagle-bodied, impossibly enormous, and while we’re at it, quite bad-smelling creature was — was singing a little song to herself.” The Harpies are dangerous and mean-spirited, but they do not ever do any damage to Charlotte or Zee.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Elephant’s Tale

Martine and her grandmother discover they might lose their game reserve, Sawubona, because of a clause in her grandfather’s will. Martine and her best friend Ben decide to take matters into their own hands when Martine hears a prophecy that says, “The elephants will lead you to the truth.” After hearing this, Martine and Ben stow away in an airplane, get stuck in the desert, and help a group of elephants escape a horrible prison. Along the way, Martine learns the truth about Sawubona and the dramatic truth about her gift with animals and where it will take her in her life.

In The Elephant’s Tale, Martine and Ben take off alone to the foreign country of Namibia. The two kids are stranded in the desert with nothing to eat or drink. With some luck, Martine and Ben meet Gift, a teenager who agrees to help them investigate Henry James, who says he going to inherit Sawubona. While the story doesn’t have the same fast pace as the previous books, the mystery of the elephant whisperer, the missing elephants, and Mr. James’ schemes will keep readers entertained. 

Readers will get a look into Namibian culture and learn many interesting facts about elephants. In addition, the story hits on the topic of global warming. While it doesn’t go into detail about the causes of global warming, the story does discuss some of the effects. For example, most scientists “agree that the warming of the earth’s surface is going to lead to sea level rises, the melting of the polar ice caps, and an increase in disease and extreme weather.” In the end, Martine and Ben learn that if global warming continues, the need for water will eventually lead to war. 

Unlike most villains, Mr. James is full of good intentions. Animal conservation is one of his main goals; however, he captures and experiments on elephants in the hope of genetically breeding animals that need less food and water to survive. Mr. James deceives and manipulates others and justifies this behavior because he hopes to have a positive effect on animals’ ability to survive. Since Mr. James isn’t portrayed as completely evil, his situation would be an excellent conversation starter about morality. 

Readers who love animals will love learning about elephants through Martine’s eyes. While Martine isn’t perfect, she is a caring protagonist who is willing to put herself in danger in order to help animals. However, Martine often hides her activities from her grandmother and while she doesn’t outright lie, she uses omission to deceive. Despite this, Martine’s curiosity and bravery are admirable and when it comes to animals, her love shines through in everything she does. Plus, the series features several adults who are unique and guide Martine along her life’s journey. Unfortunately, the dangerous situations Martine and Ben willingly throw themselves into are a little over the top, which makes their ability to remain uninjured hard to believe. 

Readers who want to learn more about the importance of conservation will enjoy the Legend of the Animal Healer Series because of the interesting characters, the animal action, and the animal facts. Through each story, St. John encourages readers to be kind to animals in order to make their lives better. Mystery-loving readers who want more action and adventure can find it in the Explorer Academy Series by Trudi Trueit as well as in Lauren St. John’s Wolfe & Lamb Series.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Mr. James’ chauffeur, Lurk, sees an angry elephant and raises a rifle at it. Someone tells Lurk to put the rifle down, but instead “Lurk cocked the rifle and took aim. Tendai grabbed his wrist and crushed it so hard that Lurk winced and dropped the gun.” 
  • An elephant charges Lurk, who runs for his life. “The elephant bore down on the chauffeur, her great feet tearing up the earth. In seconds, Lurk would be a bloody pulp.” Tendai yells at Lurk telling him to throw down his jacket. When Lurk does, “the elephant halted in confusion.  . . She decided to attack the jacket instead. . . Dust roiled up as she pounded it into the ground, trampling it, tossing it, crushing it.” 
  • While guarding the animal sanctuary, “Tobias was knocked unconscious.” Afterward, “he has a splitting headache and a lump on his head, but he should recover in a day or two.”
  • Martine and Ben sneak into a hotel and oasis that was being built by Mr. James, where they find elephants who are being held in captivity and experimented on. When Mr. James and his business partner, Callum, appear, “the elephants cast off their shackles and charged, many of them trumpeting along the way. . . There were swinging tusks and yelling men everywhere. Lurk was tossed about like an elephant’s football, and Callum Murphy, Reuben James, and the guards disappeared inside an elephant scrum.” 

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Several adults smoke cigarettes.

Language

  • My God and Oh my God are both used as an exclamation once.
  • When Gift first meets Martine and Ben, he calls them “idiot tourist kids.”

Supernatural

  • Martine can heal animals with her touch. When she sees a sick buffalo, Martine “poured the green liquid into the buffalo’s mouth. . . Laying gentle hands on the bull’s head, Martine stroked his wet nose, his rough, sharp horns, and the thick, hard bone and muscle around his jaw and neck. . . Her hands heated up. So fiery did they become that she almost expected them to start smoking. She heard the voices of the ancients, buzzing in her head guiding her.” Healed, the buffalo jumps to his feet and runs off.
  • Grace, a witch doctor, can tell the future. “Grace took a leather punch from around her neck. She scattered its contents — an assortment of tiny bones, porcupine quills, a hoopoe bird feather, and fresh herbs — around the tusk, and lit a match.  . . It sounded as if Grace was having an argument with someone — perhaps the ancestral spirits. She was pleading with them.” When Grace comes out of her trance, she tells Martine, “The four leaves will lead you to the circle. The circle will lead you to the elephants. The elephants will lead you to the truth.” 
  • Reuben James, a businessman, is building an oasis in an extinct volcano. Some of the locals “believe he is most unwise. They think the spirits will be displeased.” 
  • Martine heals an elephant that collapsed to the ground. “Her hands were so hot her blood was virtually boiling in her veins. Most times when she healed an animal Martine had dreamlike visions of warriors with spears and great herds of animals and men in animal masks. Today she saw Swaubona.” When the elephant was healed, “with the tip of her trunk she caressed Martin’s cheek in an elephant kiss.” 
  • Grace explains the ancient prophecy about a child and the white giraffe. She says the ancients, “Saw that only the unconditional love of a child could heal this creature and that, in turn, the white giraffe would give something back—a power to heal other animals.” 

Spiritual Content

  • None

Merry Fish-mas

It’s almost Fish-mas in Kittentail Cove and the purrmaids can’t wait for Santa Paws to arrive! When Coral’s younger brother, Shrimp asks her to mail his letter to Santa Paws, Coral is happy to help! But then the day gets busy and the post office closes early and. . . will Santa Paws still bring presents if he doesn’t get Shrimp’s letter? With some help from her friends, Coral will do whatever it takes to give Shrimp the Merriest Fish-mas ever!

Merry Fish-mas adds holiday sparkle and a lot of friendship fun to create a fin-tastic chapter book that young readers will adore. In this holiday-themed story, Coral is excited to celebrate her favorite holiday—Fish-mas. However, the festivities don’t stop Coral from worrying about making the holiday perfect. When Coral isn’t able to deliver Shrimp’s letter to Santa Paws, Coral is sure that the holiday will be ruined. However, the holly jolly conclusion shows that Fish-mas magic does exist. 

