May 1, 2024 by Feiwel & Friends
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Evie Mei Huang's mother ran a tailor shop, but recently disappeared and has been declared dead. Her grandmother has been helping out, but needs to return to her regular job at a beauty salon, so her father is trying his best to hold both the household and the business together. Evie is watching out for her younger sister Mona, and her best friend Thida is being quietly supportive. When cleaning the shop, Evie is approaching by a talking money, who is really a demon and a supernatural private detective. Or so he says. He says that Evie's mother is still alive, but being held in Dìyù, the Chinese underworld. There is even a note from her mother which uses the same phrase that her mother always uses on her lunch notes. This is not the news that Evie needs on her twelfth birthday, and she goes to talk to her Aunt Kathy only to find her in the middle of a meeting of the Secret Society of Weavers, having a memorial service for Evie's mother. Aunt Kathy is pregnant, so she can't go to the underworld to find her sister. The society members all have their own reasons for not going, so Evie is the only choice. She does have backup from Kevin, who volunteers in exchange for finding out who his soulmate will be. The two travel into the underworld by a portal painting and start their quest. The Spindle of Fate can't be used to change the user's own destiny, but Evie has some magical help; her mother made her a talisman when she was born, and she hopes to use a Spool to find her mother. There are plenty of adventures, like swimming across a pool of blood, and while Evie finds out some dire secrets about her family, the outlook is grim for retrieving her mother. How will Evie and her family move on?
Strengths: Evie is a self assured character who is willing to make personal sacrifices for the good of her family, even on her birthday. She isn't happy about it, but willing to do anything to get her mother back. She works well with Kevin, and listens to all of the elders, even when she doesn't like what they suggest. The quests have some new challenges; swimming across a pool of blood was a new one to me, since I don't know that I've read any other books with depictions of Dìyù. Uncle Monk was an intriguing demon, and I wish we had seen more of him. While the ending isn't necessarily happy, everything is wrapped up in a way that makes sense.
Weaknesses: This gets really dark near the end, with a murder and a few rather heart wrenching details, so I don't know that I would hand this to younger elementary students. Also, I am never a fan of using stereotypes, and at one point Evie opines that they should "pull a Karen".
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like portal fantasies and magical quests like Villanueva's Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors, Cacao's The Secret of the Ravens, or Hendrix's Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans.
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