Thanks to the folks at Dreaming Robot Press for the ARC of this.
So this is a kid's book - not YA, but one aimed (I would estimate) at the 10-12 age group. I have nothing against reading books like that as a grown-up, and the title and cover of this book intrigued me. As I figured out while reading, this book is part of series, but not having read the previous books was no handicap.
This book is mainly from the perspective of an elven princess named Sagara, who is super into mathematics. She ends up going on a quest with a group of her friends/frenemies a to save a young treant that's been kidnapped to an adjoining realm. While reasonably simple, the plot is nonetheless gripping and fast-paces, with a few twists that genuinely caught me off guard.
The characters are a fun bunch. Sagara (I have to wonder if that name is a reference to Michelle West - I spotted a bunch of fantasy references scattered about) is much more interested in Fibonacci numbers than her traditionalist grandmother would like. Her friends include Millie, a witch from the "Logical Realm" (aka the Real World) who is super into gourmet cooking; Millie's younger brother Max; their cousin, who is the "frenemie" I mentioned earlier; and a rather crude little pixie. Much of the action depends on, or refers to, events from prior books, but I never had the least bit of trouble picking up what I needed to pick up.
I particularly appreciated the way that Sanchez treats family in this book. Families, as we all know, are complicated, and just because someone's family doesn't mean they can't hurt you or screw up. Or that they don't love you even so, or you don't love them. And just because they're family doesn't mean there's an easy fix - often that makes it harder. All of these dynamics are at play here, and they're handled well.
As for giving this book to your young sibling, niece, nephew, or cousin toindoctrinateencourage their interest in fantasy literature, I think this would be a frankly ridiculously easy sell for a girl who's at all interested in science or math. Not even interested in an academic kind of way - more along the lines of "here's a cool thing about pine cones and nautilus shells and broccoli!" kind of way. Probably a little tougher for a boy, speaking as a former 10 year old boy myself. The first book in the series isThe Witch's Kitchen, so that might be a better jumping-off point on general principles, but I can't speak to that directly.
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