Merry Fish-mas is perfect for readers ready to read chapter books. The story has easy vocabulary, short sentences, and cute black-and-white illustrations approximately every three pages. Younger readers will enjoy the cat puns that appear often, such as when Coral thinks, “This has not been a very Meow-y Fish-mas.” This series will keep readers entertained with ten books that can be read in any order.

While young readers will fall in love with the cute characters in the Purrmaids Series, parents will appreciate the characters’ kindness, the positive adult role models, and the life lessons that appear in each book. In Merry Fish-mas, Coral and her friends go to many traditional holiday events. But the true gift of the book is that Coral realizes Fish-mas isn’t about gifts. When Coral is disappointed in herself for not delivering Shrimp’s letter, Papa says, “You tried to do something nice for someone you love. You did your best to spread Fish-mas spirit. That’s what Fish-mas is really about.” To sweeten up the holidays, readers can find more holiday cheer and kind characters in Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light by Apryl Stott and the Diary of an Ice Princess Series by Christina Soontornvat. 

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

The Chalice of the Gods

Rick Riordan’s newest installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series follows Percy as he navigates applying to college — a college for demigods of course. Percy is a demigod child of Poseidon, which makes him “a child of one of the Big Three” — Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. These three gods were not supposed to “sire any more demigod children.” This means Percy has a “debt . . . for existing” and the Olympian Council of Gods wants Percy to work off this “debt” before he can attend the demigod university, New Rome University. How can he do this? Well, Percy finds out that he needs “three [recommendation letters]. From three different gods.” Percy is frustrated, saying, “I have to do new quests, don’t I?”  

Percy’s first quest for the “divine recommendation letters,” is to help Ganymede, the “cupbearer of the gods,” find his missing chalice. Even though Percy’s quest to find Ganymede’s godly chalice is the ostensible plotline of the book, the novel explores the themes of changing friendship dynamics through the characters of Percy, his girlfriend Annabeth, and his best friend Grover. As Percy and Annabeth begin applying to New Rome University, Grover realizes that he feels left behind. Grover explains to Percy, “I’m worried about you and Annabeth leaving me next summer.” On top of this, Percy discovers that his mom is having a baby, and Percy will be leaving for college soon after his sibling is born. Percy is excited for his mom and stepdad, but he describes, “I was thrilled for mom and Paul . . . But also, it made my own departure seem even more real. I would be leaving just as Mom and Paul were starting a new chapter. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. . . ”  

Percy ultimately decides that he is ready for this next chapter of his life and that leaving for university does not necessarily mean he won’t be able to stay connected with his family and friends back home. Percy reassures Grover that he intends to always keep his best friend in his life. Percy explains to Grover about his dream of growing old: “I told him about the daydream that got me through the wrestling match — of Annabeth and me and him, dozing in the sunshine at a cottage on the seashore.” Percy realizes that, as Annabeth says, “[You’re] never alone . . . We’ll always be here to help you,” even when he ultimately goes away for school. Though Percy is applying to a college specifically for demigods, many readers, especially those in high school, will be able to relate to Percy as he worries about his relationship with his family and friends changing when he goes away for college.  

Overall, The Chalice of the Gods will thrill fans of the original Olympians series, but could also be read alone without confusion. Riordan explains the references to Percy’s previous adventures in a way that allows The Chalice of the Gods to make sense to new readers. For example, Percy references earlier books as he explains how his relationship with his demigod powers has changed. Percy says, “Back when I was ten or eleven, things just happened, and I didn’t understand why. Fountains would come alive. Toilets would explode . . . As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to control my powers, more or less.” 

The Chalice of the Gods emphasizes the importance of acceptance of life’s changes. For instance, Percy and his friends confront Geras, the god of old age, and in order to get back the chalice, Geras tells Percy he must defeat him. Instead of fighting back against Geras, Percy is able to end the battle by hugging Geras instead, explaining, “Getting old might be scary and difficult. It involved things I didn’t want to think about, like arthritis varicose veins, and hearing aids. But if you grew old with people you loved, wasn’t that better than the alternative?” 

Sexual Content  

  • After successfully escaping a dangerous river, Percy kisses Annabeth. Percy explains, “I tried to give [Annabeth] a kiss, but it was difficult, because she started laughing . . . She kissed me back. ‘I love you, too, Seaweed Brain.’” 
  • After Percy obtains the Chalice from Geras, the god of old age, Annabeth “marched up and kissed [Percy].” 
  • At the brunch for the gods at Mount Olympus, Zeus comments while watching Ganymede distribute food and beverages, “I do love watching [Ganymede] walk away . . . ” Hera, a goddess and Zeus’ wife, exclaims, “Could you not at the brunch table?” 

Violence  

  • Percy explains that demigods under eighteen can’t use cellphones because “they attract monsters” who then “show up and eat them.” 
  • Percy sneaks into a river belonging to the river god Elisson and is nearly drowned by the angry god for swimming in his sacred river without permission. Percy explains, “there’s a river god tossing me around at the bottom of his grotto, flushing gunk through my nostrils and mouth, it’s like trying to breathe in a sandstorm. I was blind and disoriented, slamming into rocks, unable to concentrate.” Percy is able to escape by causing the river to shoot him out like a geyser.  
  • Geras, the god of old age and the god who has stolen the chalice, tells Percy that he must “defeat [Geras] in wrestling” or be turned into “a pile of powdered bone.” Percy escapes this fate by embracing Geras and surprising the god.  
  • During the battle, Geras punches Percy. “With his free hand, he punched me in the ribs . . . At least he wasn’t smashing my face into the pavement yet.”

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Percy’s mom explains, “Why I’m not drinking [wine] tonight.” Then, she reveals that she is pregnant. 

Language  

  • Occasionally, characters exclaim, “Oh, my gods.” 

Supernatural 

  • The ancient Greek gods, heroes, and monsters are all real.  
  • Percy meets the new guidance counselor at his school and realizes she is actually a sea spirit called a nereid. Percy says, “I studied her more closely. Her curled hair was in fact a bed of oysters. Her dress shimmered like a jellyfish membrane.” 
  • Percy explains what is known as “the Mist.” He describes, “It’s weird how the Mist works. Even for demigods who see supernatural stuff all the time, you have to concentrate to pierce the barrier between the human world and the godly one. Otherwise, the Mist kind of just plasters over what you see, making ogres look like pedestrians or a giant drakon look like the N train.” 
  • Percy’s quest is to find a stolen chalice belonging to Ganymede, the cup bearer to the gods. Ganymede explains that the cup cannot fall into the wrong hands because “the goblet makes drinks taste good to the gods. But if a mortal got hold of it . . . one sip from it would grant them immortality.” 
  • Percy and Annabeth communicate through Iris-messages as opposed to using cellphones. Percy explains, “You shine a light through the water vapor to make yourself a rainbow. You throw a coin into it, say a prayer, and voila — you’ve got a shimmering Annabeth sitting next to you.” 
  • Percy uses his demigod abilities as the son of Poseidon. For example, Percy explains how he blasts himself out of a river god’s dangerous river. “My tidal wave had swept the cliff walls right up to Annabeth’s feet, leaving the rock sparkling clean . . . I had apparently given the River Elisson my super-deluxe Poseidon Wash package.”  
  • Percy uses a magical staff from the goddess Iris to fly. Percy explains that the staff can fly him to deliver a message. “Just before the staff had started pulling me upward, I’d been thinking how much I wanted to tell Annabeth I loved her. That was the message.” Percy describes flying via the magical staff: “I wasn’t just flying inside of the rainbow . . . I was becoming part of it, which sounds a lot cooler than it felt. All the molecules in my body dissolved into energy.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • There are references to the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology throughout the book.  

