THE SPINDLE OF FATE

California 12-year-old Evie Mei Huang ventures into the depths of Dìyù, the Chinese netherworld, to save her mother and reunite her family.

It’s been 10 days since Evie’s mother disappeared and was declared dead. The first time she returns to her family’s tailor shop (just downstairs from their apartment), Evie encounters talking monkey Monk, who’s really a yāoguài, or demon. He delivers a mysterious birthday gift containing a scroll with an embroidered message from her mother: “Help me…Find me in Dìyù.” Evie soon discovers a whole world she knew nothing about: Not only was Mom a member of a secret society of magical weavers, but she was also “the master of the Spindle of Fate, which can change a person’s destiny.” Armed with the famed demon-­repelling Staff of Mùlián and a magical spool of red thread to lead the way, Evie embarks on a treacherous, action-packed race to find her mother in the multilevel underground labyrinth that is Dìyù. Detailed and descriptive both in characterization and scene-setting, Lim’s evocative language builds a fun modern fantasy that draws from Chinese mythology. She doesn’t shy away from the macabre, with her tween protagonist swimming through a pool of blood, navigating knife-covered mountains, evading pursuit by desperate dead penitents, and fending off demons of various forms. This debut, which explores grief, a complicated mother-daughter relationship, and family dynamics, also has a lot of heart.

An enthralling adventure.