Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Moriarty returns to the magical universe of The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (rev. 9/18) in this companion novel. The town of Spindrift, in the Kingdom of Storms, is under siege as nefarious actors from the neighboring Whispering Kingdom begin kidnapping children and waging war via mind control. Seven children, from Spindrift's impoverished orphanage school and snooty boarding school, join forces to foil the Whisperers, aided by mysterious visitors from the future (whom readers of the first book will recognize). Orphan Finlay and boarder Honey Bee take turns narrating; their very distinct (and often humorous) voices and sympathetic personalities are the novel's strength, and readers will be as interested in the gradual burgeoning of their friendship as in the tale's nonstop dramatic events. Moriarty introduces relevant messages such as the dangers of judging individuals by where they come from, but the messages are incorporated organically into the story; the many twists and turns of the plot will keep readers turning pages till the triumphant end. (c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Young people from two schools in the town of Spindrift form an alliance to save children pressed into creating magical weapons for the enemy as war breaks out.Finlay, from the Orphanage, and Honey Bee, from the Brathelthwaite School, document the story of the war's beginning, describing their roles in the resistance in alternating chapters. The Whisperers, the residents of a heretofore-benign neighboring kingdom, are now involved in the disappearance of children, and a vicious influenza outbreak is revealed to be a kind of biological warfare. As familiar Spindrift citizens with Shadow Magic origins are rounded up and imprisoned and attacks increase around the kingdom, the terror of war begins to reveal itself. The collaborative account details the complexities of this world's magic types and beings, differences between the residential schools (the Orphanage for poor children; Brathelthwaite for quite well-off ones), and the various horrors that accompany the start of a war no one wants. Viewpoints stay firmly with Finlay and Honey Bee in ways both hilarious and poignant, with many digs at assumptions that wealthier is better. The cast assumes a white default, with clever, dark-skinned Glim, one of the Orphanage children, an exception. This jam-packed, imaginative adventure is magically immersive and entertaining. (Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.