Fantasy Titles

Diño, Yxavel Magno. The Firefly Crown
November 11, 2025 by Bloomsbury Children's Books
ARC provided by the publisher

Yumi lives with her parents in the country, where they work using their mambabrang powers to control crickets and stop them from eating farmers' crops. Yumi's powers are still developing, and she lacks the skill to compel crickets to do her bidding that her parents have. There have been problems in the empire for a while, since the Empress Hara has been ill, and there have been instances of Ghost Swarms plaguing the area. Ghost Swarms came about after people without magic tried to sacrifice sorcerers like Yumi's family, but this backfired when they came back as Ghost Swarms. When it seems that crowning a new empress, the princess Eyrin, seems imminent, the rajah summons all of the mambabarang's to the capitol city, Tinanglawan, for the ceremony. Yumi isn't invited, and is supposed to stay on her own for a few days, but she stows away on the rajah's battleship that is taking people to the city. During the journey, she uses her metal working skills to repair a cannon and save the ship from a Ghost Swarm, although she is injured in the attempt. She was saved by the Dragonfly Mira, who was bringing mambabarangs to Tinanglawan on the rajah's behalf. The group is saved by another ship. Yumi wants to explore the city, and comes across the Master of Metals apprentice. She offers to help, and to take a shipment of gold to the palace. Everyone has heard of her and her heroics. She makes friends at the palace, like fellow mambabarang Talim, but is late for the ceremony. Eyrin is poised to take the crown, but Yumi falls into a pond, causing a disturbance, and the Firefly Crown goes missing. Yumi is thrown in jail but later rescued by Talim. Trying to get out of the dungeon, they run into Eyrin, who offers to keep them out of trouble if they help her find the crown. They start their investigation, and Yumi once again manages to defeat a Ghost storm, getting injured yet again. With the help of a cricket, Ikko, that she accidentally brought from the country, Yumi manages to help Eyrin find out who stole the crown. Will they be able to get it back in time? 
Strengths: When I realized that the crown was lost, I was fully prepared to go on a long and arduous trek across the kingdom (including going underground, through a cursed forest, and up a mountain) to retrieve it with Yumi and her entourage. It was a nice change of pace to find that this was more about palace intrigue. It was also refreshing that Yumi wasn't really looking to strengthen her magic or develop her powers of speaking to crickets; she just wants to apprentice herself to a metal worker and do what she loves. Once she gets to Tinanglawan, she just happens to save the day before getting to settle down. This wasn't overly long, and the fantasy world was not too complicated, making this a good choice for readers who want to try some fantasy without having to dedicate the next several months to a hugely long series. Yumi is an engaging character, and it was also nice to see that her parents weren't in danger, and supported her all along. There's a happy ending as well, which is rare in middle grade books these days. 
Weaknesses: Yumi doesn't seem to have any particular powers that make her the savior of the kingdom, and I kept waiting for some clarification as to why she was able to defeat the Ghost Swarms. I loved that at the end of the book she was able to choose her own path, but that left me even more confused. Young readers won't mind this, and it is nice that this is a stand alone fantasy book. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked this author's The Serpent Rider, or novels that include a lot of palace intrigue in a fantasy setting, like Splinter and Ash or Durham's The Shadow Prince.

