Review of The Shadow Wand by Laurie Forest

Forest, Laurie.  The Shadow Wand.  Inkyard, 2020.

 

The Shadow Wand, the third book in The Black Witch Chronicles, takes up where The Iron Flower ends.  Elloren Gardner now knows she is The Black Witch, which has been prophesized, but she must learn how to use her power in order to help the Resistance.  She is sent to her Fastmate, Commander Lukas Grey, Head of the Mage Guard, for protection.  They must work together so that High Mage Marcus Vogel and the Gardnerians under his control do not capture her and use her power for evil.

 

Not wanting to give too much away, Elloren finds out who are her allies and who are her foes.  However, since many who would ally with her don’t realize she is fighting for the Resistance, she is in grave danger from both sides.  She undergoes rigorous training and must learn alternative methods of using her power.  Readers will also learn what has become of Elloren’s friends and family who have been scattered far and wide in Erthia.

 

As in the previous books, Laurie Forest has again managed to weave lush and gorgeous world-building into this edition.  Not only that, but the characters and evil creatures are dynamic, and some are just terrifying!  The love scenes are extremely intense and steamy, which will be swoon-worthy and satisfying for many fans.

 

The book is divided into six parts, starting with character backstories.  The beginning of the book does start off rather slowly as the author works to catch readers up on what has happened to Elleron’s friends and family since the end of The Iron Flower.  Viewpoints change across chapters as we learn what has transpired with each character.  During the course of the book, the plot speeds up and becomes action-packed.  

 

There is still discrimination and persecution among races, as in the earlier stories; this only adds to the shock and empathy one feels toward the victimized species.  Much to my dismay, the Lupine siblings, Jarod and Diana, do not make an appearance in this book.  They are my favorite characters, and I hope we will see them in the next installment.  There is a shocking cliff-hanger ending!  I can’t wait for the next book, The Demon Tide, which won’t come out until June of 2021.  Yes, unfortunately, we must wait an entire year!

 

Hand this book to fantasy lovers and those who have enjoyed the series.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it 5 out of 5 fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to Edelweiss for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader’s copy of The Shadow Wand.

Review of Losers Take All by David Klass

Klass, David.  Losers Take All.  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2015.

At Fremont High School, aka “Muscles High”, if you are not an athlete, then you are a nobody.  The whole school—and the town of Fremont, New Jersey—is totally obsessed with sports.  They even have a whole week at the end of every school year devoted to honoring their athletes.

Jack Logan’s father and two brothers were talented football players, but Jack---well, not so much.  In fact, Jack doesn’t even like sports.  At the end of his junior year, his seventy-year-old principal dies of a heart attack during the annual “senior run” and is replaced Coach Muhldinger—the football coach.  As his first official act as principal, Coach Muhldinger decrees that all seniors must play some kind of sport.

When Jack is roped in to trying out for the football team, he ends up in the hospital, instead.  Jack and his girlfriend, Becca, decide to form a “C” level soccer team and ask the school’s part-time Latin teacher, Mr. Percy, to be their coach.   A whole group of unathletic seniors join the team with the goal of not winning, but just surviving the season without getting injured.  Hilariously, they lose games in fine fashion and become a media sensation via online videos.  .  The team attracts a whole group of fans that are against violence in sports and bullying.  This does nothing to enhance the team’s image with Coach Muhldinger, who seeks revenge on the team for the humiliation it has brought to him.

In Losers Take All, David Klauss has succeeded in capturing the essence of competitive sports, including the negative aspects of violence and bullying that sometimes go along with it.  He has tackled these hard issues “head on” and provided a thought-provoking look into how sports culture affects the mood of a school and a town.  He has also put a lot of humor into the plot with his descriptions of play-by-play scenes of the soccer team’s games.  Readers will find themselves cheering for the mix of misfits that are doing their best to lose every game they play.

The characters are extremely well developed.  Principal Muhldinger is your stereotypical coach—all business, gruff, overbearing, and opinionated about non-athletes.  Our main character, Jack, who is also the narrator, provides a genuine male teen voice.  He thinks he has no athletic ability, but discovers he has a true talent for soccer.  Even though it seems like his football-hero dad is not on his side, Klass shows that Tom Logan is a loving and supportive parent.

Sports fans and non-sports fans, alike, as well as readers who enjoy humorous fiction, will enjoy this book.  I recommend it for middle school, high school, and public libraries and give it four out of five fleur de lis!