Spellfall

When Natalie is captured, she discovers that she has amazing powers and wonders if she can free herself and save Earthhaven, the mystical world beyond the Thrallstone Gateway, where enormous soultrees spin a web of unique magic.

Gr 5-7-Natalie's father never told her that her mother was a powerful Spell Lady from Earthaven, a magical universe beyond the Boundary. Her mother has been dead for years, and her grieving, human father intended to protect his daughter from her dangerous heritage. But now that Natalie is 12, a wicked Spell Lord who has been exiled from across the Boundary wants to enslave her and use her powers to invade Earthaven. After he kidnaps her, Natalie learns her true lineage, enters the other world, gains the loyalty of the Spell Lord's downtrodden son and assorted other allies, and foils his evil plans. The action bounces back and forth between Natalie's contemporary world and the land of spells, unicorns, and giant sentient trees. Unfortunately, the protagonist's plucky charm, the fast-paced plot, and the unusual setting aren't enough to outweigh the sometimes-hackneyed dialogue and unpersuasive secondary characters, whose motivations are often unclear or divulged too late in the story to be convincing. For a more satisfying look at novice enchanters in parallel worlds, try Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard (Harcourt, 1996) and its sequels.

Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

While Roberts (Song Quest) creatively blends aspects of modern society with traditional elements of fantasy, the novel is ultimately weighed down with explanations of the inner workings of Earthaven, an imaginary parallel world. Natalie lives in an "eco-friendly" suburban development with her alcoholic father, stepmom and stepbrother until Hawk, an evil wizard (or Caster), kidnaps her. He knows something that she does not: her late mother was a Spell Lady and Natalie inherited her powers. Hawk plans to use Natalie to invade the enchanted Earthaven and poison a soultree (an intelligent, spell-producing organism) with a chemical solution. It's up to Natalie and her allies who include her stepbrother; Hawk's bumbling son, Merlin; a wolf that can communicate with her; and some unicorns to stop him. Like Philip Pullman's daemons, the characters here possess "familiars" (animal companion/soulmates). Timely examples lend the narrative immediacy (e.g., to prevent the poisoning from being fatal, Merlin must teach the soultree what he knows about fighting computer viruses), but Roberts switches between so many places and characters that readers may have trouble keeping track of the story line and all of Earthaven's rules. These challenges, plus the fact that Natalie learns little about making magic, may leave readers disappointed. Ages 9-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-6. Twelve-year-old Natalie lives with her usually drunken father, stepmother, and bullying stepbrother. In a supermarket parking lot she encounters a scary old man and a spell that is lying on the ground like a discarded candy wrapper. Thus begins this fast-paced combination of coming-of-age story, heady adventure, and vivid fantasy. Natalie is captured by an evil Spellmage called Hawk, who plans to make her the thirteenth member of his Spellclave to invade and destroy Earthhaven and its Spellmages. It seems Natalie's mother was an Earthhaven Spellmage, and Natalie is about to come into her powers. Despite some minor awkwardness in character development and plotting, this will be a real fan pleaser; its alternate world is carefully realized, and it's filled with adventure and magic--kidnapping, young heroes, magic spells, familiars, Spell Lords, unicorns, and other elements--all bound to keep the pages turning. Sally Estes
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