Review: Into the Wild Magic by Michelle Knudsen

This book is a classic MG portal fantasy, and also about friendship. Bevvy is finding it hard to make new friends after moving to middle school.

Cat is new, and Bevvy reaches out to her, but the kitten has claws. And portal magic, which transports the two girls to the dangerous magical world of Lorelkey. This isn’t your nice fairytale world. Unicorns are carnivorous and there’s a war going on between the different types of magic users – the wild magic users (akin to druids, with some capable of shapeshifting) and the sorcerers.

Who have reason to hate each other on both sides, but a group of sorcerers are trying to destroy wild magic…

And Bevvy develops abilities of her own, but really this is about friendship, trust, and how people can end up hating one another for reasons that seem good to the hater but less so to the hated.

About how we need to learn to work together. I wish the real world’s problems were more like this.

This is a delightful book, but be warned that it’s on the longer side for MG. It might be a bit long for some kids…but others are going to dive into it and not want to leave.

I found it quite enjoyable as an adult, and I think I would have liked it at the appropriate age too. It’s a little on the dark side (lots of monsters), but much in the way kids appreciate.

I also want a giant riding moth, just saying…

I received a copy of this book for award consideration purposes.

Review: Goblin Girl by K.A. Mielke

CW: Fantasy racism. Lots of it.

This is in many ways a classic secondary world fantasy. Gertrude is a goblin raised by humans, and dealing with constant bullying. Until the goblin armies attack and she ends up tasked with getting Princess Beatrix to safety.

This starts a quest narrative that is full of classic fantasy tropes and images. We get airship pirates, goblin dragonriders, an underground sanctuary city, friendly trolls, and an interesting take on elves.

The author takes out a lot of other forms of prejudice…we have a non-binary pirate captain, a doomed gay relationship, and sparks between our protagonist and the princess.

But this book is about why we fear the other and what we should do about it. It’s about what hate does not just to the hated but to the hater, reaching out, seeking redemption, etc.

All stuff kids need to hear right now…but also so do adults. And this is definitely a book that can be enjoyed by both.

Unless, of course, reading about racism just makes you mad, in which case even the author admits you might want to avoid it right now (as a note, the content warnings are in the Notes at the start, so if you’re the kind of person who finds them spoilery, you can just skip through. It’s not spoilery for most, but…)

I received a copy of this book for award consideration purposes.