Murder at Midnight

Murder at Midnight presents the story of Mangus the Magician and his newest servant, Fabrizio. The story takes place in the kingdom of Pergamontio, Italy in 1490. Pergamontio is behind the times, and the hapless King Claudio is terribly superstitious in this traditionally Catholic kingdom. When hundreds of identical papers calling for treason against the crown appear overnight, the royal advisor accuses Mangus of witchcraft. Desperate to save his new master’s life, Fabrizio sets out to help prove Mangus’s innocence and discover what created these documents. 

The main protagonist, Fabrizio, is a delightful mix of naïve and brash – he’s never quite sure how he’s going to help Mangus, but he’s determined to try even though he’s likely to make many life-threatening mistakes along the way. In some other characters, this might be trite or annoying, but Fabrizio is ten years old and genuinely doesn’t know any better. He believes in magic wholeheartedly despite Mangus’s repeated explanations about how he’s an illusionist, not a magician. Fabrizio wants nothing more than to save Mangus from certain death – except, maybe, learn magic himself. 

At the start of the novel, Mangus is curmudgeonly and deeply uninterested in Fabrizio, but by the end when Fabrizio and his friend Maria help save his life, he’s just curmudgeonly. Their dynamic involves plenty of Mangus demeaning Fabrizio for not being smart enough, which motivates Fabrizio to want to be a better servant. Mangus is a self-proclaimed philosopher, and he relies on reasoning to make decisions. He serves as a counterweight to Fabrizio whose decisions are motivated entirely by his heart. Although these two never quite see eye-to-eye, they grow a close bond. 

These two characters are well-developed for future installments, and the mystery plot of this first book works well. Fabrizio meets Maria, the daughter of immigrants who bring a printing press to Pergamontio. As the kingdom is somewhat backward, this situation is slowly unveiled through the course of the novel, eventually showing that the scandal runs right to the heart of the king’s inner circle. The plot is interesting with semi-historical elements, and it’s action-packed enough to keep the attention of younger readers. 

Murder at Midnight deals with some light violence as the story is set in 1490s Italy with plenty of intrigue and quite literally backstabbing. The main conflict revolves around Mangus, whose life is threatened since he’s accused of witchcraft and the punishment is death. The book also deals with some Catholic-related themes since Italy is a historically Catholic nation, though the book doesn’t take any stance on religion. Murder at Midnight is a fun introduction to the printing press and censorship. In addition, the dynamic between reason and emotion comes through, showing readers that a balance of the two ideas leads to better outcomes than just reason or emotion separate from each other. Through cooperation and patience, Fabrizio and his various companions can save Mangus and go on with living their peaceful lives – that is, until the next book, Midnight Magic.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • When the other servants, Benito and Giuseppe, speak to Fabrizio, they often take swings at him because they don’t like him. For instance, Fabrizio is coerced into telling them secrets from Mangus. When he’s trying to run off, Fabrizio notes that he is “trying to dodge a flurry of blows.” This happens somewhat often. Fabrizio notes that from this particular altercation, he receives bruises from them and nothing more. 
  • The king’s officials, DeLaBina and Scarazoni, threaten to “burn [Mangus] at the stake” and “cut out his heart” if he truly is a magician. Mangus, of course, is not a magician but an illusionist, but the other characters don’t necessarily understand this. 
  • Fabrizio is falsely accused of distributing treasonous papers, and he is taken down to the dungeon to be executed. While there, he nearly trips over a corpse. A soldier asks if the body is dead, and the executioner says, “I hope so. I broke his neck three days ago.”  Fabrizio is not executed, and there is no further discussion about the corpse. 
  • Fabrizio and his new friend Maria find DeLaBina dead in the dungeons. Fabrizio notes, “Beneath lay a man with his head twisted to one side. A ruby-encrusted dagger was sticking out of his back. On the ground, a pool of wet blood was spreading.” This is the extent of the description. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Light language is used frequently. Terms include: fool, stupid, ignorant, blockhead, nasty, ugly, and fat. 

Supernatural 

  • Fabrizio works and lives with Mangus the Magician, who performs, as far as Fabrizio is concerned, “real magic” as well as sleight-of-hand tricks. Much of the book’s main plot deals with how the Kingdom of Pergamontio feels about magic that is rooted in anything other than Christian miracles. Mangus notes that the king “is deeply superstitious” and that he has “outlawed magic.” 
  • One night, Fabrizio watches Mangus perform and decides what is real magic and what is fake, saying that when “a burning candle was pulled from an ear” and “a box changed into a hat” it was for sure “true magic.” 
  • The king of Pergamontio expresses his true fears as to who made the identical treasonous papers that have been distributed throughout the kingdom. He says, “Ghosts? Is that who made the papers? Ghosts can do anything they wish, you know.” DeLaBina expresses that it’s instead magic and someone who “is in league with the devil.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • Since the book is set in 1490 Italy, the characters are notably Catholic. For instance, Mangus notes that “God gave us the gift of reason.” 
  • The kingdom has a curfew, and Mangus tells the crowd that there’s a curfew because “the king loves us and wishes to keep us safe from devils.” 
  • Fabrizio makes an astute comment that catches Mangus’s attention, and Fabrizio attributes it to living on the streets. Fabrizio says, “When you are a homeless orphan – as I was – the teachers God provides are one’s own eyes and ears.” 
  • After seeing a treasonous document, Mangus exclaims, “God protect us!” 
  • Mangus is accused of using magic to make treasonous documents to overthrow the king. As this is 1490 Italy, the king is uncomfortable with modern inventions like the printing press, and identical documents are outside the bounds of imagination. The top prosecutor for the kingdom says, “Such identical replication is impossible for human hands! Not even God – in all his greatness – makes two things alike.” 
  • Fabrizio refers to the treasonous papers against the king as “the devil’s work.” Mangus corrects him that the papers were definitely done by human hands. 
  • The executioner, Agrippa, explains his profession to Fabrizio. Agrippa says that he wanted to be a stonemason, but “the good God willed it otherwise, didn’t he?” 
  • A knock sounds at the door of the execution room, and Fabrizio, who thinks he’s about to be executed, “fell to his knees and began to murmur frantic prayers.”  
  • Fabrizio meets Maria, the daughter of immigrants from Milan who own a printing business and use a printing press. Maria introduces herself as a “printer’s devil” because she’s covered in the black ink she works with, and it’s incredibly hard to scrub off. 
  • When Mangus’s wife, Sophia, learns that her husband has been arrested, she “clasped her hands in brief prayer.” 

