ANDARTA

In Staback and Kennedy’s YA fantasy novel, twin sisters navigate their intertwined destinies shaped by an ancestral connection to the ancient goddess Andarta.

The story opens on the Senmarian Fjords in 966 C.E., where the Viking leader Brennhir Torox prepares his army for battle. Kimbel Murphy, a leader of the Senmarian tribes, invokes the Norse goddess Andarta with the aid of his Druid priest, Cathbad. Kimbel, aided by Andarta, beheads Brennhir, and a mystical sword absorbs the goddess—the sword is then guarded by a dragon called Tyrell. The story shifts to present-day Illinois and focuses on twins Clara and Emilia Benning and their friend Gabriel Contreras; when 10-year-old Gabriel is swept up by Leandro Mammon’s human trafficking operation, he is forced to work on the Rosales-Guermo Strawberry Farm in California. While on a family trip to London, the twins discover that their ancestors were the followers of Andarta. The narrative follows the twins through high school and college; Clara pursues nursing while Emilia studies law and activism. Meanwhile, Gabriel endures horrors while working on the farm. Once the twins graduate, they move to Forest Hills, a suburb of Seraphim City in Southern California. The twins temporarily separate, Clara remaining in California while Emilia attends Hereford Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While in Cambridge, Emilia meets Kara (secretly the Norse goddess of love and war), who sets her up with an internship with a judge. Kara accidentally calls Emilia by the name Andarta, which summons the goddess to possess Emilia’s body. Andarta scolds Kara for her inefficiency in awakening the twins to their destinies. After the twins graduate from their respective programs, Emilia sets out to try her first human trafficking case, which she wins. Later, she randomly encounters Gabriel at a produce stand; they undertake a mission to free the people imprisoned by the strawberry farm.

Staback and Kennedy excel in creating rich characters in Emilia and Clara, but the story’s pacing is inconsistent; the first half of the book follows the characters as they navigate high school and college, with only a few short scenes that reference Gabriel’s ongoing plight or any divine interactions with Andarta. At other times (as in the case of Clara and Gabriel’s eventual romance), the story moves too fast. Readers may also be confused by the worldbuilding: It is established that there is a council of gods from various pantheons—however, there’s an unclear distinction between these gods and the god of Abrahamic religions. This disconnect is jarring when Emilia says to Gabriel, “Gabriel is the name of one of God’s most important angels...Gabriel itself is one of the coolest names there is!” Even so, the story boasts a compelling premise and champions justice for victims of human trafficking (the book’s aftermatter includes a detailed breakdown of the issue along with a phone number that forwards callers to a relevant hotline).

A thoughtful fantasy novel for young adults that spotlights the problem of human trafficking in the United States.