The second volume of the Doomsday Archives series brings us back to New Rotterdam, a contender for one of America’s Most Haunted Cities, and to the three friends—Emrys, Hazel, and Serena—who have been given magic relics to combat forces of evil. This time, the story is told from the viewpoint of Hazel, who is having the hardest time mastering her new powers. She’s also worried about her mother, who works long hours at the hospital to make ends meet. If Hazel can learn to use her relic, the Magnus Crown, she just might be able to turn base metals into gold and help her family.
Even as Hazel starts to make slow progress, however, a new horror arises in town, one that lures its victims with images of what they most desire. Can Hazel and her friends stop it in time, or will Hazel herself succumb to the illusions?
As in the first volume, the worldbuilding and plot are enriched with interstitial excerpts from the New Rotterdam Wiki Project, the online community that tracks the city’s strange history and happenings, and with black-and-white illustrations by Julian Callos (though this is very much a middle grade novel, not a picture book).
The spooky adventure is given depth, too, by Hazel’s struggle against shame at her family’s precarious financial state, which contrasts with that of her friends. And while Serena’s two dads are given no more than a mention, we also meet new character Nisha, who has a trans mother and is bisexual herself. There’s a hint that Hazel may have a crush on Nisha, too, but further development of that thread awaits a future volume. None of the characters’ queerness is a part of the plot, but nor is it ignored when relevant; Nisha observes about herself and Serena at one point, “When you’re the two Brown kids with queer parents at a very white, very traditional private school, you learn to have each other’s backs.”
Another recommended read in a delightfully creepy series.
Emrys and Hazel are White; Serena is Black.