Don’t Fear the Creeper

The Mob Squad are the greatest heroes the town of Cornucopia has produced since it was founded: Mal the bold, Lenna the strong, Tok the wise, and Chug the steadfast. And Jarro, who’s renounced his bullying ways to reveal a truly kind heart. Together they’ve journeyed across the Overworld, delved into the Nether, and saved the day for Cornucopia again and again.

So why can’t they get any respect from the adults who run the town? The only one who understands is Nan, Mal’s great-great-great-grandmother, who trained them to be as resourceful and adventurous as she was in her day.

So when Nan gets sick and isn’t getting any better, the kids refuse to just sit by and do nothing. There’s something out there that can help her—an enchanted golden apple that can cure just about anything. And the Mob Squad will stop at nothing to get it.

But as they venture outside the walls of Cornucopia, they aren’t counting on being followed. The kids soon discover a mysterious foe whose motives are as unknown as the face that hides behind a Creeper’s head. If the Mob Squad wants to rescue Nan, they’re going to have to save themselves first.

Don’t Fear the Creeper is a fast-paced adventure with plenty of near-death experiences to keep readers’ hearts racing. As the Mob Squad searches for the golden apple, they travel into the unknown and often end up in unexpected danger. Through it all, each member of the mob squad plays an important role as the kids work together to reach their goal. Their determination and persistence are admirable, even if their actions are often imprudent. The book’s chapters change point of view which allows each member of the Mob Squad to give their perspective. However, the alternating points of view add little to the story and the characters’ voices are not unique, which makes it difficult to keep track of who is telling the story.

While most of the events stay true to the Minecraft game, some readers may be frustrated by the Mob Squad’s careless actions. For example, when going through a cave system, the Mob Squad comes across dark green blocks. Every time someone makes noise, something shrieks. Despite this, the kids are not quiet and end up waking a monster that chases them. While they make it out of the cave safely, they nearly died because they couldn’t stop talking. 

The book’s ending also becomes a little preachy as it focuses on the Elders’ attempt to close off the town. However, Lenna thinks, “There’s value in teaching children they’re not invincible. . . There’s nothing wrong with running away when it’s the best choice.” The ending contains several epilogues that drag on. Still, fans of Minecraft will enjoy the story’s action, adventure, and the Mob Squad’s friendship. If you’re ready to delve into another Minecraft adventure, grab a copy of Minecraft: The Crash by Tracey Baptiste. 

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • When the Mob Squad sees a goat, Chug approaches it. Jarro sees “the horns lower into position, and I see the horror on Chug’s face, and then Chug is flying through the air like a bird. . .Chug flops onto the ground, his armor clanking. . . [Lenna] takes the goat out with a few shots.” Chug isn’t injured.
  • While underwater, the Mob Squad is attacked by a “drowned” which is an underwater zombie. “When the drowned throws its next weapon, Chug bats it away and goes in for a slice with his sword.” When Chug screams, Jarro draws “my own sword and kick[s] down towards Chug, who’s hurt and having trouble continuing the fight.” The drowned bites Jarro and “the bite burns my arm, and Chug lands a hit while I struggle. . .” Finally, Chug “takes it down.” The scene is described over three pages. 
  • Fish attack the Mob Squad. When Tok sees the first one, he screams and “paddle[s] backward with my hand, but the gigantic fish is right in front of me, and it slams into me, and it feels like getting run over by a horse covered in knives, and I thrash and squeal in panic. . .” When the fish attacks, Tok describes, “a wired beam of purple wavy light burst out of its giant eye and straight for me, and I flail and dodge.” The kids escape. The fish attack is described over four pages. No one is seriously injured.
  • The fish again attacks the Mob Squad. Chug beats “the fish down with my sword, but it gets a few slams in. . . Someone screams behind me and I spin to find Mal being targeted by a fish-eye bubble ray. . . I hit it with my sword from behind, and it spins and comes after me. As I keep fighting it, trying to dodge the spikes, it suddenly feels like my entire body is on fire.”
  • As the fish surround the kids, Chug is “beating on the guardians (the fish) while they’re focused on Lenna. . . I double down on my onslaught, even when one of the guardians turns to face me, spikes out and bristling and big eye shaking like he’s going to start blowing bubbles at me again. . .” The kids escape. The attack is described over six pages.
  • In a previous book, Jarro was kidnapped. When an unknown enemy taunts Jarro, he thinks, “I’m going to end up just the way I did last time, tied up and blindfolded, abandoned in the middle of nowhere. They tied me to a tree and left me to die, alone and without weapons. . .” 
  • While on an island, a zombie appears and “Efram dispatches the zombie in a few quick slashes and moves on. Then an arrow tangs at us from the left, and Lenna takes it down with a few arrows of her own. . .”
  • A man wearing a Creeperhead attacks Tok. Tok explains, “He just hit me, again and again. . . he didn’t say a single word.” Tok was seriously injured and needed a Potion of Healing. 
  • Tok takes a Potion of Swiftness that makes him run super-fast. Lenna thinks he is a Creeper, so she “takes careful aim and lets her arrow fly. . .Tok stands before us, an arrow in his shoulder.”
  • In a multi-chapter battle, a Wither (a three headed skeleton) attacks the kids. Tok jumps into the fight when the Whiter is “headed right for Lenna, and without telling my body to do anything, it’s sprinting toward her, sword out. As the skull nears us, I swing my sword, and it swooshes right past my blade and smacks me in the chest, and the world explodes around me in a flash of white against the dark sky.” Tok is seriously injured. Tok exclaims, “my body doesn’t seem to want to work. My arms are weak, my legs exhausted like I’ve already run a mile.” 
  • The Wither and the Creeperhead appear at the same time and the Creeperhead begins throwing TNT at the kids. The Wither skull hits Mal. “She’s almost limp” and Chug carries her “like a baby back toward the open cave mouth.” 
  • As the Mob Squad fights the Wither and the Creeperhead, the Creeperhead holds a block of TNT over his head. Then, “The TNT block he was holding over his head explodes, throwing him back against the mountain.” He is knocked out and the kids tie him up, but the Creeperhead is not seriously injured.
  • The Wither follows the kids into the cave. Chug sprints “right at the Wither, running it through with my sword. I hit it again and again, so fast that it can’t seem to launch a skull. . .” Then, Tok joins in the fight. “Tok lands hit after hit. It’s perfect for him, really— [the Wither] can’t move and it can’t fight back.” The Wither explodes and its skeletons run away. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Potions are often used. For example, when someone is sick or injured, they are given a Potion of Healing. 
  • In order to breathe underwater, the Mob Squad uses the Potion of Water Breathing. When Jarro drinks the potion, “the funniest feeling comes over me—like I’m inside a bubble and as light as air.”
  • After being attacked by fish, Tok gives his friends “Potions of Regeneration. They should help us heal faster, if we get hurt.” The ingredients include “a ghast tear and some Nether wart.” 
  • One of Tok’s potions uses “fermented spider eye.”
  • When given a golden apple, an elderly lady’s health is restored.

