Tui T. Sutherland

The Menagerie by Tui T. Sutherland. Logan has recently moved to a new town with his father and is struggling to make friends when he discovers a mythical griffin hiding in his bedroom. Attempting to help the griffin and unravel the mystery of his existence, Logan finds himself in a hidden world of mythical beasts with a daring rescue mission that he is determined to help with. As a middle grades book, I found this enchanting and thoroughly engaging. The characters are relatable and the conflicts are meaningful, while still being approachable to the intended age group. 5/5 stars.… (mehr)

This book gives the backstory of Darkstalker, the bad guy of the Jade Mountain series. Since it is kind of a prequel, the ending is already known. But it was still interesting to read how Clearsight and Fathom try to keep Darkstalker good and why Darkstalker turns out the way he does. The relationships in the book are well described.

It was rather grimmer than the other books in the series though. When Darkstalker goes rogue Clearsight has to choose between her love for Darkstalker and the wellbeing of other dragons. She can see all possible futures and while in most of them Darkstalker is totally evil, she also sees a few where there is hope of his redemption. So not an easy choice for her.… (mehr)

4.5 - I'm continuously very impressed by the quality of these stories and again could not put this one down. Glory is a very interesting character and the pacing of having her as the third point of view in the arc was a great choice in my opinion - the series is gathering steam and becomes able to tackle the more serious aspects, such as the themes of parental/guardian abuse, as time goes on. Glory is the ideal candidate to reckon with that: she has slightly more complex feelings about the world and people around her than Clay or Tsunami previously, and that lends itself to a far more interesting internal monologue. Plotlines and structures are getting a little more complex too, with an entire B plot and B cast being gradually seeded and developed in the background. I felt that the pacing of the A plot suffered slightly for both this and the worldbuilding, but I'm happy to forgive that as the tribe we're introduced to in this installment are so unique and enthralling. The hook for the next book is absolutely tantalising and I can't wait to see where this goes. I'm still continuing in my opinion that this is some of the best kids xenifiction in recent years.… (mehr)