While this site mostly reviews YA novels, every once in a while a Middle Grade book will find its way into my collection as well. In this category, you can see what I think about some of the MG fiction that I get my hands on, and you might begin considering yourself a Middle Grade fiction lover too!
With The Jumbies, Baptiste offers an original, fairytale-like twist on the classic Haitian folktale “The Magic Orange Tree” with a brave female protagonist and lyrical prose that both young people and adult readers of MG literature will love, especially if they like their fairytales with a creepy atmosphere. And in the diverse case of characters, which is reflected in the beautifully creepy cover designed by Vivienne To, and it’s clear that this book’s time has come. Read more →
As with The False Prince and The Runaway King – the first two novels in the Ascendance Trilogy – The Shadow King is an explosively good novel for older MG and younger YA readers (10-14). Of course, I’m an adult reader, and I not only enjoyed the twists and turns of the first two books, but also felt that Nielsen does a great job of making the stakes even higher than they were before while still dishing out a decent number of humorous moments and a lot of heart. Read more →
Like the first book in the series, the plot of The Runaway King takes places over the course of a few weeks, but so much happens during that time. Nielsen has, indeed, maintained her brisk pace, and if possible, puts even more harm in Jaron’s way than he’s ever experienced. Read more →
Some fantasy novels take 50 pages for the world and the characters that the author has created to charm you. With Nielsen’s The False Prince, however, it took exactly three sentences for me to be hooked on Sage’s voice, and admittedly laughing out loud at the situation in which I first met him. I don’t guarantee many things, but when it comes to this middle grade novel, I do guarantee that you will, too. Read more →