Language   

  • Poppeycock is used once.
  • The town’s people call Lenna “Loony Lenna.”
  • Heck is used once; darn is used twice. 
  • One of the Mob Squad calls someone a jerk four times. 
  • After almost dying in the fish attack, an old man saves the kids. He calls the kids “fools” and “morons.”
  • Tok is injured, but he’s still trying to talk, so Lenna says, “Shut your piehole.” 
  • Lenna calls the guards who won’t open the gates “creeps.”
  • An elderly woman calls one of the town’s elders “the little nincompoop.” 

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

The Clockwork Crow

A magical story of snow and stars, The Clockwork Crow is a mysterious gothic tale set in a frost-bound Victorian country mansion. On her way to her new home, orphaned Seren Rhys is given a mysterious package by a strange and frightened man; she reluctantly takes the package with her. The package contains miscellaneous gears and parts that build a small, metal crow. As Seren adapts to her new life at Plas-y-Fran, she is thrust into a mystery about a young boy who vanished on Christmas Eve a year before. The mansion servants refuse to answer Seren’s questions, so she decides to investigate on her own. Who are the family who must not be spoken of, and can Seren find the boy, Tomos, before time runs out? 

Twelve-year-old Seren Rhys has lived in an orphanage for most of her life. After the death of her great-aunt, Seren discovers that she will be moving in with her godparents who have a mansion in Wales. She dreams of a fabulous life with lots of joy and warmth, but that is not the reality awaiting her. The servants of the house speak about the family in hushed whispers, and Seren’s curiosity gets the better of her. With the help of her magical Clockwork Crow, she uncovers a great mystery regarding the youngest boy of the family and decides it’s up to her to save him. Despite being afraid, Seren decides, “I’m not going to let that stop me.” 

The author crafts an elaborate fantasy from deceptively simple language. The book is written in third person and follows Seren’s journey throughout. Many readers will relate to Seren’s curiosity and her desire to learn more about the household’s secrecy. The supporting characters are fascinating yet ambiguous, likely from being poorly revealed. This is perhaps a casualty of the quick pace that the book has. The deadened manor provides the perfect backdrop for magical forces. Together, these elements create an engaging story that draws readers to try to solve the mystery with Seren. 

The importance of belonging is highlighted since Seren has been alone for most of her life and dreams of the “traditional” family that others have. When she arrives at Plas-y-Fran, she discovers that the family has been torn apart following the disappearance of their son, Tomos. Seren reflects that saving him at her expense would be acceptable, because “[Tomos’] mother and father were longing for him. But no one was longing for her. No one would care if she never went back.” She has always felt like an outsider, after living in an orphanage for the beginning of her life and then joining a family that already had a child. Through her adventure, Seren learns the value of belonging and discovers that she is loved.

The Clockwork Crow is enjoyable to read, although the story is a bit rushed. The novel consistently moves forward and never feels stagnated. At the beginning of every chapter, there is a short riddle that is relevant to the chapter, although it is not one that readers can solve. An example riddle is “Beak and wing and eye and claw. I’m not who I was before.” Fans of fantasy and mystery will enjoy The Clockwork Crow, but it can be enjoyed by all readers thanks to its message about self-discovery and found family. Seren feels lonely at times but manages to establish a family with her godparents after finding their son and reuniting the family. This book is the first in the Clockwork Crow trilogy; if readers are interested in continuing the story, they can read The Velvet Fox to follow Seren’s journey.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • The housekeeper consistently calls Seren an “impudent little girl.” She also puts Seren down frequently. For example, the housekeeper says Seren has “appalling manners.”

Supernatural

  • The Clockwork Crow is able to talk and move independently once the key is cranked. The Crow claims to be “as real as [Seren]” when asked if the events were just a dream.
  • The Crow was confined to clockwork when a witch cursed him by saying, “until you give up the one thing that means the most to you, you’ll be a black crow forever and ever.” Prior to the curse, the Crow used to be human.
  • There is a fairy family of “magic, secret creatures, who can never get older, can be beautiful or ugly and twisted.” Every character in the book is afraid of the Fair Family and speaks about them in hushed whispers.

Spiritual Content 

  • The household attends church sermons every Sunday, and the housekeeper tells Seren “this is the Day of the Lord and we must be respectful” regarding the tasks and activities expected of her for the day.

The Lost Girl

When you’re an identical twin, your story always starts with someone else. For Iris, that means her story starts with Lark. The twins have always had each other’s back and their bond was so strong that they never felt alone. They shared their looks as well as their thoughts and feelings. Lark was the extension of Iris and vice versa, and they were always better off together. 

However, things change when they are put in separate classes in fifth grade. They are in unfamiliar surroundings without their other half. For the first time, they have to make new friends and acquaint themselves with new teachers, new routines, and new challenges. Despite the grownups telling them that this is the best decision, Iris and Lark do not agree.  

Iris’s heart aches because she misses her sister’s constant presence. She had always been confident with Lark by her side, but now she has to navigate the scary and unfamiliar world of fifth grade alone. Lark, on the other hand, finds herself hiding in a world of her own as she struggles to adapt to the changes. The once inseparable twins now feel the weight of their individuality. 

At the same time, something strange is happening in the city around them. Things both great and small go missing. The girls can’t help but feel a sense of unease as they notice their world changing. When Iris begins to understand that anything can be lost in the blink of an eye, she decides it is up to her to find a way to keep her sister safe. Iris starts paying attention to her surroundings and taking note of suspicious activities. With each passing day, Iris becomes more determined to protect her sister and unravel the mystery of the missing things. 

The Lost Girl is an incredibly touching story that celebrates the unbreakable bond of sisterhood, and the beauty of individuality. The story follows two sisters, Iris and Lark, as they navigate the challenges of life, and come out on the other side stronger and more resilient. The reader experiences the twins’ journey and is drawn into the world of Iris and Lark by their intricate relationship. Since the story is told from the third-person perspective, the narrative style creates a sense of mystery around the identity of the speaker, which adds an intriguing element. While this narrative style has its benefits, it can also be confusing at times. For instance, the speaker seems to have knowledge of the girls’ internal thoughts, which can sometimes make it difficult to discern who is thinking or talking. However, black and white pictures appear once each chapter and provide a visual element that helps readers fully immerse themselves in the story. 

