Propulsive fun.
Jax Freeman, “summoner extraordinaire,” and his friends are back for seventh grade, and they’re competing, with varying levels of enthusiasm, in the titular competition.
The Tournament of Spirits, to be hosted for the first time in Jax’s new hometown of Chicago, is a yearlong competition that pits teams of young magic workers—summoners—from around the world against one another. Jax’s team’s coach doesn’t think they’re ready, and neither do Jax’s teammates, but the contest’s head judge sees something in Jax that makes her encourage him to enter his ethnically diverse team of five as representatives of Chicago. As the tournament progresses, the challenges the kids face are complicated by the illicit introduction of endangered cryptids. Poachers are at work, and the head judge and a leader of the local summoning community ask Jax to keep an eye on his fellow competitors, even his teammates, to identify the malefactors. With the tournament, Mbalia expands the universe of summoners to a global one; the Italian, Martinique, and South African teams play significant secondary roles. The cryptids the kids encounter likewise spring from various traditions, but Jax’s African American culture provides the novel’s texture. With the tournament, friendship drama, and cryptid poaching, there’s a lot going on, and the author wrangles some details better than others. Nevertheless, Jax’s endearingly rambling, frequently comedic narration will keep kids engaged.
Propulsive fun. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781368065108
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Freedom Fire/Disney
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
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A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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