Fantasy Literature for Children ages 9-12.
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
I fell in love with Small Spaces (2018) from the first paragraph. Before I even realized this was the same Katherine Arden whose adult fiction I’ve been meaning to read for years, and before I got caught up in the richly drawn characters and the spooky plot, I was smitten by this:
October in East Evansburg, and the last warm sun of the year slanted red through the sugar maples. Olivia Adler sat nearest the big window in Mr.
October 7th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4, 5 | Katherine Arden | Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
City of Ghosts (2018) by V.E. Schwab is a Middle Grade book that, well, reads like a Middle Grade book.
In other words, it’s entertaining and engaging enough for that age group, but doesn’t have the depth or complexity in plot or characters to expand beyond that audience, which I’m clearly well, well outside of.
Ever since she almost drowned, young Cassidy Blake has been able to see ghosts, to “pull aside the veil” and step for a brief time into their world.
September 27th, 2019. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3 | Victoria (V.E.) Schwab | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Grail of Stars by Katherine Roberts
Grail of Stars (2014), the fourth and final book in Katherine Roberts‘s PENDRAGON LEGACY, sees the daughter of King Arthur Pendragon go in search of the last of the Four Lights that can restore her father to life and banish her evil cousin Mordred once and for all: the Grail of Stars.
Princess Rhianna is joined by her best friend Elphin from the Island of Avalon, the newly knighted Sir Cai who wields the Lance of Truth,
September 17th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2.5 | Katherine Roberts | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Frostfire (2019), by Jamie Smith, is a middle-grade fantasy set in the mountainous land of Adranna. Adranna lies in the shadow of the great peak of Aderast, and all of its magic comes from the shimmering glacier that flows from it. A handful of young people are chosen each year to climb to the glacier and claim a small piece of it, a frostsliver, which gives them special abilities and marks them as people of importance in Adranna’s society.
Sabira is a fourteen-year-old girl who has been chosen to receive a frostsliver.
September 16th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3.5 | Jamie Smith | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Dead Voices by Katherine Arden
I loved Small Spaces, Katherine Arden’s first foray into children’s horror, and so I jumped right into its sequel, Dead Voices (2019). A few months have passed since Ollie, Coco, and Brian outsmarted the Smiling Man who wanted to turn them, and all their classmates, into scarecrows. The ordeal left them with recurring nightmares, but also made them best friends. It’s December now, and Ollie’s dad has won a stay at Mount Hemlock,
September 5th, 2019. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Katherine Arden | Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Crown of Dreams by Katherine Roberts
Crown of Dreams (2013) is the third book in Katherine Roberts‘s four-part PENDRAGON LEGACY series, which details the quest undertaken by Princess Rhianna — daughter of Arthur Pendragon and his queen Guinevere — to find the Four Lights that might save the city of Camelot and restore her father back to life.
Already she has two of the four Lights in her possession: the Sword of Light and the Lance of Truth, the latter of which is now carried by her champion Sir Cai.
September 2nd, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Katherine Roberts | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Lance of Truth by Katherine Roberts
Lance of Truth (2012) is the second book in Katherine Roberts‘s four-part story about the daughter of King Arthur Pendragon, and her quest to find the Four Lights (Sword of Light, Lance of Truth, Crown of Dreams and Holy Grail) that might restore her father to life and bring peace to Britain.
Princess Rhianna has lived her whole life on the enchanted isle of Avalon, but after learning of her parentage upon the death of King Arthur,
August 29th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Katherine Roberts | Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sword of Light by Katherine Roberts
Rhianna has lived her entire life on the idyllic island of Avalon, never knowing her parents or seeing anything of the world beyond the isle. But the truth comes out in Britain’s darkest hour, when the wizard Merlin arrives on Avalon’s shore with the body of King Arthur Pendragon, slain in battle by his nephew Mordred and missing his sword Excalibur.
Rhianna learns she is the secret daughter of Arthur and Guinevere, hidden from the world at birth and now rightful heir to Camelot’s throne.
August 23rd, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Katherine Roberts | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Alanna: The First Adventure is, indeed, the first volume of well-known fantasy author Tamora Pierce’s four-book series THE SONG OF THE LIONESS. First published back in the 1980s, the quartet was remarkable in many ways, tackling issues like gender roles, cultural tensions, self-determination, and inherited versus achieved power. Written at a time when “young adult” didn’t exist as a genre and feisty teenage girls couldn’t find much positive representation in mainstream fantasy, the series laid out many of the familiar paths and tropes of what has become modern YA fantasy.
August 22nd, 2019. Jana Nyman and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Tamora Pierce | Children | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The House on Parchment Street by Patricia McKillip
I probably would never have known about The House on Parchment Street (1973) were I not such a huge fan of Patricia McKillip‘s fantasy stories, and while browsing her name on a library search engine, this title popped up. It was obviously one of her earliest published works, so I was willing to give it a go.
The House on Parchment Street is profoundly different from her later stories,
August 20th, 2019. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2.5 | Patricia McKillip | Children, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…