Throughout The Lost Girl the reader is reminded of the transformative power of change, and how even the most difficult situations can lead to personal growth and a greater understanding of yourself. However, The Lost Girl could benefit from a more developed and connected plot. The mystery and magic elements are not clearly explained which may cause confusion and disconnect readers. While the beginning seems to crawl along at a snail’s pace, the imbalance between the explanation behind the mystery and the deep development of the main characters leaves the ending feeling rushed.  

The Lost Girl presents a heartwarming tale about the bond of sisterhood and the journey towards self-discovery. While the plot development has some flaws, specifically with the integration of mystery and magic, the novel still offers wonderful life lessons.  Additionally, the themes of individuality, family connection, and the power of friendship are sure to strike a chord with many readers. Readers longing for books similar to The Lost Girl should also read the Legend of Eerie-on-Sea Series by Thomas Taylor and Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Mr. Green, the man who owns the antique shop, invites Iris to stay with him. When she refuses, Mr. Green tries to force Iris to stay. Before anything can occur, Duchess, Mr. Green’s cat, comes to Iris’s aid. “A yowling sound—then Mr. Green yelled, ‘Ow!’ Duchess was at his ankle, biting. Iris wrenched free from his grasp and ran forward, and then heard another yowl, this time in pain. Mr. Green kicked the cat. Then his hand wrapped around her shoulder again, and the next thing she knew, she was being thrown into the doorway marked office.” Duchess and Mr. Green remain mostly unharmed, but Iris is left trapped in the room. 
  •  Mr. Green attempts to get close to Iris because he plans to use magic to transform her into a doll. Iris “dove over to the shelves with the jars of magic, grabbed one, and hurled it at Mr. Green. He yelled and ducked out of the way. The jar exploded on the wall, and the magic inside splattered and oozed and steamed and hissed, and Mr. Green slapped his hands over his face and screamed.” Iris temporarily halts the attack, but wounds Mr. Green with a magic substance.  
  • The girls from Camp Awesome, the after-school camp Iris attends, attempt to save Iris from Mr. Green. Unfortunately, the girls are no match for the size and strength Mr. Green possesses. Mr. Green “swore, then threw Hannah across the room and kicked Lark in the stomach. She stumbled backwards. Iris dove to her.” Hannah and Lark are wounded slightly. The girls are left trapped listening to the demands of Mr. Green. 
  • Iris agrees to go with Mr. Green as long as he allows the other girls to go free. To ensure she doesn’t leave, he binds her to a chair. Mr. Green “growled at her. And then he duct-taped one arm to the chair. Then the other. Then he bound her ankles. And then her mouth.”  
  • The girls continue to fight Mr. Green and they use their intelligence to outwit him. They formulate a plan to shove him into the magic well. “Then several things happened at once. Mr. Green pushed the door open. As he did, Lark jumped backward. A crow let out a cry and dove toward him. He whirled around, and out of nowhere Duchess came barreling forward, right toward his ankles. He bobbled. Lark thrust out her hands and pushed. He slipped backward. And he fell.” The girls defeat Mr. Green and escape. After he falls into the well, it is presumed that he is dead and unable to come back up from the magic water within. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Tommy Whedon, Lark’s sworn enemy, makes fun of Iris in the hallway. “You’re a psycho, you know that?” Iris retaliates by calling him a mole rat and blowfish.  
  • Tommy Whedon became Lark’s enemy when he called her crow girl. “And at recess, Tommy told Iris she was nasty and ugly and bossy and no one liked her, and Lark didn’t talk for the rest of the day. Somehow their parents got wind of the ‘mole rat’ comment and Iris got a talking-to about name calling. Meanwhile people whispered Freak and Crow Girl at Lark for the rest of the year.” This nickname pops up a couple of times.  

Supernatural  

  • Lark is imaginative and believes there is magic in even the most mundane things. Lark believes her teacher to be an ogre because he made fun of her and seems out of place as a fifth-grade teacher. “‘I am pretty sure,’ [Lark] said, voice intent, ‘that Mr. Hunt is an ogre’…To Lark an ogre took great pride in his collection of children’s hearts and when the other ogres would come over for dinner (usually ogres serve yak to guests) he would show his treasure, boasting about how he had the finest collection in the land. He’d take the jar off the shelf and tell the great and glorious story of the capture of the child the heart once belonged to.” This is a thought Lark brings up repeatedly throughout the text and she continues to theorize about why she believes Mr. Hunt is an ogre. 
  • Iris sees a cat, Duchess, travel thorough a clock.  
  • Duchess leads Iris behind a curtain where Iris discovers a whole house. Not only is it almost the size of a mansion, but there are remarkable pieces of art scattered throughout. Mr. Green says, “I told you I had magic. You kept saying it was science.”  
  • Mr. Green use magic to make a compass using water and create a battery out of a potato.  
  • Mr. Green gains power by accessing wells of magic. He shows Iris a new well that is hidden inside his mansion. “Iris shook her head slightly as if to clear it. It was a well of magic. Magic was a thing, something you could scoop up like water.” Iris has a hard time comprehending the magic.  
  • Inside Mr. Green’s office, Iris discovers more magic. “One wall of shelving was lined with wooden carvings, and perched right in front of it was a big shiny black-and-gold sewing machine with a foot pedal. Another was filled with sealed jam jars of shimmering magic.”  
  • Mr. Green explains magic’s power. “The magic is hard to work with, but it does excel at one thing in particular . . . It excels at transformation. This is very useful when you need to walk out of a museum with a painting or take a sculpture the size of a semi-truck out of a public garden. It can also be useful in other ways. And I think, Miss Maguire, I know the best way to keep you. . . Perhaps I can give you as a gift to [my lost sister] after all.” He explains to Iris that he could use the magic to transform Iris into a doll for his sister.  
  • The explanation behind who the narrator is brought full circle and revealed as Mr. Green’s lost sister, Alice. It is learned that Alice turned herself into a crow and that she’s the giant crow following the girls throughout the story. “Iris was right — I did run from you. You locked me in a room, you said it was for my own good, and I pulled all the magic I could from the room and turned myself into a crow. I made a tool to open the latch and flew out the window. Crows are very good with tools. Magic has a cost. You gave your humanity willingly for it. I gave mine, too, but in a different way. I like my way better.”  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy

Illyria, a land shrouded in mystery and magic, is home to a kingdom full of potential sorcerers, witches’ curses, and a mysterious mist called “the Dread.” Marya Lupu has always known her place in the kingdom. Her role is to stay quiet and make sure her brother Luka gets the title his family feels he deserves, which is to be a powerful sorcerer. However, on the day that the sorcerer’s guild comes to test Luka’s magical capabilities, Marya finds herself at the root of a chaotic mistake that will change her life forever. As it turns out, Marya’s brother is not a sorcerer after all, and the guild finds Marya to be unfit for the norms of society. Upon the king’s wishes, Marya is sent away to Dragomir Academy, a prestigious school for troubled girls. Although initially hesitant and fearful, Marya soon finds that Dragomir Academy is a place of great opportunity and learning. 

