A mysterious girl who can unwittingly read minds whether she wants to or not, a unexpected meeting with a young man from another realm and more questions that you can shake a stick at and you have a jaw-droopingly good series opener in what looks like the makings of an epic middle grade fantasy series and I’m up for the ride.
Twelve year old Sofie discovers her hidden talents of telepathy among other unexpected talents like never needing to work hard at school – it just comes natural. But underneath that Sofie feels disjointed and uncomfortable in her own skin. So when she meets another mysterious boy by the name of Fitz who can explain that she is indeed not meant to fit in but she is actually part of an entirely different realm and people.
Wishing her off – leaving her family behind and discovering that she is destined for an entirely different life than she ever imagined however all is not perfect as this new world has dangers of it’s own and as Sofie herself begins to unravel her history there maybe those who want her silenced before the truth can be fully revealed.
My Thoughts
What a wonderful, mysterious and magical start to an exciting and riveting series. Shannon Messenger doesn’t muck around getting us introduced to Sofie’s new world and new acquaintances – the first section of the book is whirlwind of introductions and changes for both Sofie and us as the readers. Once we are fully ensconced in Sofie’s new world – things start to solidify into a more classic magic school format. For such a diverse and varied cast of characters – I thought that each main player was given a good amount of fleshing out and as this is the foundation for currently 7 more books – I wanted to continue to learn about them as the story progresses.
The book moves swiftly after the initial 150 odd pages of intro and then the final 150 are a white-knuckle adventure ride with high stakes and definitely no ability to put the book down leaving enough continued mystery to have me wanting to dive literally into the next one. Can’t wait to see where this series goes and as this book appears the smallest of the series (although no slouch coming in at just under 500 pages long) the rest of the series appears even more detailed and engaging.
Bring it on.