Ransaw, Rosa. Smoke & Mirrors

June 10, 2025 by Amulet Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Andy Carter has moved in with his Aunt Noni since his mother abandoned him and his father, who is currently unjustly incarcerated, when Andy was a baby. He has struggled to make friends, as one of the few Black kids in town, and his attempts to hang out with the O’Brien boys, Rick and Pauly, hasn’t ended well. When the three were hanging out near Mr. Gilbert’s barn, fireworks were set off that resulted in the barn burning down, and Andy has been blamed. Mr. Gilbert makes an offer: if Andy helps him clean up a house he owns, he won’t press charges. Aunt Noni is very happy, since money is tight. Andy finds out that Mr. Gilbert’s house is quite a wreck; it was owned by the magician the Red Nave, and has been abandoned since 1964, when local resident Donovan Oxley was killed, presumably by the magician, who then fled. The mystery has never been solved. Mr. Gilbert and his late wife were interested in the history, having been at the final show, but since her death, the house has been left to further molder. Work on the house is hard, but Andy doesn’t mind it as much as he suspected, especially since his father won’t talk to him while his lawyer is trying to figure out how best to get him released. When Mr. Gilbert says that he will let Andy out of the work if he can solve the mystery, however, Andy jumps right into investigating. He starts at the local library, where he runs into Pauly, who apologizes. Since Pauly’s grandfather, who runs a local diner, was at the performance, Andy embarks on a tenuous relationship with Pauly, and the two investigate together. There is a lot of local history and animosity, and Donovan’s sister, who still lives in the area, is reluctant to give much information. Andy runs up against a lot of microaggressions and outright discrimination, and Pauly begins to understand how unfair the barn burning incident was, especially since white boys get away with behavior, and blame often falls on Black ones. Will Andy be able to solve the murder, and hopefully help his father?
Strengths: Starting a middle grade book with a fire is always a good idea (think Dairman’s All Four Stars), and murder mysteries are always popular. Andy is a character who has many struggles, but is trying to make the best of several bad situations. The dynamic between him and the O’Brien boys is unfortunately common, even among boys of the same race. It’s all too easy to get drawn into dangerous or ill advised situations, and to put the blame on one participant. I really liked the aunt, and all of her tween psychology like “I” statements. She was also supportive. Mr. Gilbert was another good character who had difficulties of his own, but also wanted the best for Andy. The sixty year old mystery that wasn’t solved seemed to have enough clues left for Andy to follow, and the culprit was a bit of a twist.
Weaknesses: For a mystery, this was a bit slow paced, and lacked some excitement. Also, the timeline seemed a bit off. Anyone who could remember the murder sixty years ago would be almost 80 or older, so setting the mystery in 1974 might have been better. I also would have liked more information about Andy’s father, their previous life, and what was happening to him.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Philbrick’s Who Killed Darius Drake, Souders’ Coop Knows the Scoop, Smith’s Hoodoo, or Burch’s Finch House.  

Tash, Sarvenaz. The Treasure of Ocean Parkway (Ocean Parkway #2)

November 11, 2025 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley

After their time traveling adventures in The Queen of Ocean Parkway, Roya and Amin are back. It's summer, and Roya is dealing with father's death over the winter. She's finally able to be interested in pod casting again, and she and Amin are investigating a number of mysteries in the Brooklyn neighborhood, which is easier now that they have convinced both her mother and Amin's parents that they are safe to ride the subway and wander around the city by themselves. Even though Amin needs to practice riding the subway so he can do a good job in the Subway Safari competition, they don't have to look too far for a mystery. Thea Lim-Lambert, whose parents are artists and use the apartment as their home base when not living in Europe, has found several interesting things in the apartment that her family has occupied since 1947. Not only has she found a secret room, but her grandfather's diary and a note from 2010 inviting the "future Lambert" to a scavenger hunt. Since Thea hasn't had any luck, and her older sister Sunday is busy at college while their parents are frantically working to put together a show, she approaches the podcasters for help. The clues lead the group to the laundry room in the basement (remember, Roya's mother is the building super, so she has access to keys), where they find a secret door behind a painting of cheese. As the search progresses, they struggle with some of the clues, so Thea asks her father, Mason, to visit Errol with her. While Errol did carvings, he didn't gain the reknown that his father, Declan did:  he was an illustrator somewhat along the lines of Norman Rockwell. Errol has dementia, so often doesn't know who people are, but they do get some information. As the clues lead the kids around town, they sometimes need help from people like neighbor Katya's grandmother Annika, who grew up in the building with Errol. There is a lot of family dynamics that get explored, mysteries that get solved, and the promise of a new adventure with an Explorer's Club.

Strengths: Roya is a great character, and I was glad that we picked up her story when she was getting back into podcasting, and that the book shows just how much work a podcast is! She and Amin get along very well, and there's even a little understandable bickering when Thea joins the mix. The family mystery is well explained, and involves not only some family lore but some local history as well. Thea's troubled family life is well portrayed, and the unspoken problems get resolved in a realistic way. The apartment building is a great setting, and it's nice to see some illustrations in the book. Books where kids are doing things are always my favorite; I would have adored this when I was young. Even though it doesn't involve any of the fantasy elements that the first book had, it's a good sequel. 
Weaknesses: I was a little disappointed that there wasn't any time travel in this book, and only the tiniest hint of fantasy at all; it was more like Graf Patterson's The Minerva Keen Detetive Club. There were some things about New York City and apartment living that could have used a tiny bit of explanation for Midwestern suburbanites; I had to look up what Dumbo was, and I'm still a bit confused about how a family can live in the same apartment for 80 years (and tear down walls!) when they don't appear to own it. 
What I really think: This was another fun scavenger hunt book along the lines of Florence's A Study in Secrets or Landis' Capitol Chase, Gibbs' Charlie Thorn, Durst's Spy Ring, or Currie's Mystery of the Locked Rooms. I'm curious to see what direction the next book will take.