At the academy, Marya is introduced to the values and practices necessary for a lady of Illyria. In the eyes of the kingdom, Marya needs to know etiquette, needlework, music, and literature in order to have value. But Marya also discovers that Dragomir Academy is a place of secrets and intrigue. As she delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding the academy, Marya realizes that her fate is intertwined with Illyria’s fate. And as Marya uncovers the secrets of Dragomir Academy, she realizes her true destiny may be far greater than she ever imagined. 

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is a captivating and thought-provoking novel that delves into the lives of young girls dealing with personal issues such as what their role is inside a patriarchal society and what power they hold. Although the story starts off slowly, it gradually builds momentum as it explores the complexities of Marya’s and the other girls at the academy’s lives. Unlocking the mysteries will leave readers on the edge of their seats. 

As Marya arrives at Dragomir Academy, she is introduced to an entirely new world, one full of challenges and untold secrets. Her journey to unravel these secrets makes the book compelling.  Readers’ hearts will break as they follow Marya through the difficult challenges the ladies of Illyria face. Marya is a character that readers will want to give a hug. She is extremely relatable, especially for young girls who are learning to navigate their way in the world. She is curious, intelligent, and admirable, with a deep sense of empathy that makes her all the more endearing. Readers will find themselves rooting for Marya at every turn, as she overcomes obstacles both big and small on her journey of self-discovery. Her steadfast determination to succeed and strive to find out the truth makes her an inspiration to anyone who has ever faced adversity. Whether she’s exploring new horizons or facing down a challenge head-on, Marya’s spirit and resilience are sure to leave a lasting impression on readers of all ages. 

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is a powerful book that tells the story of girls who have been told that they are powerless. They have been told to calm down, be proper, and be quiet. This book is about finding strength, friendship, and the power within yourself. It’s about choosing to be strong despite the obstacles in your path. With vivid descriptions of the academy and the girls, the author paints a picture that is both whimsical and heart-wrenching. This is a must-read for anyone looking for an empowering story about young women who refuse to be silenced. However, it is not a read for the faint of heart, as it shows the gravity of how heavy life can be for a woman.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • The Dread is a mysterious monster affiliated with the kingdom that causes villages to be lost overnight. The Dread leaves the villagers dead, which is described several times as the Dread leaving corpses without blood or souls. 
  • Marya reflects on the loss of her baby brother, Pieter. “The fever came during the day and he died during the night. She was eight, then. It happened while she was sleeping. She’d tried to stay up to watch him, but she was so tired from the day of trying to get the fever down.” She was heartbroken over the loss of her brother, after his passing her family pretended he didn’t exist.  
  • Two significant girls at Dragomir Academy get “mountain madness.” When the onset occurs, the girls start shrieking and crying because they either see things or feel that there are bugs crawling underneath their skin. Simona, the sixth year in charge of her class, tells Marya of her experience. “Nothing was there. But then it kept happening. Or it would feel like spiders were underneath my skin, scuttling in my veins… I tried to hide it, pretended everything was fine. And then one night when I was sleeping, I dreamed a giant spider was on my chest, tying me up. But it felt so real. So I started screaming and fighting, trying to get it off me.” Mountain madness then becomes a topic of interest for Marya as she feels there is something more to it that the adults are hiding.  
  • A girl’s aunt accidentally harmed a village boy. The girl says her aunt “was practicing witchcraft. Like, some boy who had been pestering her while she was walking, suddenly his hair lit on fire.” The child was okay, but her aunt was sent to an asylum for witches.  
  • High Count Arev, a member of the Sorcerer’s Guild, answers questions about witches. “During the early days of the Witching Wars, we simply put them to death. But of course, that ultimately added to our troubles, for reasons we understand now . . . All the magic of the witches we killed during the Witching Wars either transferred to new witches or appeared somewhere else in the kingdom as an uncontrollable entity and would wreak havoc.”  
  • The headmaster, Headmaster Iagar, of the school, locks Marya in a quarantined cottage. Then, he corners her in the great hall, but Elana, Marya’s friend, helps protect her. “Elana was at the top of the stairs, out of breath, Madame Rosetti, the other teacher at the academy, behind her. The headmaster whirled around, but before he could say anything, Elana lifted her hands and pushed them towards him, the air shimmering with power. He flew backwards, slammed into the wall, and fell to the ground.” He is left unharmed but remains unconscious for several minutes after the blow. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Elana was taken into isolation by the headmaster. “Then I fell asleep again and woke up and I couldn’t remember if it even happened at all, or I’d dreamt it . . . At least, I think that’s what happened. I slept so much. It must have been an enchantment. Or a potion. So I can’t really tell what was a dream and what was real.” Anyone who has “mountain madness” is taken to a quarantined cottage and given a potion that creates a drug-like effect on the user.  

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • Sorcerers and witches are discussed throughout the entirety of the text as they are the protagonists and antagonists of the society. The Sorcerer’s Guild is made up of the young men of the kingdom who possess the talent to harness magic, while the witches are the enemy that they face. The Sorcerer’s Guild and high-ranking officials repeatedly assure the people of the kingdom that any woman who possesses a witch’s talents are harmful beings and must be stopped at all costs.  
  • The Dread is a monster that attacks the villages. It is “the monstrous force that lived in the forest and roamed to nearby towns to devour them.” The Dread is a misty, purple monster that kills an entire village in one night. It is explained that it is brought on by a curse set forth by the witches.  
  • A letter arrives at the Lupu home about Luka’s upcoming sorcerer’s test. “Representatives from the Council of Magical Protection of Illyria, serving the Sorcerer’s Guild, will be at your home in fifteen days, at noon, to evaluate your son, Luka Lupu, for potential giftedness in the art of sorcery.” Upon the day the guild arrives, Luka, like several other young boys throughout the kingdom, will be tested to see if he possesses the ability to harness magic. If he does, his family will be sent to a rich estate and he will join the Sorcerer’s Guild. If he does not, they will continue to live as they do and work hard to build their way up in society.  
  • Madame Bandu, a local village woman, explains how the magical testing will work for Luka. “The Sorcerer’s Guild has always been able to detect potential sorcerers through some kind of spell. It used to be that all boys would be sent to the estates so that they could be mentored when their time did come in. It’s only in the last few decades that they developed a test that could — with reasonable accuracy — predict which boys would actually come to wield magic.” 
  • Marya is learning about the history of Dragomir Academy and the beliefs many individuals hold about females. “Did people think education would somehow turn these girls into witches?” She believes this to be a ridiculous thought and one that makes her sad for the girls who do not get an opportunity for education. 
  • Madame Szabo, Marya’s teacher at Dragomir, asks them about their knowledge of witches. Marya answers, “Well, they cast spells. Like everyone else in the area would lose their vision at once, or sleep through a harvesting season, or plant catnip instead of turnips . . . Or they would all get fevers that lasted for months and months.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Breadcrumbs

Hazel Anderson and Jack Campbell were inseparable best friends. They shared a unique and magical world of their own creation, filled with wonder and imagination, that no one else could fully understand. It was only together that they found their place within the world. 

