Ix Tatterfall has long felt like an outcast, picked on by peers at home and hiding her rare ability to cross back and forth into the Labyrinth, a between-world that is home to Sorrows like Wrath, Misery, Greed, and other personified ills. In the second volume of this spooky and original magic-school series, Ix is still feeling like an outsider despite her enrollment at Candle Corps Academy, where students are trained to protect the Kingdom of Spinar from the dangerous Nightmare creatures who can slip into our world from the Labyrinth.
She’s found two good friends, though, Morrigan and Ollie, and with them at her side, must partake in a new challenge: the Reckoning, an ancient tradition that will help protect the school and keep Nightmare creatures at bay. But an even more fearsome danger is also emerging: a monstrous shadow beast created from Nothing that has emerged from Nowhere (capitalization intentional), the place where all missing things go. It has marked Ix in a way that puts her in the middle of trying to contain it before it consumes the entire Waking World.
While some familiar tropes of magic-school series are here (an enchanted castle! entitled peers! A curmudgeonly teacher!), author Leslie Vedder has woven them into an original story with its own unique world and system of magic, and surpasses previous series (IMHO) with a creatively named menagerie of magical fauna and flora, including Howlamanders, Quiver Lizards, Dead-in-the-Water Lilies, and more.
The tale is full of adventure, peril, and age-appropriate spookiness, but underlying the action is a thoughtful exploration of loneliness, grief, belonging, and the ways we handle the feelings we have. While the messages are clear, Vedder conveys them in ways that feel true to the characters and not pedantic.
I also appreciate that Ix isn’t a “chosen one.” While she has a rare skill, her decision to use it is hers alone, and not the result of some prophecy or outside force. (At one point, too, an adult character remarks that children shouldn’t bear the burden and risks of saving the world—an important point that often seems to get lost in other books.)
Queer relationships are normalized in this world; Morrigan has two dads, who play secondary but regular roles in the story. I also get a queer vibe from the overall-clad Ix herself, but maybe it’s just me; perhaps the next volume will clarify. Yes, another one looks to be on the way, even though the ending to this highly recommended read feels satisfying in itself. I can’t wait.
Ix’s parents are described as having tan skin and dark eyes; Ix reads as White on the cover image. Ollie has brown skin and Morrigan peach skin.
