Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors

Villanueva, Gail D. Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors

(Lulu Sinagtala and the Tagalog Gods #1) 

January 9, 2024 by HarperCollins 

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Lulu lives with her sister Kitty and her mother, a busy medical assistant in a neighborhood clinic in Silanganan Village, not too far from Manilla, Philippines. There is a good support system, with various neighbors and "aunties", as well as best friend, Bart. Lulu was adopted, and doesn't resemble her mother or sister at all, and mentions her dark skin and flat nose as something that sets her apart. When there is a small earthquake, a truck is set in motion towards the girls, but somehow Lulu is able to stop it. When she wakes up, she questions whether the incident actually occurs. When she eavesdrops on her mother and others at the local beauty shop, she learns some things about her past, and when she accidentally throws her Tita Cecile several streets away, she learns some secrets about her past. Sadly, just as she is finding these things out, her mother is kidnapped by a wakwak, a winged creature who spirits her off. Tita Cecile tells Lulu that Lulu is the salamangkero, the one that the magical life forces have chosen to protect the realms. In order to find her mother, Lulu, along with Kitty and Bart (who is a shape shifter who also appears on occasion as a neighbor's Shi Tzu!), must travel to a variety of places, deal with difference magical creatures, and try to make a deal to get her mother back. While on this quest, she meets her biological family, finds out why she was adopted, and learns about her powers. When her mother is found, her biological father, Supremo, is sadly overcome by Maligno. He asks Lulu to kill his body, so that the spirit of Maligno also dies, but Lulu can't manage to do this. This leaves an opening for another installment of this tale. 

Strengths: Lulu is an intriguing character who has some of her own struggles, including epilepsy, which is rarely portrayed in middle grade fiction. Three is a good number of characters to have on a quest, and I liked that Kitty had fewer magical powers but Bart had more. There are a LOT of characters from Filipino mythology (and the author describes these at the beginning of the book AS mythology, which helps a lot!), and there's a nice glossary/appendix at the end of the book with more explanation. This is well paced, and has some fun characters sprinkled throughout. 
Weaknesses: I liked this author's Sugar and Spite because it had a fresh take magical realism and good details about everyday life in the Philippines. Lula Sinagtala is more along the lines of a Rick Riordan style fantasy quest, and these are waning in popularity in my library, since there have been so many culturally connected fantasies in this style over the last ten to fifteen years. 

What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Maunakea's  Lei and the Fire Goddess or Thomas' Nic Blake and the Remarkables.