But one day, without any warning or explanation, Jack suddenly ceased all communication. Hazel feels bewildered, hurt, and alone, and she’s unable to comprehend why her closest companion had seemingly abandoned her.  

Hazel is devastated and can’t understand why her best friend left without a word. Hazel ponders over Jack’s mysterious behavior until Tyler, a close friend of Jack’s, shares what he believes to be impossible. Jack had been taken into the woods by a white witch on a sled. 

Determined to find out the truth and rescue her friend, Hazel embarks on a perilous journey through the mystical woods, using all of her wits and bravery to navigate the treacherous terrain and overcome many obstacles. Her only hope lies in finding the white witch who is rumored to dwell deep within the woods – the same witch who Hazel believes holds Jack captive. 

Hazel can’t help but wonder if Jack truly wants to be rescued or if he has intentionally chosen to leave her behind. The closer she gets to the truth, the more Hazel’s doubts and uncertainties begin to consume her. She wonders if she’s truly prepared for what she might find and if the truth behind Jack’s disappearance might be more than she can handle. 

Hazel is a character that is easily relatable due to her simple and down-to-earth personality. She has a warm and welcoming demeanor that allows people to feel at ease around her. Additionally, Hazel’s experiences are ones that many can relate to, such as the ups and downs of relationships, the struggles of balancing school and friendships, and the journey of self-discovery. In essence, Hazel is a character that embodies the human experience, making her a truly multi-dimensional and interesting character to explore. As she relies on her wits, bravery, and unspeakable determination to uncover the truth and rescue her friend, readers will be rooting for her the entire way. 

The whimsical story includes fifteen black–and–white illustrations that are scattered throughout the text. The illustrations are detailed, yet soft and cartoon-like. It helps bring the reader fully into the world within Breadcrumbs. 

Breadcrumbs is a captivating and enchanting story that takes readers on a journey of self-discovery, friendship, and resilience. The story demonstrates that no matter how lost one may feel, it is never too late to find oneself and embrace who you truly are. Hazel, the protagonist, is a shining example of this. She discovers her true worth and identity. Through her journey, Hazel learns the value of true friends who support and encourage one another, even during the most challenging of times. Breadcrumbs also highlights the importance of perseverance and determination in overcoming obstacles and achieving our dreams. Overall, Breadcrumbs is a heartwarming tale that reminds readers of the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • After getting upset, Hazel throws a snowball at Jack. A few seconds later, unhurt by the snowball, something else causes him to cry out in pain. “’Ow!’ He yelled. ‘Ow!’ His voice cracked into the sky. His other hand flew to his chest and he fell to his knees.” A snowflake with a shard of cursed glass fell into his eye.  
  • Two classmates, Tyler and Bobby, taunt Hazel as they do most days, but this time she has had enough. She retaliates by throwing a pencil case at Tyler. “In one motion Hazel stood up, grabbed the hard pencil case from her desk, and hurled it at Tyler. There were some yelps, some gasps, and then absolute quiet.” Tyler is hit in the head and left with a large, painful bump. 
  • Hazel meets a woman who stole a swan’s skin. Hazel accidentally discards the skin. The woman scratches  Hazel for throwing away the skin. “‘I see,’ the woman said, running a cold finger down Hazel’s cheek. ‘Actions have consequences, little girl.’ And then there was pain. Stinging, and then searing. The woman had stuck a nail into Hazel’s cheek, and it was like a talon. She dragged her finger down, splitting the skin on Hazel’s face. It traveled down her cheek to her neck.” Hazel is left with a gash that bleeds profusely until a young man comes to aid the wound. She is left with a horrible scar. 
  • The white witch gives Jack a puzzle of broken shards that continually cut his fingers as he moves them. “He looked down at the puzzle shards. They were made of old, jagged angles. He reached a finger out to touch one of the points. He felt nothing, but a small dome of red blood rose out of his finger pad.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language   

  • When Jack abandon’s Tyler and Bobby as friends they blame Hazel. They taunt her with different names such as Crazy Hazy, psycho, and baby. 

Supernatural  

  • The narrator gives background on a goblin, who is only prevalent to the beginning part of the story.  “Mal looks nothing like you can imagine, neither goblin nor troll nor imp nor demon. But neither the goblins nor trolls nor imps nor demons know what Mal is either. For Mal is not any of those one things, but all of them . . .” This character only exists to create an entryway into the magic that exists throughout the rest of the story. 
  • The narrator takes a moment to provide context about the glass that made its way into Jack’s eye. This piece of glass is not anything ordinary, because it is a shard from a cursed mirror. “Mal had just invented something delightful – or at least something he found delightful, for that is an altogether different prospect. On the surface, it looked like an ordinary mirror . . . For the mirror took beautiful things and made them ugly, and took ugly things and made them hideous . . . the mirror shattered into the sky. . . one landed in the eye of a boy.”  
  • After Hazel notices the change in Jack’s behavior, she asks an adult what supernatural options there could be for Jack’s sudden change in personality. The adult says, “There are a few options. Possession is one. Not by a demon, but by something a little more harmless, like a goblin or imp. . . Or an evil disembodied brain thing.  Or there could be some sort of enchantment. By a witch or wizard. Or by a magical item, something that was given to them, or something they acquired, maybe by accident. Or something that’s infected them that causes them to see the world in a skewed way.’” 
  • Tyler tells Hazel about the impossible thing he saw right before Jack’s disappearance. Tyler says, “He wasn’t alone. There was a woman there. She was . . . she wasn’t right. She was tall and weirdly thin. She wasn’t real. She was all white and silver and made of snow . . . like an elf or a witch . . . like a movie.” 
  • Hazel encounters three women in the woods that promise to help her. “[The first woman] picked a long gray string out of the box. It had a puff of wool attached at one end. She passed the string down, puff end first, and the three hooded women stared at it as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world.” The string the women look at represents Hazel’s life. The three women are supposed to represent the Fates who are in charge of the lives of those inside the world. They can see that her fate is yet undetermined and promise to help her if she asks a question. Although upon hearing her questions about the white witch, they send Hazel on her way.  
  • Hazel meets a young boy who lives in a cabin in the woods. His sister has been changed into a bird. The boy explains that a couple “‘said she’d run away. But I saw the bird and I knew. . . ‘ He glanced at the gold cage behind him. ‘It’s just like her. And you always know your sister.’”  
  • As Hazel walks through the woods, she thinks, “There were witches in the woods, they stole beauty from swans and then rotted from the inside. There were couples who wanted to turn girls into pretty little birds. The woods do strange things to people.” 
  • Hazel meets a kind couple that says they want to help, but upon walking Hazel listens to the stories of the flowers. She finds out that the couple has changed the girls into flowers. Hazel runs back into the woods before they can turn her into a rose.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None
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