A tale of magical realism inspired by Greek mythology.
Eleven-year-old Juniper “June” Harvey is trying to adjust to her new life in a small town in Florida. She misses her best friend, and tries to resist her well-meaning parents’ attempts to help her socialize. She’d rather stay in her room and draw bugs.
More disturbingly, she keeps having dreams about an ancient temple and a girl who turns into an ivory statue. One night, the girl turns up in her room, wielding a sword, and reveals herself to be Princess Galatea of the mysterious floating land of Kypros. Galatea has lost her crown, but needs it to get home and save her realm, which is slowly crumbling from mysterious forces. June tries to help her, even as she develops a crush on the dynamic, strong-willed princess. Then the evil creatures show up….
Two of June’s classmates, including a girl with a penchant for astronomy, are also drawn into the adventure and help round out this exciting tale. There are clear echoes of Greek mythology (and of Rick Riordan’s Greek-inspired series), but they are distant enough that author Nina Varela’s middle-grade debut feels original, with its own mythos and worldbuilding. June’s crush on Galatea is sweet and the fact that she likes girls is a non-issue. The scenes of Galatea trying to fit in to a modern-day middle school are just amusing enough to be entertaining, but this isn’t predominantly a comedy about someone from another world trying to pass as human; it’s an adventure tale in which a girl from our world must try to help save another, while also figuring out how she fits in to her own.
There’s a clear setup for a sequel, which I’m thoroughly looking forward to.
