Spells

July 1, 2010
Laurel (Wings) is called to study magic at the Academy of Avalon. Her classes are overwhelming, as is the division she feels between her faerie and human lives. A showdown with trolls gives her temporary clarity about her preference for human over magical companions. The meandering story has many loose ends, but the romantic plot thread adds spice.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from March 15, 2010
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* In this second installment of a series that started with the best-selling Wings (2009), Laurel, who recently discovered she is a faerie, finds herself completely immersed in her new world when she begins studies at the Academy at Avalon. There she can spend more time with Tam, the faerie who is hopelessly in love with her, and also learn about the benefits and burdens her heritage entails. But the action really begins when she returns home. The trolls that stalked her in the previous book are more dangerous than ever, and this time Laurel is not the only one being targeted. Pike astutely mixes these breathtaking events with the real meat of the story: the angst and uncertainty Laurel feels as she tries to combineand sometimes keep separateher two lives. At the heart of that conundrum is the affection she feels for both her earthly love, David, and the deliciously different Tam. Mixing a little bit of Harry Potter and a lot of Twilight (Team David! Team Tam!), Pike has hit on a winning combination. Yet it is her own graceful take on life inside Avalon that adds a shimmering patina sure to enthrall readers. This book leaves them wanting more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2010

Gr 7-10-This sequel to Wings (HarperTeen, 2009) begins with Laurel going to the Academy of Avalon to begin a summer of intensive training as a Fall faerie in order to protect her family from the threat of her troll nemesis, Jeremiah Barnes. The strict faerie social hierarchy begins to wear on her, causing her to question her place in that society. When she goes back to her life in the human world, she constantly feels the strain of wondering when Barnes will make his next move. Her relationship with David, her human boyfriend, has deepened, but she still feels ties to Tamani, her faerie sentry, and she constantly questions where she belongs. In the end, she is forced to choose between her two worlds. Pike develops her world with limited success. While Avalon is slightly interesting, Laurel's time there drags. Pike makes several attempts to explain historical and mythological people and events so they fit into her world-Eve, it seems was a misunderstood faerie-without fully fleshing out the whys or hows. The first part of the book plods and it is only toward the last 50 pages that the action picks up. Fans of the first book likely won't notice the overwrought writing and poor world-building, but others would do well to seek out the many other, better faerie stories.-Necia Blundy, Marlborough Public Library, MA

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